Canadian Civil-Military Relations

Abstract

Every war is rich in unique episodes. Each is an uncharted sea, full of reefs.-Clausewitz, On War1This study looks at civil-military relations in Canada and the use of military power for political purposes. Through an examination of the 2005 Canadian decision to deploy forces to Kandahar and the debates about potential deployments elsewhere, the following pages highlight the gap between the ambitions of Canadian international policy and the reality of limited military capacity. The study makes the case that the absence of strategy and strategic dialogue are at the heart of the problem of civil-military relations in Canada. It calls for a new model of civil-military relations, bunt upon a sustained dialogue between civilians and soldiers that rests ultimately on a more realistic assessment of the military means available to attain policy ends.DECISION-MAKING ANDTHE DEPLOYMENT TO KANDAHARSoon after appointing General Rick Hillier as chief of the defence staff, Prime Minister Paul Martin summoned him to discuss the government's priorities for international engagement and the potential deployment of the Canadian forces. After acknowledging his qualified support for Canada's ongoing involvement in Afghanistan, the prime minister spoke of three other priorities for Canadian international policy and sought Hillier's assurances that Canada's participation in the Afghan mission did preclude our capacity to deploy elsewhere. Martin wanted a commitment from Hillier that Canada would have the military capacity to contribute to an international peacekeeping effort to prevent the slaughter in Darfur. Martin also believed that Canada, as the hemisphere's largest francophone nation, should shoulder special responsibilities in Haiti, and he raised the possibility that Canada would play a military role if there was ever an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact.2 In Martin's view, it was important that the mission in Afghanistan not crowd out other international deployments that his government might choose to undertake. Martin had, after all, appointed Hillier a few days earlier because he had noted the general's view that the Canadian forces had to be capable of responding quickly to new demands.Martin was particularly interested in Darfur, as his memoirs make clear, suggesting that it presented a perfect opportunity for Canada to play a leadership role in keeping with [the] broader philosophy of our foreign policy. The importance of Darfur, together with Martin's sense of lost opportunity, can be seen in the chapter tellingly entitled Into Africa. Exercising leadership abroad was certainly a priority for the prime minister. I believe that we will have the greatest impact on the direction of world events, he writes in Hell or High Water, if we select an objective carefully and choose those opportunities where we can play a leadership role. In addition to offering the potential for international leadership, Martin saw Darfur as a place where Canada could pursue, in his words, its own perspective in international affairs, independent of the United States, which he judged to be largely indifferent to African issues. In Martin's thinking, Canadian leadership in Darfur, including participation in a humanitarian intervention with military means, matched the ideal he envisaged for the country in global affairs. In The Unexpected War, Stein and Lang insist that Martin's interest in Darfur also reflected strong support within the Liberal caucus to do something about the crisis unfolding there, a view bolstered by public opinion, which appeared to favour a potential Darfur mission over continued involvement in Afghanistan.3According to Martin, Hillier assured him that he understood the government's priorities and that whatever the next stage might be in our Afghanistan mission, it would not preclude our capacity to deploy elsewhere. Stein and Lang confirm Martin's account of his discussion with Hillier, but they offer a few additional and, one might add, dramatic details of the conversation between the two men. …