Canadian military involvement in humanitarian assistance: progress and prudence in natural disaster response

Abstract

In response to the 12 January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Canada launched its largest international disaster-relief effort to date. The most visible aspect of its response came in the form of the over 2000 military personnel who were deployed to Haiti to assist in rescue, relief and recovery operations. As part of Canada's whole-of-government approach, this humanitarian intervention required close collaboration between the Department of National Defence (DND) and its primary civilian partners in humanitarian response, namely the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Using information from 27 confidential interviews with actors involved in the decision-making and administration of Canada's emergency humanitarian assistance, this paper investigates how the Canadian disaster-relief structure is able to facilitate a response of this magnitude, highlighting structural, ideational and decision-making features which foster interdepartmental collaboration. While the response was beneficial in many ways, however, this paper cautions against increased military involvement in disaster-relief efforts. Not only can this affect Canada's ability to uphold the humanitarian principles of responding based on needs on the ground, and in ways that are fair and impartial, it also increases the power of political leadership to shape the magnitude, timeliness and decision to intervene.