Militarization in Canada: myth-breaking and image-making through recruitment campaigns

Abstract

ABSTRACTDespite widely held attachments by Canadians to a national identity and self-perceived role as international peacekeepers, in 2006 the Department of Defence introduced a recruitment campaign intended to “toughen” the image of the Canadian Armed Forces and showcase a more “realistic” perspective of military service. The 2006-2008 “Fight campaign” advertisements symbolized efforts by political and military elites to re-brand the image of the Canadian Forces, but in a unique way that preserved popularly held beliefs about the role and purpose of the military. Advertisement themes of rescue and helpfulness evoked culturally popular imagery, a strategy used by political elites to legitimize increased combat focus of the Canadian military. This article examines how the re-branding of the Canadian Armed Forces as an increasingly combat-capable institution signal a shift towards militarization of policy in Canada and posits that this shift has had effects on both foreign policy priorities and the ways that national identity is imagined.