Over the past several months, Canada-Russia relations, ignited by the crisis in Ukraine, have become increasingly strained. Prime Minister Harper and the Government of Canada, backed by the Parliament (opposition parties included) and with strong support from the Canadian society at large, adopted the most principled position within G7 countries on the issue. Canada has been pushing its Western and NATO allies to force Vladimir Putin to back off Ukraine, thus restoring the stability of Europe and the global balance of power. As of late, however, I cannot help but notice that the official position of Canada is becoming challenged from within the country by select media outlets, business enterprises and citizens. It seems to me that this criticism is predominantly based on two generalized ideas: a) an isolationism of some sort, suggesting that Canada should not ‘stick it’s nose’ into European affairs, pretending to be a global player like the USA for instance, but instead should focus its attention on domestic matters; and b) a so-called realpolitik approach, proposing avoiding antagonism with Putin, instead exploring benefits that can potentially be gained from our ‘business as usual’ dealings with the Russian Federation. The question of the moment is, therefore, should Canada continue standing up to Putin’s regime?
One hundred years ago,Canadadecided to join the World War I fight, raising an Expeditionary Force of over 600,000 (out of the total population of around 8 million) and, subsequently, suffering an astonishing 39 per cent casualties of those deployed. During World War II more than 1.1 million Canadians served in the Army, Navy and Air Force, and of those more than 45,000 lost their lives and another 54,000 were wounded. Why has Canada voluntarily joined these wars so far away from its borders and when, pragmatically speaking, its interests were not threatened directly? Why have Canadian volunteers fought and died overseas? The short answer is surprisingly simple - because that was the right thing to do. Two decades later, Lester B. Pearson introduced to the world a groundbreaking concept of stabilizing military conflicts with the newly created United Nations Emergency Force, the idea that has eventually evolved into the modern concept of peacekeeping/ peacemaking, for which Pearson was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace and Canada became renown around the world as a ‘peacekeeper’. What was the reason behind that effort? Once again - it was the right thing to do. Having participated in Operation ‘Apollo’ and Operation ‘Athena’ (recent military engagements of Canada and its Western allies in the Middle East and Afghanistan), I can tell you from my personal experience that our involvement with those missions (not only the military aspect, but also our related diplomatic, economic and humanitarian efforts) certainly was the right thing to do. And so, I believe, Canada’s current support of the people of Ukraine in their fight against Putin’s aggression, and their desire to build a Western democracy based on the very same values we, Canadians, cherish so much – freedom above all - is certainly the right, the Canadian, thing to do.
As for hardcore isolationists and lovers of realpolitik, who are, likely, still unconvinced by my above altruistic arguments, I state the following. First of all, today the global village we live in has little room for isolationism. Destabilization of Europe would send ripple effects globally, no doubt also negatively impacting Canada, in every way – politically, economically and socially. Secondly, Russia’s violation of and the West’s inaction on executing the 1994 Budapest Memorandum (where in exchange for the abolishment of the world’s third largest arsenal of nuclear weapons, Ukraine was guaranteed the sovereignty and integrity of its territory), would send a clear message to Iran, North Korea and other present and future rogue states, that obtaining and holding on to nuclear arms at all costs is the only way to protect oneself, while any international guarantees “are not worth the paper they are written on” – a dangerous geopolitical precedent indeed. Finally, for those who have not been paying attention, Putin has already begun challenging Canada, long before the Ukraine crisis: from Russia Today (RT) Television’s anti-Western Cold War era-style propaganda freely broadcast nationwide; to Russian spy agencies actively recruiting Canadians and brazenly stealing our national secrets; to Russian Air Force’s Tu-95 heavy bombers aggressively testing our strategic Northern borders time after time again, and thus de facto threatening the sovereignty of Canada and access to our Northern riches.
Prime Minister Pearson once said that: “Of all our dreams today there is none more important - or so hard to realise - than that of peace in the world. May we never lose our faith in it or our resolve to do everything that can be done to convert it one day into reality.” This timeless quote is as relevant today as ever before. The dream of peace, however, cannot be realised without preventing Putin from taking over Ukraine, destroying the stability and security of Europe, threatening the national interests of Canada, and disturbing the fragile global balance of power. In Martin Luther King Junior’s words: “The time is always right to do what is right.” Indeed. The time is right for Canada to stay the course of playing the leadership role in standing up to Putin’s regime, standing up for European and global peace and stability, and for our Canadian values and interests. Moreover, expanding our political and economic efforts to help the international community stand together in confronting Putin today may just prevent Canada from having to send its brave young men and women into harm’s way tomorrow, like it had to do in WWI and WWII and many other later military conflicts around the globe.
Ihor Kozak is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada, and a retired Canadian military officer. His recent not-for-profit work has been centred on international efforts toward the stabilization and democratization of Ukraine and other former USSR countries.
