# Canada's Peacekeeping



## daniel12 (3 Apr 2013)

I am wondering how the Korean War and the Vietnam wars affected the Canadian peacekeeping policy or if it changed anything in the way Canada peace-kept. If anyone has information on this, it would be greatly appreciated.

PS. For a history essay


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## Nfld Sapper (3 Apr 2013)

Canada never officially sent troop to Vietnam if I recall correctly...


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## daniel12 (3 Apr 2013)

NFLD Sapper said:
			
		

> Canada never officially sent troop to Vietnam if I recall correctly...



You are correct but the war itself had an affect on Canada. Also, Canadian troops fought alongside the American Forces. I am more specifically looking for information on the peacekeeping objectives of the International Commission and Supervision in Vietnam.


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## brihard (3 Apr 2013)

daniel12 said:
			
		

> Also, Canadian troops fought alongside the American Forces.



If by this you mean 'some Canadians joined the US armed forces', then yes. But Canadian troops (as in troops belonging to Canada) did not fight in Vietnam.


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## medicineman (3 Apr 2013)

daniel12 said:
			
		

> You are correct but the war itself had an affect on Canada. Also, Canadian troops fought alongside the American Forces. I am more specifically looking for information on the peacekeeping objectives of the International Commission and Supervision in Vietnam.



A friend of my father's was actually one of the observers on that mission...the mission was a shambles - IIRC correctly, Canada pulled out after only a few rotations.  

MM


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## jeffb (3 Apr 2013)

daniel12 said:
			
		

> I am wondering how the Korean War affected... the Canadian peacekeeping policy...



You have a bit of a timeline issue here. The Korean War ended in 1953. The Suez Crisis, the event that marks the first real usage of peacekeepers (yes I know about the 1948 UNTSO) occurred in 1956. Perhaps if you could elaborate a little more broadly on your research interest, we could provide some better ideas.


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## cphansen (3 Apr 2013)

medicineman said:
			
		

> A friend of my father's was actually one of the observers on that mission...the mission was a shambles - IIRC correctly, Canada pulled out after only a few rotations.
> 
> MM



I remember waking up to the CBC saying a Canadian Observer was aboard a helicopter which had been shot down by the VC for flying over one of their base camps. I don't know if the chopper had actually overflown the camp all I knew was a respected friend was gone.

He was Charley LaViolette of the 12RBC.

He was the SOLAM attached to the Sherbrooke units. The first time I met him was on a Thursday parade evening.  I had taken my troop out for a little mud recce,  just to exercise the Voice Procedures and camoflague, just to make sure we could remain unseen.  Well it took a couple of hours longer than I intended after critiqueing our efforts.

When we finally got back it was after midnight, and everyone was gone from the mess except this new officer who introduced himsely as Charley LaViolette of the 12 RBC.  We wound up sharing a few drinks and had a good conversation,  This was about the time the Russians went into Czechoslovkia and I was shocked to learn that the Russian troops did not even know what country they were in, that the maps didn't even indicate the country and that the majority of the Russians/ privates, corporals, sargeants etc couldn't even read the maps.

I couldn't understand that because that was one of the things I drilled into my troopers.

Charley became a good friend until he returned to Valcartier to setup and run a French language Armour school. His last assignment before Vietnam.

I always thought Charley would go far in the CAF and at least make General.  We lost a great leader when that chopper went down


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## daniel12 (3 Apr 2013)

jeffb said:
			
		

> You have a bit of a timeline issue here. The Korean War ended in 1953. The Suez Crisis, the event that marks the first real usage of peacekeepers (yes I know about the 1948 UNTSO) occurred in 1956. Perhaps if you could elaborate a little more broadly on your research interest, we could provide some better ideas.



Canada was considered a peace-keeper after it joined the UN in '47 I think, I could very well be wrong.


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## Edward Campbell (4 Apr 2013)

We need to be a bit clear about what _Pearsonian_ peacekeeping was all about. It was a creation of the post 2nd World War East-West split: the USSR and the US led West were locked in ferocious competition in the so-called _non-aligned_ world. Pearson, along with Ralph Bunch and Sir Brian Urquart (the real 'inventors' of UN peacekeeping) was firmly in the Western camp. Peacekeeping  was a component of the broad policy of _containing_ the USSR - no one really cared if folks with dusky skins kiled one another in hot, dirty places, but we all had a major incentive to _contain_ East-West tenions to places far, far away from the North German Plain. Peacekeeping allowed the US and the USSR to probe and test - sometimes close to major Eastern or Western bastions - without the dangers of direct confrontation.


Edit: typos


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## a_majoor (4 Apr 2013)

You might try this for a bit of backgrond: http://ruxted.ca/index.php?/archives/76-The-Truth-About-Peacekeeping.html


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## Wolseleydog (4 Apr 2013)

On the Canadian observer mission in Vietnam, see:
http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/caj/documents/vol_10/iss_1/CAJ_vol10.1_10_e.pdf
http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/caj/documents/vol_10/iss_2/CAJ_vol10.2_10_e.pdf
or the book Douglas Ross, <i>In the Interests of Peace: Canada and Vietnam 1954-73</i> (Toronto: 1984)

For the non-idealist view on peace-keeping, see: Sean Maloney, <i>Canada and UN Peacekeeping: Cold War by Other Means, 1945-1970</i> (St Catharines, ON: 2002)


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## jeffb (4 Apr 2013)

Check out this article if you'd like a little bit more balance from the "Canada is a nation of Peacekeepers" line. This article also specifically considers Vietnam. This is from a peer review journal if that means anything to you. 


THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM? THE NATIONAL MYTH OF CANADIAN PEACEKEEPING AND THE COLD WAR. In the Canadian Army Journal Vol 7, No 4. pp. 45 - 54. 


http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vo7/no4/doc/wagner-eng.pdf


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