Sixty years ago Canadian military personnel first became involved in UN Peace initiatives. It was as a result of the lingering dispute between India and Pakistan over the state of Kashmir. The first United Nations Military Observer Group was created in 1949. The first chief military observer was a Canadian, a reserve officer, Brigadier Henry H. Angle. He had previously served on the UN Commission for India and Pakistan. It was his job to observe the cease-fire line and determine any violation by either side. He is considered to be the first Canadian peacekeeping fatality. Brigadier Angle’s effective contribution was ended when he was killed in a plane crash on July 17, 1950.
Tonight we honour those whose service to Canada defined them as peacekeepers. During a remarkable time of world history, they prevented wars, and saved lives because they trained for war. The men and women who mostly wore the blue beret of the United Nations are among thousands of Canadians who have kept the faith. Whether they are members of the police services, civilian diplomats and administrators, or members of the Canadian Forces, we owe each of them our gratitude.
Congratulations to the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association for your initiative 17 years ago to have this day set aside as Peacekeeping Memorial Day.
Canadian military fatalities in operations from the end of the War in Korea mostly came in ones and twos; and until the on going operation in Afghanistan that began in 2002 for the previous 50 years most fatalities went unnoticed and unheralded.
The greatest loss for Canadians engaged in peacekeeping came 35 years ago on this day. Nine Canadian airmen boarded their Buffalo aircraft painted in United Nations livery on what was to be a routine flight. Their routine day turned to tragedy when the aircraft was shot down by missiles near the Syrian-Lebanese border. All on board were killed. The Syrian Government apologized claiming that the slow moving aircraft was misidentified as an Israeli fighter. The tragedy is the largest number of lives lost on a Canadian peacekeeping mission in a single incident. The men are among more than 125 Canadians recognized by the Dag Hammarskjold Medal, named for the Swedish UN Secretary-General who died in a plane crash while on a peace mission in 1961 in the Congo.
During the period known as the Cold War, Canada contributed more personnel than any other nation to UN peacekeeping operations and was for many years part of every UN peacekeeping operation - the only nation with such a record. When in 1988 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to UN peacekeepers, Canada had contributed about 10 percent of the total personnel deployed on all missions everywhere. That contribution came at a cost. During that same period and through to the mid 1990s Canada suffered the highest number of fatalities of any nation in UN missions. Even today, Canada is number two on the list of UN fatalities narrowly exceeded by India.
Not since the Korean War Armistice has the attention of Canadians been drawn to the work of Canadian service men and women overseas. A Canadian medic aiding a badly injured Afghan child; a soldier in conversation with village elders; sailors providing assistance to stranded fishermen or boarding and searching suspect vessels in the Gulf of Oman; soldiers emerging from primitive caves in search of an elusive enemy; a G-Wagon all but obliterated by an improvised explosive device. For most Canadians the conflict in Afghanistan is viewed through television images of convoys moving about Kandahar, quick clips of soldiers firing over mud walls, and the agony of repatriation ceremonies and grieving family members. The images offer a powerful and poignant glimpse of a mission that has taken 126 lives -- a military death toll that most Canadians have never before experienced. Later in this ceremony, you will hear the names of 28 members of the Canadian Forces who have lost their lives since last August 9th.
Are Canadian Forces still engaged in peacekeeping? Yes, there are presently more than 100 Canadian Forces personnel along with a like number of policemen and diplomats engaged in the about a dozen classic peacekeeping missions involving observation, mediation, and transitional support as well as any combination of those activities.
However, the world has changed and all of the Western World is focused on what have become peace support operations. Since the mid 1990s, the world has experienced conflict where there is often no peace to be kept or there is no guarantee that the deployment of forces engender a “peace to be kept.” Is the mission in Afghanistan peacekeeping? Yes and no. There is nothing routine or ordinary in Afghanistan where combat, peace enforcement and peacekeeping blend together. Soldiers, sailors and air personnel are involved in the full range of the three-block war: defence, diplomacy and development with any combination of combat and security operations, humanitarian assistance, reconstruction training, education and medical support. They are serving Canada as warriors, peacekeepers and humanitarians. The three-block war demands combat operations to bring peace and stability to create an environment where humanitarian aid and reconstruction can take place.
On every day around the world, members of the Canadian Forces serve Canada. Sailors, soldiers, and air personnel aboard ships in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, performing maritime interdiction and anti-piracy patrols; ashore in Afghanistan, Bosnia- Herzegovina, the Middle East, Congo, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Haiti, the United States, and across Canada from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island. The nature and the circumstances of their work is as varied as the locations where they serve. Most expect a routine day. Others check and recheck kit and equipment, communications, intelligence, weather, orders, and rules of engagement in anticipation of managing to the best of their ability what might be a day of organized chaos.
It was the same for all the men and women honoured by this cenotaph beside me. For the first half of the 20th century we speak of our “war dead.” Almost 110,000 sons and daughters of Canada died in the South African Wars, two World Wars and Korea. Many died in battle. Some died in training accidents, others of sickness. They all died in the service of our country.
The object of the Canadian Peacekeeping Veteran’s Association is to raise the level of consciousness of the work of 125,000 sailors, soldiers, and airmen whose service since the Korean War defined them as peacekeepers.
The seventh Book of Remembrance in the Peace Tower in our nation’s capital records the names of almost 1,500 valiant men and women in the Canadian Forces who gave their lives in service of Canada since October 1947 (excepting those already commemorated in the Korean Book of Remembrance). The Seventh book of Remembrance is a living document. It will hold the names of those who have given their lives “In the Service of Canada” for generations to come. It includes the names of those who we honour this evening.
No death of a member of the Canadian Forces, police officer, or diplomat in the line of duty occurs in isolation. The individuals whose names you will hear in a moment range in age from 20 years to 46 years and as it has always been, they gave up two lives … the lives they were living and the lives they would have lived.
International conflict is not just a clash of governments, driven by politicians, generals and admirals. The toil of solving international crises is the work of dedicated men and women with families – mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, daughters and sons. When a man or a woman falls in the service of our country, theirs is not the only life affected. I know these men and women well. It is important that we remember all those who have died in the service of Canada. – with pride and dignity – no matter what their service and their circumstance.
