Creating Canada's Peacekeeping Past

Creating Canada's Peacekeeping Past
Author: Colin McCullough
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Canada
ISBN: 9780774832496

Creating Canada's Peacekeeping Past illuminates how Canada's participation in United Nations' peacekeeping efforts from 1956 to 1997 was used as a symbol of national identity - in Quebec and the rest of the country. Delving into four decades of documentaries, newspaper coverage, textbooks, political rhetoric, and more, Colin McCullough outlines the continuity and change in the production and reception of messages about peacekeeping. Engaging in debates about Canada's international standing, as well as its broader national character, this book is an ingeniously conceived addition to the history of the changing Canadian identity.

The Politics of War

The Politics of War
Author: Jean-Christophe Boucher
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2017-10-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 077483630X

When the Canadian government committed forces to join the military mission in Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, little did it foresee that this decision would involve Canada in a war-riven country for over a decade. The Politics of War explores how, as the mission became increasingly unpopular, Canadian politicians across the political spectrum began to use it to score points against their opponents. This was “politics” with a vengeance. Through historical analysis of the public record and interviews with officials, Jean-Christophe Boucher and Kim Richard Nossal show how the Canadian government sought to frame the engagement in Afghanistan as a “mission” rather than what it was – a war. They examine the efforts of successive governments to convince Canadians of the rightness of Canada’s engagement, the parliamentary politics that resulted from the increasing politicization of the mission, and the impact of public opinion on Canada’s involvement. This contribution to the field of Canadian foreign policy demonstrates how much of Canada’s war in Afghanistan was shaped by the vagaries of domestic politics and political gamesmanship.

Creating Canada’s Peacekeeping Past

Creating Canada’s Peacekeeping Past
Author: Colin McCullough
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2016-07-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 0774832517

Peacekeeping. Despite efforts to relegate it to the past, what was once a central pillar in Canada’s national identity has been making a comeback in recent years. Creating Canada’s Peacekeeping Past illuminates how participation in the United Nations’ peacekeeping efforts from 1956 to 1997 became central to national self-identification in both English and French Canada. Delving into four decades’ worth of political rhetoric, newspaper coverage, textbooks, and more, Colin McCullough outlines continuity and change in the production and reception of messages about peacekeeping. He demonstrates that those who produced messages about peacekeeping often overlooked the particularities of individual missions, preferring to link their cultural products to political discourses about national identity. Engaging in debates about Canada’s international standing, as well as its broader national character, this book is a welcome addition to the history of Canada’s changing national identity.

Pearson's Peacekeepers

Pearson's Peacekeepers
Author: Michael K. Carroll
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0774858869

In 1957, Lester Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize for creating the United Nations Emergency Force during the Suez crisis. The award launched Canada's enthusiasm and reputation for peacekeeping. Pearson's Peacekeepers explores the reality behind the rhetoric by offering a detailed account of the UNEF's decade-long effort to keep peace along the Egyptian-Israeli border. While the operation was a tremendous achievement, the UNEF also encountered formidable challenges and problems. This nuanced account of Canada's participation in the UNEF challenges perceived notions of Canadian identity and history and will help Canadians to accurately evaluate international peacekeeping efforts today.

Give Me Shelter

Give Me Shelter
Author: Andrew Paul Burtch
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2012
Genre: History
ISBN: 0774822406

What do you do when a nuclear weapon detonates nearby? During the early Cold War years of 1945-63, Civil Defence Canada and the Emergency Measures Organization planned for just such a disaster and encouraged citizens to prepare their families and their cities for nuclear war. By the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the civil defence program was widely mocked, and the public was vastly unprepared for nuclear war. Canada’s civil defence program was born in the early Cold War, when fears of conflict between the superpowers ran high. Give Me Shelter features previously unreleased documents detailing Canada’s nuclear survival plans. Andrew Burtch reveals how the organization publicly appealed to citizens to prepare for disaster themselves -- from volunteering as air-raid wardens to building fallout shelters. This tactic ultimately failed, however, due to a skeptical populace, chronic underfunding, and repeated bureaucratic fumbling. Give Me Shelter exposes the challenges of educating the public in the face of the looming threat of nuclear annihilation. Give Me Shelter explains how governments and the public prepared for the unexpected. It is essential reading for historians, policymakers, and anybody interested in Canada’s Cold War home front.

Canada on the United Nations Security Council

Canada on the United Nations Security Council
Author: Adam Chapnick
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2019-09-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0774861649

As the twentieth century ended, Canada was completing its sixth term on the United Nations Security Council, more terms than all but three other non-permanent members. A decade later, Ottawa’s attempt to return to the council was dramatically rejected by its global peers, leaving Canadians – and international observers – shocked and disappointed. This book tells the story of that defeat and what it means for future campaigns, describing and analyzing Canada’s attempts since 1946, both successful and unsuccessful, to gain a seat as a non-permanent member. It also reveals that while the Canadian commitment to the United Nations itself has always been strong, Ottawa’s attitude towards the Security Council, and to service upon it, has been much less consistent. Impeccably researched and clearly written, Canada on the United Nations Security Council is the definitive history of the Canadian experience on the world’s most powerful stage.

Canada and UN Peacekeeping

Canada and UN Peacekeeping
Author: Sean M. Maloney
Publisher: Harwood Academic Publishers
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2002
Genre: Forces de maintien de la paix - Canada - Histoire - 20e siècle
ISBN: 9781551250885

Canoe Nation

Canoe Nation
Author: Bruce Erickson
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2013-06-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0774822503

More than an ancient means of transportation and trade, the canoe has come to be a symbol of Canada itself. In Canoe Nation, Bruce Erickson argues that the canoe’s sentimental power has come about through a set of narratives that attempt to legitimize a particular vision of Canada that overvalues the nation’s connection to nature. From Alexander Mackenzie to Grey Owl to Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the canoe authenticates Canada’s reputation as a tolerant, environmentalist nation, even when there is abundant evidence to the contrary. Ultimately, the stories we tell about the canoe need to be understood as moments in the ever-contested field of cultural politics.

Canada, the Congo Crisis, and UN Peacekeeping, 1960-64

Canada, the Congo Crisis, and UN Peacekeeping, 1960-64
Author: Kevin A. Spooner
Publisher: UBC Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0774858958

In 1960 the Republic of Congo teetered near collapse as its first government struggled to cope with civil unrest and mutinous armed forces. When the UN established a peacekeeping operation to deal with the crisis, the Canadian government faced a difficult decision. Should it support the intervention? By offering one of the first detailed accounts of Canadian involvement in a UN peacekeeping mission, Kevin Spooner reveals that Canada’s involvement was not a certainty: the Diefenbaker government had immediate and ongoing reservations about the mission, reservations that challenge cherished notions of Canada’s commitment to the UN and its status as a peacekeeper.

The Lamb and the Tiger

The Lamb and the Tiger
Author: Stanley R. Barrett
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 199
Release: 2018-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1487522630

This book focuses on the broad implications of the transformation of Canada from a peacekeeping to a war-making nation during the Conservative Party's recent decade in power. Funds were poured into the Canadian Forces, and a newly militarized nation found itself entrenched in conflicts around the globe. For decades, Canada had played a leading role in UN peacekeeping, and when the Cold War ended, the prospect of international harmony was infectious. Yet in short order hostilities erupted in the failed states of Rwanda, Somalia, and the Balkans; terrorism - including 9/11 - raised its head; and Iraq and Afghanistan became war zones. In the face of these immense challenges, the UN was dismissed by its opponents as irrelevant. Structured around an anti-war perspective, The Lamb and the Tiger critically examines the ageless genetic and more recent cultural (civilizational) explanations of war, concluding with a close look at the impact of war and right-wing politics on women and Indigenous peoples. The Lamb and the Tiger encourages Canadians to think about what kind of military and what kind of country they really want.