The Complexities of Canada's Peacekeeping Operations in Rwanda

This essay examines Canada's involvement in the United Nations peacekeeping operations in Rwanda, focusing on the UNAMIR mission and its aftermath. It explores the historical context, including the Rwandan genocide, and analyzes the successes and failures of Canada's peacekeeping efforts. The essay delves into the challenges faced by Canadian soldiers, including the psychological impact of witnessing the violence and destruction. It also discusses the political and social factors influencing Canada's approach to peacekeeping, such as the country's preference for multilateralism and human defense. Furthermore, the essay considers the decline in Canadian troop deployments in UN peacekeeping missions over time. The conclusion highlights the significance of Canada's role in the world and its approach to international interventions, ultimately assessing the complexities of Canada's peacekeeping legacy in Rwanda.

CANADA PEACEKEEPING IN RWANDA
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INTRODUCTION
 Canada is long been considered as a
peacekeeping country.
 It reflects supreme peacekeeping strategies and
practices.
 Canada’s participation in the United Nations (UN)
peacekeeping actions have failed to receive
significant appreciation.
 It has been accepted with self-interests instead of
altruism.
 Canadian government must get involved in key
enabling proficiencies and niche capabilities on
smaller degree.

UNAMIR ROLE IN RWANDA
 United Nations’
execution of
peacekeeping
undertakings in
African nation of
Rwanda continued
from 1993 to 1996
with the support of
UNAMIR.
 However, with the
robust back up of UN
mission to Rwanda,
the status quo in the
country led to more
damage in 1994.

ARGUMENTS ON LACK OF
EVIDENCES OF UNAMIR II
 Population of Hutus started to bloodshed millions
of the Tutsis and put away the Hutus.
 In such a status quo, UN soldiers demonstrated
major contribution in Rwanda.
 Contradictory statements claim to have found
adequate evidence on the courageous initiatives
carried on by the former Major General Roméo
Dallaire, UNAMIR (Galloway).
 However, no major information can be found on
the subsequent UNAMIR II Canadian undertaking.

UNDERSTANDING MENTAL DISORDER
TO THE OBSERVERS IN RWANDA
 Being continual bystander of severe harm
and destruction has resulted in increased
mental disorder to the observers in Rwanda.
 This kind of immense chaos and destruction
is seen to be extremely alarming and
outrageous legacies for Canada’s
peacekeeping agenda in Rwanda.

CONTINUATION
 Canada takes into account one of the most important
inheritances in United Nations peacekeeping of any Western
troop contributor (Carroll).
 Till 2014, small ratio of around 30 CAF personnel has been
deployed in only five of the UN peacekeeping missions (Richard).
 As per studies, involvement of Canadian Armed Forces in UN
peacekeeping missions have considerably decreased with
decreased number of Canadian troupers being deployed in major
UN peace support missions.

CANADA AND THE CANADIANS’ EQUAL
INCLINATION TOWARDS MULTILATERALISM
AS WELL AS HUMAN DEFENSE
 In contrast, studies have claimed
Canada and the Canadians to have
equal preference for multilateralism
as well as human defense.
 State benefits and welfare have
major impact in the policymaking
process of the nation in maintaining
peacekeeping agendas directed by
the United Nations.
 The national welfare has been
knowingly aided with utmost
assurance and multilateralism
before 2000s on the road to human
defense initiative (Levinger).

DISCUSSION ON STATE PROTECTION BETWEEN
THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
 Canada as well as other
Western security
commitment have been
experiencing common
enemies and accordingly
reinstated the communal
feeling (Magill).
 This accommodating
feeling has been
reinforced by the present
Conservative government
in Canada directed by
Stephen Harper who has
showed major enthusiasm
for the US reconciliation.

ARGUMENTS ON CANADIAN
SOLDIERS WITH PSYCHOLOGICAL
LEGACY
 The impact of Rwanda genocide has posed
great challenges for Canadian soldiers with
psychological legacy.
 While, it has been almost twenty years since
Rwandan genocide, Canadian soldiers have
not been able to overcome the destructive
and damaged experiences of the Rwandan
conflict (Thomson).

CONTINUATION
 Canadian soldiers have failed to successfully
deal with critical and damaged experiences
of the Rwandan conflict.
 Rwanda comprises of around seven million
people in 1994, with nearly 85% of
population belonging to Hutu racial
background.
 Notwithstanding the period of peace support
agenda that eventually followed the
massacres of the 1990s, the period of the
United Nation’s peacekeeping appeared to be
completed for Canada.

CONCLUSION
 Therefore, to conclude, it is extremely
evident that Canadians consider their nation
state to play imperative role in the world.
 Bearing in mind, the continual preferences of
Canada with robust actions and dislike
towards the UN intermediation with support
in Rwanda has eased the understanding that
reasons to which option of peacekeeping has
been more striking to Canada.

REFERENCES
 Pugliese, David " Profile: Romeo Dallaire's peacekeeping
nightmare. " Ottawa citizen. 14th January 2020. 2014. <
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/profile-romeo-
dallaires-peacekeeping-nightmare. >.
 Thomson, Sylvia "Rwanda genocide: Canadian soldiers
struggle with psychological legacy." Cbc. 14th January
2020. 2014. < https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/rwanda-
genocide-canadian-soldiers-struggle-with-psychological-
legacy-1.2598407. >.
 Young, Graeme. "Political decision-making and the decline of
Canadian peacekeeping." Canadian Foreign Policy
Journal 25.2 (2019): 152-171.
 Magill, Christine " Looking back at the Rwandan
genocide." The Walrus. 14th January 2020. 2019. <
https://thewalrus.ca/looking-back-at-the-rwandan-genocide/.
>.
 Melvern, Linda. A people betrayed: the role of the West in
Rwanda's genocide. Zed Books Ltd., 2019.

REFERENCES
 Carroll, Michael K. "Peacekeeping: Canada’s past, but
not its present and future?." International Journal 71.1
(2016): 167-176.
 Dallaire, Roméo, and Roger Sarty. "Shake hands with
the devil: the failure of humanity in
Rwanda." International Journal 59.2 (2004): 445.
 Galloway, Gloria " The forgotten Rwanda mission: how
Canada remembered genocide and failure, but ignored
the successes that came after." The Globe and
Mail. 14th January 2020. 2019. <
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-
rwanda-canada-veterans-forgotten-mission/. >.
 Sahajpal, Mridvika. "Re-Examining the Canadian
Commitment to Peacekeeping during the 20th Century."
(2017).

REFERENCES
 Levinger, Matthew. "Why the US Government
Failed to Anticipate the Rwandan Genocide of
1994: Lessons for Early Warning and
Prevention." Genocide Studies and Prevention:
An International Journal 9.3 (2016): 6.
 Lehmann, Ingrid. Peacekeeping and public
information: Caught in the crossfire. Routledge,
2018.
 Richard, Foot. " Canadian peacekeepers in
Rwanda.” 14th January 2020. 2019. <
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/arti
cle/canadian-peacekeepers-in-rwanda. >.
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