Skip to main content

Peacekeeping not policing

I send a lot of letters. 

To help the message reach a little farther, I’ve decided to share them on my blog here so others can read these perspectives. 

This one is written by the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute with some additional commentary by me. CFPI will likely forgive me for plagiarizing their letter, especially if you click the link in the comments to sign and send your own version. You can enter your email address and send as is or go into the letter text and adjust the wording to match your voice and sentiments.

Dear Defence Minister Bill Blair,

Canadian pride is on the rise these days and folks are proudly sharing the old iconic Molson “Joe Canadian” commercial with the powerful line, “we believe in peacekeeping not policing.” Indeed. Contrary to the clamour, this is NOT the time to pour money into the well of destruction that is the military.

And certainly not to any support for the US military.

Until Donald Trump stops threatening to annex Canada the military should pause officer exchanges with the US military.

The US president’s insults, border musings and economic assault have stirred significant anger with many Canadians canceling trips to the US. At the same time dozens of Canadian soldiers remain on exchanges with the US military. They should be brought home immediately.

Military exchanges have been a way for the US to exert influence with US-trained officers even participating in many international coups. Over the past couple decades most Chiefs of the Defence Staff have been trained in the US including current head Jennie Carignan, who trained at the United States Army Command and General Staff College and the School of Advanced Military Studies, in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Historically, exchanges have entangled Canada in US belligerence. While attending US Army War College in Texas Walter Natynczyk, who later became Chief of the Defence Staff, deployed to Iraq in 2004 as Deputy Commanding General III Corps. Natynczyk commanded the Multi-National Corps in Baghdad - in charge of 35,000 international troops - despite Canada not formally participating in the Iraq war. We must ensure Canadians don’t participate in Trump’s ongoing attacks on Yemen or elsewhere.

Canada’s armed forces should halt officer exchanges until the US president stops his economic siege and annexation threats.

Labels:

Comments

kar0ling said…
To sign your own letter: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/no-officer-exchanges-with-trumps-usa
March 22, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Winnipeg Transit woes

  “We’ve increased support for municipalities year after year because we know strong communities depend on reliable, stable and predictable funding increases,” Municipal and Northern Relations Minister Glen Simard said in an emailed statement to the Free Press Tuesday. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2026/06/23/winnipeg-transit-needs-funding-boost-additional-staff-to-follow-new-provincial-accessibility-regulations-city-report This in answer to City of Winnipeg chair of Public Works Janice Lukes plea for the province to cough up money for the needed upgrades. Listen carefully because these are words I won't often say: I gotta agree with Lukes on this one. If the province is handing down new standards, given their higher capacity for raising revenues, they ought to help the city fund meeting said standards. What Simard fails to acknowledge is that those "year after year" funding increases started at the bottom basement after Conservative cuts and likely h...
Post a Comment
Read more

more journalistic malpractice from Canada's national broadcaster

The government has just rammed through legislation to turn Canada into a police surveillance state where all the democratic and processed based guard-rails have been removed.  They used some legislative loophole to force a vote on amendments without debate at a committee meeting at midnight. But this is what the front page of our national broadcaster's news site looks like. Do you see any mention of Bill C-22? Do you see any word of a midnight SECU session with a forced vote? Do you see any mention of MPs in tears at how democracy is being shredded before their very eyes? Do you see anything removing about all legal protections against having your data intercepted, read and kept on file (in a word of hackers and data breaches)? Do you see anything about how experts in Australia (who have already gone partway down the path Canada has just widened, flatted, and turned into a racetrack) are warning Canadians not to do this? No. The CBC is spineless. Just a mouthpiece for whoever wield...
Post a Comment
Read more

Carney's sound check

 The Liberals are advertising a summer survey. Let me Mr Carney know what you think! Of course, the multiple choice questions force you to give the answers Carney wants to hear, but fortunately, there's an open box for further comment at the end with a 2500 character limit.  I don't have all day to spend on this so it's a slightly in coherent rant, but I can't let this man think everything is fine while he turns this country into a totalitarian surveillance police state whose only industry is war-making.  https://action.liberal.ca/a-summer-sound-check/ Here's what I think, Mr Carney.  The things that "stand out" the most for me are the things that horrify the most. Every single thing Carney has done or championed since April 2025 is awful for ordinary Canadians (only good for Carney's investment portfolio). You can shove your AI. Yes, Canadians need protection from AI but your disgraced grifter of a "AI minister" is the last person to do that...
Post a Comment
Read more