National Peacekeepers’ Day is observed in Canada each year on August 9 – a time to remember all those who have done so much for peace, security and human rights. 

National Peacekeepers’ Day was established in 2008 to provide an opportunity for Canadians to express the pride and respect they have toward personnel of the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and provincial and municipal police forces, as well as Canadian diplomats and civilians who have worked in support of international peace and security operations.  

August 9 was selected as National Peacekeepers’ Day to recognize the greatest single loss of Canadian lives on a peacekeeping mission, which occurred on that date in 1974. All nine Canadian peacekeepers who were on a United Nations-marked Canadian transport aircraft were killed when their plane was shot down by Syrian missiles during a regular resupply mission in the Middle East.  

Canada’s role in peacekeeping 

Since 1947, Canadian peacekeepers have served overseas in a variety of United Nations, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and other multinational task forces. Canada played a leading role in the peacekeeping movement from the outset.  

Since then, more than 125,000 members of the Canadian Armed Forces, and civilians, diplomats, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and members from Indigenous, provincial, municipal, and regional police organizations have participated in close to a hundred peacekeeping efforts around the world. One hundred and thirty Canadians have died during these UN operations. 

Lester Pearson, Secretary of State for External Affairs for Canada was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize for organising the UN’s first peacekeeping force in 1956. Comprised of roughly 6,000 men, the force monitored the withdrawal of British, French and Israeli troops from Egyptian territory after the Suez Crisis. You can read Lester B. Pearson’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech and learn about the work leading to his Peace Prize, and Canada’s contribution. 

Complex, challenging and dangerous work 

Peacekeeping is based on the idea that having a force of impartial troops present in a regional conflict can help reduce tensions and improve the chances of a peaceful outcome. But taking on these duties is complex and challenging work.  

Canadian Armed Forces members on international peace missions could be called upon to monitor ceasefires, patrol buffer zones, act as an intermediary between clashing groups, clear landmines, investigate war crimes, seize weapons, protect refugees and provide humanitarian assistance. 

But Canadian Peacekeepers have also been in some serious engagements, including getting shelled by artillery, and caught in firefights including in missions in Cyprus, where more than 33,000 Canadians served and 28 died there.  

Canadian soldiers went to the Balkans as a peacekeeping force, but soon found out that there was often very little “peace” to “keep”. Many CAF members came under fire, including intense action at the Medak Pocket in Croatia. Canadian troops saw their heaviest fighting since the Korean War during their time there. In the Balkans, 23 of our service members died and many more were injured, including from psychological trauma caused by witnessing the war crimes and atrocities committed against the civilian population.  

Peacekeepers receive the Peace Prize 

The Nobel Peace Prize 1988 was awarded to United Nations Peacekeeping Forces “for preventing armed clashes and creating conditions for negotiations.” This inspired the creation of the Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal (CPSM) to acknowledge the unique contribution to peace that Canadian peacekeepers have made since 1947. As of 31 December 2023, 78,056 Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medals have been issued. 

As a leading contributor to peacekeeping missions from the 1960s to the 1990s, Canada had an average of some 1,500 military personnel deployed on these efforts at any one time. Troops who serve in UN operations typically wear blue helmets or berets—iconic headwear that has come to symbolize peacekeeping for many people. At the peak of our country’s peacekeeping participation in the early 1990s, nearly 4,000 Canadians were serving under the UN flag. 

Peacekeeping failures 

Canada’s international reputation took a blow in the early 1990s. While participating in a peacekeeping mission in Somalia in March 1993, members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment shot and killed a Somali man who was looting the compound, and 12 days later tortured and murdered a Somali teenager who was taking food and water that had been left as bait for thieves. The resulting scandal and inquiry dominated Canadian politics for years.  

From 1993 to 1995, Canada was a leading contributor to a series of United Nations peacekeeping missions in Rwanda. However, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), led by Canadian Major-General Roméo Dallaire, was powerless to prevent the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans in 1994. The UN’s failure to heed Dallaire’s warnings about an impending genocide and its unwillingness to intervene decisively once the killings started damaged its reputation and that of important member states. 

Peacekeeping today 

In 1992, Canada ranked third in the world for number of peacekeepers, behind France and the UK. As of June 30, 2024, according to UN figures, there were 44 Canadian peacekeepers deployed on UN missions to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, among other missions. 

This downward trend in the number of peacekeepers is not limited to Canada: based on UN data, Canada currently has more active peacekeepers than the United States, which has 27 deployed. Current UN data shows France’s and the UK’s current contributions as 727 and 270 peacekeepers, respectively. Today, Nepal and India are the leading nations, contributing 6,000+ peacekeepers each to UN missions.  

The next phase of peacekeeping 

While more than 70,000 military and police peacekeepers serve in UN missions, women account for less than 8% of uniformed personnel. Launched by Global Affairs Canada in 2017, the Elsie Initiative focuses specifically on uniformed women serving in police and military roles, with the goal to help increase the meaningful participation of women in UN peace operations. The initiative supports research and provides funding to enable more uniformed women to meaningfully deploy to and participate in peace operations. 

More than half of current UN peacekeeping operations take place in countries where child soldiers are used. In 2017, co-developed with the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, Canada launched The Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers. The principles are a set of political commitments aimed at preventing and addressing the recruitment and use of children by armed forces and armed groups during UN peacekeeping operations. Fifty-five UN Member States were founding endorsers of the Vancouver Principles. The number of endorsing countries is now over 100. 

A changing mindset about peacekeeping 

In an interview last year with CTV News, Lieutenant-General (retired) and former senator Roméo  Dallaire pointed to a changing mindset about peacekeeping. A sense of responsibility to protect others, he said, has changed, with priorities shifting away from lasting peace globally, and more to domestic self-interest. 

“What we’re still seeing now is a reticence of taking risks, of fear of casualties, and not providing the level of resources and people capable of not just stopping a conflict, but actually preventing conflicts from happening,” he said. “That, I fear, is a long way down the road, still.” 

Learn more about peacekeepers and Peacekeepers’ Day 

  • During the Rwandan genocide, Lt. General (retired) Dallaire confronted the unthinkable: children recruited and used to commit atrocities. Due to this experience, he suffered moral and operational stress injuries which ultimately led to his commitment to destigmatize post-traumatic stress disorders among veterans and end the recruitment and use of children worldwide. Learn about the work of the Dallaire Institute for Children, Peace, and Security, and the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers.