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Canada’s arms productionLargest companies get record orders in 2013-2014

Debris in spaceSpace Security Index 2014 is released

Peace in Iraq How can Canada contribute?

Military exportsSelected 2013 contracts or deliveries

Ploughshares MonitorThe

WINTER 2014 | VOLUME 35 | ISSUE 4

A quarterly publication of Project Ploughshares • Available online: www.ploughshares.ca

The lessons

First World Warof the

The Ploughshares MonitorVolume 35 | Issue 4

The Ploughshares Monitor is the quarterlyjournal of Project Ploughshares, the peace centre of The Canadian Council of Churches. Ploughshares works with churches, nongovernmental organizations, and governments, in Canada and abroad, to advance policies and actions that prevent war and armed violence and build peace. Project Ploughshares is affiliated with the MSCU Centre for Peace Advancement, Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo.

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ContentsWinter 2014

PROJECT PLOUGHSHARES STAFF

Kenneth EppsDebbie HughesTasneem JamalCesar Jaramillo

Matthew PupicWendy StockerBarbara Wagner

John Siebert Executive Director

3

6

13

16

20

Biggest contractors net record arms dealsCanadian military productionby Kenneth Epps

Meeting the challenge of space debrisSpace Security Index 2014 releasedby Cesar Jaramillo

Short-term gain for long-term painCanada and the challenge of Islamic Stateby John Siebert

WW I and democracy in CanadaLegacies and lessonsby Jamie Swift

Canadian military exportsSelected contracts or deliveries reported in 2013by Kenneth Epps

COVER: The first nursing sisters of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps to land in France after D-Day pose for a photograph in June 1944. Lieutenant Frank L. Dubervill. Canada. Department of National Defence. Library and Archives Canada, PA-204952

The Ploughshares Monitor | Winter 2014 3

Canada’s military industry received record-breaking orders from domestic and foreign customers during fiscal year 2013-14, according

to government sources. Prime contracts placed with Canadian-based companies by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) on behalf of the Department of National Defence (DND) and by the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) on behalf of foreign military agencies totalled $19,049,661,420 during the latest period (see Table 1).1 Previous annual totals for military prime contracts with Canadian industry have been less than one-fifth of this figure.

Most reported military orders go

to Canada’s largest contractors (see, for example, Epps 2013). In the latest reported year the concentration was more pronounced, largely due to two contracts of unprecedented value. PWGSC awarded a total of $3,589,432,249 in prime contracts on behalf of DND during fy2013-14. As detailed in column 5 of Table 1, 17 of the top 20 Canadian contractors received contracts to supply services and equipment to DND totalling $1,564,629,046 or 44 per cent of the value of all Canadian-based DND contracts for the year.

Foreign orders were exceptionally concentrated for the year. CCC awarded 99 per cent of $15.5-billion in orders for military goods and services to its nine

Largest Canadian military contractors win record orders in 2013-14

By Kenneth Epps

above: Prime Minister Stephen Harper tours General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada in London, Ont. in May. Jason Ransom/PMO

The Ploughshares Monitor | Winter 20144

CANADIAN MILITARY PRODUCTION

Rank Company Main office or plant CCC contracts* DND contracts** Total prime contracts

1 General Dynamics Land Systems Canada London, Ontario 14,834,605,494 79,100,000 14,913,705,494

2 Irving Shipbuilding Inc, Halifax Shipyard Halifax, Nova Scotia 0 287,511,485 287,511,485

3 General Dynamics OTS-Canada Repentigny, Quebec 64,762,410 172,872,041 237,634,451

4 MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates Ltd

Richmond, British Columbia 9,391,642 178,435,432 187,827,074

5 Calian Ltd Ottawa, Ontario 0 149,614,690 149,614,690

6 Serco Facilities Management Inc Toronto, Ontario 0 123,670,150 123,670,150

7 L-3 Communications Wescam Burlington, Ontario 122,888,514 0 122,888,514

8 Canadian Helicopters Limited Edmonton, Alberta 103,866,250 226,000 104,092,250

9 Canadian Base Operators Inc Scarborough, Ontario 0 89,143,139 89,143,139

10 Victoria Shipyards Co Ltd Victoria, British Columbia 0 87,583,727 87,583,727

11 Lockheed Martin Canada Inc Kanata, Ontario 2,711,543 74,796,557 77,508,100

12 Babcock Canada Inc Ottawa, Ontario 0 75,984,730 75,984,730

13 Discovery Air Defence Services Inc Pointe-Claire, Quebec 0 64,200,000 64,200,000

14 IMP Group Limited Enfield, Nova Scotia 0 61,282,605 61,282,605

15 GT Machining & Fabricating Ltd Napanee, Ontario 51,312,781 0 51,312,781

16 Thales Canada Inc Ottawa, Ontario 0 49,567,335 49,567,335

17 Dew Engineering & Development ULC

Ottawa, Ontario 0 41,596,805 41,596,805

18 Héroux-Devtek Inc Longueuil, Quebec 35,398,357 3,100,000 38,498,357

19 Cascade Aerospace Inc Abbotsford, British Columbia 36,198,435 0 36,198,435

20 Kelowna Flightcraft Limited

Kelowna, British Columbia 0 25,944,350 25,944,350

TOTAL for top 20 15,261,135,426 1,564,629,046 16,825,764,472Total for all Canadian-based contractors 15,460,229,171 3,589,432,249 19,049,661,420

*Prime contracts awarded by the Canadian Commercial Corporation on behalf of foreign military institutions **Prime contracts awarded by Public Works and Government Services Canada on behalf of the Department of National DefenceSources: CCC and PWGSC

Table 1: Largest Canadian military prime contractors 2013-2014 (all figures in Canadian dollars)


CANADIAN MILITARY PRODUCTION

largest contractors (see column 4 of Table 1).

General Dynamics Land Systems Canada alone received 96 per cent of the total in the two largest contracts in CCC’s history. With a combined value in excess of $14.8-billion, these contracts dwarf all Canadian military contracts in living memory (Epps 2014). In fact, more than three-quarters of the value of all military prime contracts—both foreign and domestic—went to GDLS.

GDLS Canada won contracts to supply armoured vehicles and related services to Saudi Arabia. According to the federal government, deliveries to Saudi Arabia will take place over a decade or more, suggesting an average annual production value of at least $1-billion. Consequently, for many years to come the value of Canadian weapons shipments to Saudi Arabia will rival the value of arms exports to the United States, the largest market for Canadian military contractors for more than half a century.

A substantial majority of the top 20 military contractors of Table 1 also appeared in top rankings of the recent past. Twelve were ranked in the top 20 for 2012-13 (Epps 2013) and an additional four appeared at least once in rankings for the previous two fiscal years. Only four—Serco Facilities Management, Canadian Base Operators, Thales Canada, and Kelowna Flightcraft—were new this year.

Just six of the top 20 contracted with both CCC and DND, which suggests that significant distinctions between domestic and export markets remain. In particular, Canadian shipyards—Halifax’s Irving Shipbuilding on the east coast and Victoria Shipyards on the west—are dependent on DND orders; few Canadian shipyards receive orders from other states. Other major contractors, such as L-3 Communications Wescam in Burlington, GT Machining & Fabricating in Napanee, and Cascade Aerospace in Abbotsford, depend on export orders and do not appear to be significant suppliers to

Canada’s armed forces.Half of the top 20 provide primarily

aerospace or avionics goods and services. MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates of Richmond was the sectoral leader during 2013-14, receiving major DND contracts to supply Raven “unmanned aerial vehicles” and to process surveillance data from RADARSAT satellites. L-3 Communications Wescam, the next ranked aerospace company, contracted to supply electro-optical systems for surveillance and targeting in U.S. military aircraft. Wescam was followed by Edmonton’s Canadian Helicopters, which was contracted to deliver helicopter services to the U.S. Air Force for the North Warning System.

A significant group at the top provides “contracted-out” services to DND. Fifth-ranked Calian Ltd of Ottawa provides medical services and sixth-ranked Serco Facilities Management received a contract extension for “site support services” at Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay. Canadian Base Operators will provide support services to military bases across Canada. Discovery Air Defence Services received DND prime contracts to train air force pilots.

The exceptional volume of military contracts is unlikely to be repeated in the near future. Less certain is whether this year represents the beginning of a trend to greater industry dependence on orders beyond North America. □

Note1. Canadian companies received additional military contracts, many unreported. These

included subcontracts with foreign (primarily U.S.) military contractors and prime contracts

awarded by foreign governments that did not involve the CCC. Although exact values

are not known, the additional contracts would add hundreds of millions of dollars to the

reported total.

ReferencesEpps, Kenneth. 2014. New facts confirm unprecedented size of Canadian arms sale to

Saudi Arabia. Blog, Project Ploughshares website, July 22.

-----. 2013. Largest Canadian military contractors, 2012-13. The Ploughshares Monitor,

Winter, pp. 4-5.

Kenneth Epps retired from Project Ploughshares in September 2014 after 28 years. He continues to work with

Ploughshares on a part-time basis as Policy Advisor for the Arms Trade Treaty.

[email protected]


WW I and the struggle for democracy in Canada

The Great War’s legacy can be found not on the killing fields of Flanders, but back on the home front

above: A crowd gathers in Victoria Park during the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919. Manitoba Archives, Foote Collection


THE LEGACY OF WW I

By Jamie Swift

A peace conference at a war museum? That sounds like one of those droll oxymorons, my favourite being “industrial park.”

This past September, however, I participated in a peace conference on World War I held at the Canadian War Museum. (When that museum was being planned, there was a concerted but unsuccessful push for it to be a War and Peace Museum.) The event was organized by the Group of 78, an Ottawa organization that promotes peace and justice in foreign policy, and Project Ploughshares.

The international conference had a “lessons learned” focus. The idea was to remember those 16 million killed and uncountable numbers wounded in what was called—at least until 1939—“The Great War.” But the organizers also decided that the best way of commemorating that titanic disaster is to reflect on ways of promoting peace a hundred years on.

“There can be no greater tribute to those who suffered and died,” they explained, “than reflecting on the experiences of those involved in the war, from key decision-makers to the infantry in the trenches, to try to learn from those experiences, and particularly to avoid their mistakes. Our aim should be to make better decisions today on matters of war and peace.”

Of course, today’s world is far different from that of the Great Power competition that gave rise to WW I.

Yet the patriotic jingoism that fuelled

the Great War is still with us, as are global rivalries and a never-ending race for resources and markets. And in 1914 warfare had already been modernized, industrialized so that mass, long-distance killing was the terrifying order of the day.

Long before drone warfare and cluster munitions, Vasily Grossman described “the usual smell of the front line—a cross between that of a morgue and that of a blacksmith.” Grossman survived World War II and was one of the last century’s foremost war correspondents. He witnessed the horror of Stalingrad, the battle that tilted the war in favour of the Allies.

The horrors of war may have changed in the 21st century. Yet horrors they remain, that much is certain. One part of the Ottawa conference asked, how did World War I change Canada? Which legacies of change remain with us, having altered the face of our country?

Defined by war?I became interested in issues around Canada and war in 2006 when Canada shifted to a counterinsurgency mission in Kandahar, Afghanistan. At the same time, it was becoming obvious that peacekeeping—once a linchpin of English Canadian self-identity—was on the wane. My curiosity increased as Canada’s failed military mission in Afghanistan unfolded. The Conservative Government, elected just before the shift to Kandahar, would quickly undertake a concerted “warrior nation” rebranding effort.

Part of this effort to reshape Canada’s

Kingston writer Jamie Swift is the author, most recently, of Warrior Nation: Rebranding Canada in an Age of Anxiety,

with Ian McKay. Their next book, The Vimy Trap, will explore the ways WW I is remembered in Canada. Swift is co-founder of www.peacequest.ca.

[email protected]


THE LEGACY OF WW I

(or at least English Canada’s) self-image involves picking up on—and amplifying—the theme of “a nation forged in fire.” According to this telling, World War I was not a futile holocaust. It was Canada’s war of independence. The birth of a nation. I have a Royal Canadian Legion ball cap that proclaims just that, along with the word VIMY in big, bold, gold letters. This myth-symbol complex, promoted as Canada’s Official Story, focuses on war as our country’s defining centrepiece.

Standing at the War Museum a hundred years after the start of that war, Prime Minister Harper (2014) claimed that the devastating battles that followed are a source of “deep national pride.” Stephen Harper glorified the war. “Canada as a truly independent country was forged in the fires of the First World War.”

My friend and co-author, historian Ian McKay, calls this the “Big Bang” Theory of Canadian History. According to the warrior nation creation myth, nations need wars to define their identities.

World War I certainly did change Canada. Some 66,000 were killed, with countless others spiritually and physically maimed. The WW I conference at the War Museum discussed how Canadians on the home front were spurred to political action in ways that altered the country forever.

The role of civil society in this transformation is a story rather different from the dignity-of-arms-and-martial-sacrifice narrative. These familiar tales tell us very little about the causes and consequences of the Great War—the lessons we can learn from the tragedy. Rather, they tell us what we should feel

about the war.

One hundred years agoLet’s consider Canada as it was in 1914.

Our country was a profoundly undemocratic place. The majority of people lacked even basic democratic rights. Women were barred from voting. Aboriginal people and other non-whites were similarly disenfranchised. As historian David Tough explains, “Elections were the privilege of a white and male minority.”1

WW I Canada was also fractured by inequality in the distribution of its fabulous bounty of natural wealth. Pro-business governments kept taxes low. Public services—especially to help the most vulnerable—were rudimentary at best. Indeed, public provision scarcely even existed, as an ethic of individualism held that it was up to the poor to look after themselves, with churches and private charities struggling to fill the gaps.

right: This portrait of staunch anti-militarist Agnes Macphail was taken in 1939.


THE LEGACY OF WW I

What experience and history teach is this—that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it. (G.W.F. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of History)

The Group of 78 and Project Ploughshares worked together to organize this conference in Ottawa in September. The goal was to bring together historians and commentators from civil society and the academic, diplomatic, and military communities to consider the “Great War” in relation to issues of contemporary international peace and security.

What can we learn from World War I to prevent armed conflict in our day, strengthen the tools of diplomacy and peacebuilding, inhibit the innovation of increasingly destructive weaponry, and reduce the stockpiles of costly weaponry?

The conference focused on efforts to prevent war up to 1914, technological innovation in WW I, Canada’s decision to go to war and its consequences for Canadian civil society, and ending the war and the failure of the peace.

World War I has a special significance in Canadian history. Together, Canada and Newfoundland (not yet part of Confederation) lost more than 68,000 soldiers—more than in all other wars combined, before or after World War I. More than 152,000 were wounded. Total casualties amounted to 2.7 per cent of the Canadian population at the time.

Of course, the legacy of the “Great War” goes far beyond Canada, beyond the number of dead and wounded and its traumatic impact on society at that time. The world of the 21st century is still struggling with the consequences of decisions made at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, including redrawn boundaries in Europe, the Middle East, and elsewhere.

Unquestionably, the world of 2014 is profoundly different from that of 1914, because the nature of war and peace in the 21st century has radically changed. For example, the devastation of a nuclear conflict would far surpass anything ever experienced in past warfare. However, as we mark the 100th anniversary of WW I over the next four years, remembrance should include a rededication to actually learning lessons from this conflict to prevent war in our day and build sustainable peace where conflict has spun out of control into armed violence.

The Group of 78 will publish a report of the conference proceedings early in 2015.

World War I and Lessons for Contemporary Policy on War and Peace

Canadian War Museum Ottawa, ON26-28 Sept. 2014


THE LEGACY OF WW I

The main source of Ottawa’s income was the tariff, widely despised in the agricultural west. Farmers knew it benefitted central Canadian manufacturers. Banks and railways were particular targets of populist resentment. Laissez-faire ideology was so strong that nickel from Sudbury was still making its way to Germany in 1916.

Although immigration policy tended to favour people from the British Isles, vital hinterland industries like mining and forest products relied on cheap labour from eastern and central Europe. State policy discriminated against those trying to form unions, further institutionalizing inequality.

In the Canada of 1914 the privileges of the affluent trumped the needs of the majority.

But democracy—both political and economic—is hardly static. It ebbs and flows. In 1990 the civil society-led Velvet Revolution had just won the day. Vaclav Havel, a key author of the demise of state socialism and first president of non-Stalinist postwar Czechoslovakia, addressed the United States Congress. U.S. politicians were basking in the aftermath of the Cold War’s end. The Czech essayist, poet, and philosopher warned the Washington politicians that full democracy is “no more than an ideal.” He told the surprised lawmakers that “you, too, are merely approaching democracy.”

When the Great War broke out, social movements—civil society, if

you will—were challenging the status quo, promoting democracy. Feminists were attacking institutionalized gender inequality and the gross unfairness of being denied basic voting rights. Workers’ movements were organizing for better wages and working conditions. Farmer-populists were gaining strength.

These movements were to make major gains as a result of the war. In this way, the Great War was, in part, the birth of a nation. But hardly in the sense of the patriotic “war of independence” story told by ball caps and leading politicians.

The birth of a nationThe main critique of the birth-of-a-nation story is that the war—and particularly the conscription crisis—fractured Canada along linguistic lines. And it certainly did just that.

By the spring of 1917 the Conservative government of Robert Borden was moving quickly toward conscription. It knew it had to erode widespread opposition to war profiteering articulated by a growing chorus of voices calling for “conscription of wealth.” So the Borden government brought in a limited Income War Tax. A weak tax, it was essentially a political gesture. Nonetheless, it was Canada’s first income tax, a foot in the door for fiscal fairness.

Then there was the infamous 1917 election. Conscription was the ballot issue. Borden’s government gave women—or some women—the vote. But “enemy aliens” were simultaneously

Despite repression of Aboriginal people from Batoche in 1885 to Oka in 1990, imperial misadventures from the Boer War and WW I to Kandahar, some Canadians really do believe that the military is always on the side of freedom and democracy.


THE LEGACY OF WW I

disenfranchised. This sleazy manoeuvre based women’s voting rights on what someone else (a male relative in the military) was doing. But, like the income tax, it was a foot in the door for democracy. A step toward Vaclav Havel’s understanding of democracy as something for which we must struggle.

On the angry farmer front, just before the 1917 election the Borden government exempted farm workers from conscription. But within a few months of gaining its pro-conscription majority, the government betrayed the farmers with an Order in Council making them subject to conscription. Canada’s formal political structure—two dominant

parties in English Canada—would change permanently. David Tough describes the “conscription-fuelled growth of farmer and labour parties.”

The immediate postwar period revealed profound shifts in the political landscape. Ontario elected a farmer-labour government under the United Farmers in 1919. Western populism exploded with the rise of the Progressive Party. No one symbolized the postwar changes more than the staunch anti-militarist Agnes Macphail.

The rural Ontario teacher joined the United Farm Women of Ontario and was elected as Canada’s first female Member of Parliament. She was the first

above: A candlelight vigil, co-sponsored by Project Ploughshares and Mennonite Central Committee Ontario, was held in the town square in Waterloo, Ont., on Remembrance Day.


president of the Ontario Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (forerunner to today’s NDP) and the first woman elected to the Ontario legislature. A pacifist who championed pensions for seniors and radical prison reform, Macphail denounced cadet training in schools for generating a “bombastic” military spirit of “toy soldierism.”

Political turbulence in the aftermath of WW I is not usually associated with the fiery Ms. Macphail. It is usually symbolized by the historical milestone that was the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. Worker organizing and resistance to the injustices of unfettered capitalism exploded during and after the war.

Legacy of WW IThis is the democratic—as opposed to the patriotic—legacy of WW I: a gradual broadening of formal democracy; an opening up of the political process; advances for women; and the recognition that the government could and should intervene in the economy in favour of the public good, not just private interests. Social movements animated by the home front injustices rampant during WW I helped to accelerate already existing political momentum that would, eventually, bring more social justice to Canada.

This interpretation challenges the Official Story, the dominant birth-of-

a-nation mythology. A variation of this patriotically correct story has it that we owe our freedoms to military efforts overseas. Despite repression of Aboriginal people from Batoche in 1885 to Oka in 1990, imperial misadventures from the Boer War and WW I to Kandahar, some Canadians really do believe that the military is always on the side of freedom and democracy.

This story performs vital ideological work. As David Tough shows, it shields militarism from critique. Yellow ribbons, support-our-troops imperatives define the military as inherently heroic. If we value democracy, the story goes, we should thank the soldiers who sacrificed themselves defending it against an alien threat. And we should support the latest war to which Ottawa dispatches them.

Yet it is clear that the Great War’s democratic legacy can be found not on the killing fields of Flanders and battles like Vimy and Passchendaele, but back on the home front. This is where Canadians organized to try to make their country a better, more democratic, more egalitarian place to live.

“How are we to remember the war and those who died in it?” asked veteran Canadian journalist Bob Chodos (2014) just as Ottawa’s $83-million program of war commemoration was starting. “The longest battle of the First World War, the struggle over its meaning, is still not over.” □

Note

1. My analysis of the political effects of World War I in Canada relies in part on Tough (2015).

References

Chodos, Bob. 2014. In the trenches. Inroads, Summer/Fall.

Harper, Stephen. 2014. PM delivers remarks on the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. Prime Minister of Canada website, Aug. 4.

Tough, David. 2015 (forthcoming). A better truth: The democratic legacy of resistance to conscription, 1917–1921. In Worth Fighting For: Canada’s

Tradition of War Resistance From 1812 to the War on Terror. Lara Campbell, Michael Dawson, and Catherine Gidney, eds. Toronto: Between

The Lines.

THE LEGACY OF WW I


Space Security Index 2014 is the eleventh annual report on developments related to safety, sustainability, and security in outer space. The definition of

space security guiding this report reflects the intent of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty that outer space should remain open for all to use for peaceful purposes now and in the future:

The secure and sustainable access to, and use of, space and freedom from space-based threats.

In this context, the threat posed by space debris, the priorities of national civil space programs, the growing importance of the commercial space industry, efforts to develop a robust normative regime for outer space activities, and concerns about the militarization and potential weaponization of space are critical issues covered by Space Security Index 2014.

Today the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is using the Space Surveillance Network to track more than 20,000 pieces

of debris 10 centimetres in diameter or larger. Experts estimate that there are over 300,000 objects with a diameter larger than one centimetre and several million that are smaller.

There is a growing risk that space assets may collide with one another or with a piece of orbital debris. As outer space becomes more congested, the likelihood of such events increases, making all spacecraft vulnerable, regardless of the nation or entity to which they belong.

In recent years, awareness of the space debris problem has grown considerably and significant efforts have been made to mitigate the production of new debris through compliance with national and international guidelines. Similarly, recent developments covered by the Space Security Index suggest that there is a greater willingness to share Space Situational Awareness data through international partnerships.

The use of space-based global utilities has grown substantially over the last decade. Millions of individuals rely on space applications on a daily basis for functions as diverse as weather

Meeting the challenge of space debrisSpace Security Index 2014 is released

By Cesar Jaramillo


SPACE SECURITY INDEX

forecasting, navigation, communications, and search-and-rescue operations.

International cooperation remains a key aspect of both civil space programs and global utilities. Collaborative endeavours in civil space programs can assist in the transfer of expertise and technology for the access to, and use of, space by emerging space actors. International cooperation can also help nations undertake vast collaborative projects in space, such as the International Space Station, whose complex technical challenges and prohibitive costs are difficult for any one actor to assume.

The role that the commercial

space sector plays in the provision of launch, communications, imagery, and manufacturing services and its relationship with government, civil, and military programs make this sector an important determinant of space security. A healthy space industry can lead to decreasing costs for space access and use, and may increase the accessibility of space technology for a wider range of space actors.

The military space sector is an important driver in the advancement of capabilities to access and use space. Many of today’s common space applications, such as satellite-based navigation, were first developed for military use. Furthermore, remote sensing satellites have served as a technical means for nations to verify compliance with international nonproliferation, arms control, and disarmament regimes.

However, the use of space systems to support terrestrial military operations could be detrimental to space security if adversaries, viewing space as a new source of military threat or as critical military infrastructure, develop space system negation capabilities to neutralize the space systems of other nations.

No hostile anti-satellite (ASAT) attacks have been carried out against an adversary; however, recent incidents testify to the availability and effectiveness of missiles to destroy an adversary’s satellite. Satellite resiliency measures include system redundancy, distributed architectures, and interoperability, which have become characteristics of, for example, some satellite navigation systems.

The ability to rapidly rebuild space systems after an attack could reduce vulnerabilities in space. The capabilities to refit space systems by launching new satellites into orbit in a timely manner to replace satellites damaged or destroyed by an attack are critical resilience measures. Smaller spacecraft that may be fractionated or distributed on hosts can improve continuity of capability and enhance security through redundancy and


rapid replacement of assets. While these characteristics may make attack against space assets less attractive, they can also make assets more difficult to track and could potentially hinder transparency in space activities.

The Space Security Index recognizes that the existing normative framework for outer space activities is insufficient to address the current challenges facing the outer space domain.

International instruments that regulate space activities have a direct effect on space security because they establish key parameters for acceptable behaviour in space. International space law, as well as valuable unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral transparency and confidence-building measures can make space more secure by regulating activities that may infringe upon the ability of actors to access and use space safely and sustainably, and by limiting space-based threats to national assets in space or on Earth.

While there is widespread international recognition that the existing regulatory framework is insufficient to meet the current challenges facing the outer space domain, the development of an overarching normative regime has been slow. Space actors have been unable to reach consensus on the exact nature of a space security regime, although specific alternatives have been presented.

Proposals include both legally binding treaties, such as the proposed Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of

Weapons in Outer Space, and of the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects (known as the PPWT), and politically binding norms, such as the proposed International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. The latest revised versions of each of these proposals were made public during 2014 and are included as annexes to the 2014 SSI report.

Space Security Index 2014 includes a brief Global Assessment analysis, which is intended to provide a broad analysis of the trends, priorities, highlights, breaking points, and dynamics that are shaping current space security discussions. The author of the current assessment is James Clay Moltz, professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

Expert participation in the Space Security Index is a key component of the project. The primary research is peer-reviewed prior to publication through various processes. For example, the Space Security Working Group in-person consultation is held each spring for two days to review the draft text for factual errors, misinterpretations, gaps, and misstatements. This meeting also provides an important forum for related policy dialogue on recent developments in outer space.

For further information about the Space Security Index, its methodology, project partners, and sponsors, please visit www.spacesecurityindex.org, where the report can be downloaded in PDF format. □

SPACE SECURITY INDEX

Cesar Jaramillo is a Program Officer with Project Ploughshares.

[email protected]

No hostile anti-satellite (ASAT) attacks have been carried out against an adversary; however, recent incidents testify to the availability and effectiveness of missiles to destroy an adversary’s satellite.


On October 3, 2014 a statement was sent by Project Ploughshares to the Government of Canada and

parliamentarians on the proposed military mission to Iraq. Entitled “Short-term gain

for long-term pain—Canada’s challenge in responding to Islamic State,” it cautioned against Canada’s joining the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq.

A military response to a non-state group using terror to achieve its goals, in the absence of a broader political

Short-term gain for long-term painCanada’s contribution to peace in Iraq and Syria and the challenge of Islamic State

By John Siebert

above: A young Syrian refugee child in al Marj village in Lebanon’s Beka’a Valley peers out of his makeshift window. Christina Malkoun/IRIN


CANADA AND ISLAMIC STATE

strategy to achieve a sustainable peace in the affected countries, can prolong the violence and lead to further harm. Military action can produce short-term gains, but add long-term pain for vulnerable civilians and targeted minorities already suffering in a conflict zone.

The motion authorizing Canada’s participation was passed by Parliament on October 7. It authorized the Canadian Armed Forces to send six CF-18 fighter jets, a refueling aircraft, and two surveillance aircraft to set up operations at a base in Kuwait for a six-month period. Canadian Special Operations forces are in Iraq as well in what is described as a training mission.

The role of Canada’s military presumably will be reviewed by Parliament and likely extended in April 2015. In anticipation of the next parliamentary debate, further consideration should be given to strengthening Canada’s non-military contributions to building sustainable peace in Iraq and the broader Middle East region.

The political evolution of IraqIslamic State, or IS (also known as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or ISIS) did not suddenly appear out of thin air. Iraq and Syria are deeply troubled and fractious countries, beset by violent conflict. Iraq has experienced military invasion and regime change. Syria is in the middle of a bloody civil war. Both require governments viewed as legitimate by their own people—governments that can compromise and address the grievances and demands of their various regions and the many minorities being targeted by violence.

Canada needs to find ways to strengthen the rule of law in Iraq and Syria. As a priority Canada should contribute to programs that create and strengthen democratic processes in Iraq and Syria through assistance to civil society and, where possible, state structures.

The United Nations and interventionThere is no denying the complexity of this conflict and the difficulty in sorting out with whom, and how, to find a negotiated means of ending the violence. Any international intervention—military, diplomatic, or humanitarian—must be embedded within a comprehensive, ethically defensible, and sustainable peace process. Canada’s military mission is being undertaken at the request of the Iraqi government, but in the absence of a credible international political framework to build sustainable peace in the region.

In these circumstances, experience tells us that the coercive use of force is far more likely to fuel conflict and the extremism underpinning it, rather than defeat it. Without doubt there will be delays and frustration in finding workable diplomatic solutions under the auspices of the United Nations, but Canada’s foreign policy must remain firmly grounded in the UN Charter and, more generally, in international law.

This will require sustained diplomacy that engages Canada and its coalition partners in talks with Russia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and others in the region. The commitment to diplomacy must equal or surpass the commitment to military options if the international community is to find its way beyond the violence currently being committed by IS.

Intervention to protect the vulnerableThe primary goal of a Canadian military mission should be the protection of vulnerable civilians, not the military defeat of IS or other insurgent groups. Civilians should be protected while a political process takes hold. This is in keeping with the principles of the responsibility to protect (R2P), although the invocation of responsibility to protect for this intervention is null and void in the absence of a UN mandate.

Canada’s political and military decision-makers must keep foremost in their minds the limitations and risks inherent

John Siebertis ExecutiveDirectorof ProjectPloughshares.

[email protected]



in such military intervention, which are particularly evident in the use of air power. Legitimate military targets for bombing are relatively few in areas now under the sway of IS.

Canada’s recent air support in the Libyan conflict provides an example of what does not work. While successful in the narrowest of terms—it led to the downfall of the regime—it also resulted in an ongoing civil war that is contributing to the destabilization of other parts of northern Africa, such as Mali.

The battle of ideasCanada also should consider how its proposed combat mission might, in fact, further the goals of IS. It seems likely that videotaped beheadings of Westerners were provocations by IS to draw the United States, Canada, and other coalition members directly into the fray. We need to

ask what IS gains by our military response.As UK commentator Dr. Paul Rogers

(2014) points out, military intervention by the United States and others could build support for IS—both at home and abroad. He challenges Canada and its allies to come to grips with radicalization in their own societies. To do so they must confront some of the grievous mistakes and wrong behaviour committed in the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and elsewhere that are exploited by groups such as IS and al-Qaeda.

Arms supplies and diversionIS is now fighting with U.S. weapons acquired by overrunning Iraqi army bases. The irony should not be lost on us. Canada currently is providing airlift assistance to deliver military supplies to Iraqi and other security forces fighting IS. The Royal Canadian Air Force is reported to have delivered almost 226,800 kilograms of donated military supplies to Iraqi security forces (FATDC 2014).

What steps has Canada taken to ensure that these supplies are not diverted to IS or other groups in the future? This question also applies to Canada’s $10-million in non-lethal security assistance that includes helmets, body armour, and logistics support vehicles.

Humanitarian supportThe Government of Canada’s 2014 provision of humanitarian aid and emergency supplies to civilians is welcome. Canada has committed more than $28-million to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, including $18.8-million for populations affected by civil unrest and $9.6-million for Syrian refugees (FATDC 2014). More is needed and should be offered.

The immediate needs of displaced people are paramount. Canada should make further offers to those in need to provide at least temporary resettlement in Canada, pending resolution of the conflict and their potential return.


Strengthening the observance of human rightsFreedom of conscience and religion are essential to open, peaceful, and democratic societies, particularly where different cultures and faiths come into daily contact. This is the reality throughout the Middle East.

It is important that Canada lead in the protection of human rights for all people in the Middle East by working with both established and emerging state and community leaders, giving special attention to the rights of minorities, women, and children. This work can be further reinforced by Canada’s Office of Religious Freedom.

ConclusionThe outcome of Canada’s participation in a combat mission against IS is uncertain. We could make matters worse. The government and all parliamentarians

should take the time necessary to consider whether the promised short-term gain from an air power-focused combat mission outweighs the potential for increased pain and suffering for those who are experiencing the brunt of the current violence. Non-military contributions should be at the forefront of Canada’s contribution to long-term, sustainable peace in Iraq and Syria. □

ReferencesForeign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada.

2014. Canada responds to the situation in Iraq,

September 7.

Rogers, Paul. 2014. Paul Rogers Security

Briefing: The Islamic State and its potential. Oxford

Research Group, October 7.

above: Situated next to the town of al-Malikyah in Rojava, Syria, Newroz camp was established to shelter Syrians displaced from the ongoing Syrian civil war. Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin/IRIN



Canadian military exports

Supplier Location Military product or service Contract value RecipientAdvantech Advanced Microwave Tech

Montreal, QC Military satellite communication network system for border security**

Not reported Brazil

Aeryon Labs Inc Waterloo, ON Scout unmanned aerial vehicle for Army Not reported Saudi ArabiaSouth Korea

Bell Helicopter Textron Mirabel, QC Bell 412EP helicopter for Air Force $10.7-million ArgentinaBell 412EP helicopters for Naval Air Force $37.5-million ColombiaBell 407 frames for Armed-407 helicopters** $12-million Iraq

CAE Inc Montreal, QC Hawk Mk127 aircraft simulators** Not reported AustraliaMaintain military aircraft flight simulators GermanyMaintain E-3A aircraft flight deck simulator NATOUpgrade Chinook helicopter simulators NetherlandsSupport for C-130H aircraft training devices** TaiwanImage generators for T-129 attack helicopter mission simulators**

Turkey

CMC Electronics Inc Montreal, QC Cockpit avionics for T-6C+ trainer aircraft** Not reported MexicoCockpit avionics for KT-1P trainer aircraft** PeruFlight management system and head-up display for PC-21 trainer aircraft**

QatarSaudi Arabia

Cockpit avionics for Archangel surveillance aircraft** United Arab EmiratesCascade Aerospace Inc Abbotsford, BC Sustain upgrade of C-130K Hercules aircraft $36.2-million MexicoEagle Copters Ltd Calgary, AB Bell 412EP helicopter for Air Force $7.9-million ArgentinaField Aviation Co Ltd Mississauga, ON Modify Lear Jet 35A for Air Force $1.8-million ArgentinaFLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd

Calgary, AB Flight information reporting systems for C-130 transport aircraft**

$0.25-million Middle East country

General Dynamics Canada Nepean, ON Unmanned surveillance aircraft ground control system software**

$32-million NATO

Sonobuoy processors for P-3C maritime patrol aircraft upgrade**

Not reported South Korea

Non-U.S. contracts

Selected contracts or deliveries reported in 2013


CANADIAN MILITARY EXPORTS

General Dynamics Land Systems Canada Corp

London, ON LAV III armoured vehicles with remote controlled weapon system

$64.4-million Colombia

L-3 Communications Wescam

Burlington, ON

MX-15 electro-optical/infrared imaging systems for EH101 helicopters

$4-million* Denmark

MX-15 electro-optical/infrared sensor for DA42 surveillance aircraft

$0.5-million* Niger

Lab-Volt Quebec Ltd Charlesbourg, QC

Training systems for military education institute

$10.9-million Peru

MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates Ltd

Richmond, BC

Surveillance information for ground commanders in Afghanistan

Multi-millions Australia

Space-based radar surveillance & intelligence information

$50-million Not reported

OSI Maritime Systems Burnaby, BC Navigation systems for diesel submarines** Not reported IndonesiaNavigation Systems for navy corvettes** Malaysia

Pacific Avionics & Instruments

Richmond, BC

Avionics support for UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter fleet

$2.3-million Brazil

Pratt & Whitney Canada Inc

Longueuil, QC

Super Tucano light attack aircraft engines** $20-million* AfghanistanC295 tactical transport aircraft engines** $2-million* ColombiaC295 tactical transport aircraft engines** $12-million* EgyptC295 tactical transport aircraft engines** $4-million* KazakhstanMaritime patrol AW139 helicopter engines** $2-million* MaltaAW109 reconnaissance helicopter engines** $4-million* MauritaniaT-6C trainer aircraft & AW109SP helicopter engines**

$18-million* Mexico

AW109 multi-purpose helicopter engines** $22-million* PhilippinesAW139 helicopter engines** $14-million* RussiaAW139 aeromedical helicopter fleet engines** Not reported Saudi ArabiaSuper Tucano light attack aircraft & AW139 helicopter engines**

$5-million* Senegal

Hurkus-B trainer aircraft engines** $15-million* TurkeyIomax Archangel surveillance aircraft engines**

$24-million* UAE

Raytheon Canada Waterloo, ON Work on SeaSparrow missiles for frigates** $0.7-million ThailandRevision Military Inc Montreal, QC Military eyewear kits $23.7-million* SwitzerlandUltra Electronics Dartmouth,

NSUpgrade underwater sound source system $1.1-million South Korea

*Estimated contract value **Subcontract with corporate prime contractor


CANADIAN MILITARY EXPORTS

U.S. contracts

*Estimated contract value **Subcontract with corporate prime contractor

Supplier Location Military product or service Contract value Recipient

AirBoss Engineered Products Inc

Acton Vale, QC

Chemical, biological, radiological & nuclear footwear Not reported Defense Logistics

Agency

Apex Industries Inc Moncton, NB Fuselage & wing parts for F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft** Not reported U.S. Air Force

Bell Helicopter Mirabel, QC MQ-8C unmanned helicopter frames** $4-million U.S. Navy

C A E Inc Montreal, QC MH-60S helicopter flight & weapons tactics trainers Not reported U.S. Navy

Celestica Toronto, ON Power & thermal system circuit boards for F-35 JSF aircraft** Not reported U.S. Air Force

Dominis Engineering Ltd

Gloucester, ON Water jet impellers for Littoral Combat Ships** Not reported U.S. Navy

Esterline C M C Elec-tronics Inc Montreal, QC Targeting system components for F-35 JSF

aircraft** Not reported U.S. Air Force

General Dynamics Land Systems Canada London, ON LAV-2 armoured vehicles for marines $23.6-million U.S. Navy

General Dynamics OTS-Canada

Le Gardeur, QC

40 mm cartridges for AC-130 gunship aircraft M2A1 cannon $32-million U.S. Air Force

I T L Circuits Markham, ON Lighting printed circuit boards for F-35 JSF aircraft** Not reported U.S. Air Force

L-3 Communications MAS (Canada) Inc Mirabel, QC Repair outer wing panels of F/A-18 fighter

aircraft** Not reported U.S. Navy

MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates Ltd

Richmond, BC Robotic manipulator arms and technologies $16.7-million

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Magellan Aerospace Mississauga, ON

Horizontal tails for F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (20-year program)** $1.2-billion U.S. Air Force


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