Halifax was the focal point of international discussions on security and defence during the ‘Halifax International Security Forum‘.
The conference invited over 300 military and political leaders to the port city, where democratic nations discussed everything from climate security to the crisis in Syria.
“This forum is about finding ways to bring about peaceful solutions, to bring an end to conflict. To look at places like Syria and Afghanistan where Canada has made a significant contribution and find a way to bring those conflicts to an end,” Peter Mckay said, the forum’s founder.
The conference, in its eighth year, is also the focus of annually protests put on by ‘No Harbour for War’.
READ MORE: ‘Anti-war’ demonstrators gather at ‘Halifax Peace and Freedom Park’
The group of demonstrators believe that the forum is misleading and is a ‘war conference’.
“It’s important to oppose warmongers, it’s important to oppose these NATO generals and their apologists,” Allan Bezanson said, with No Harbour for War.
One war zone that got discussed from a Canadian perspective was the current situation in Mali, Africa.
National Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said at the conference that there’s still a lot of factors to be discussed before Canadian troops get sent there to help protect peacekeepers.
“I’ve always said there’s significant risk in peace operations and this is not the peacekeeping of the past,” Minister Hajjan said.
He added that a decision will be made on sending troops to Mali by the end of 2016.
READ MORE: The West Block: NATO members must ‘pull up their socks,’ Halifax security panel hears
Despite the variety in security discussion topics, there was a re-occurring theme throughout the weekend — how president-elect Donald Trump may influence world affairs.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty in the room, a great deal of ambivalence,” Bessma Momani, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo, said.
“There isn’t a clear sense of what his policies are going to be, which of course in an audience that wants complete affirmation, they’re very much afraid of what may come next.”
READ MORE: Officials at Halifax security forum have wildly differing opinions on Donald Trump
That global uncertainty is exactly why McKay feels this conference is important.
“It places Canada right in the center of the discussion and it’s more than just the military and the diplomacy, it’s about being part of conversations that seek solutions to conflict,” he said.
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