How dangerous is Canada’s role in the international mission to fight the Islamic State?
Ask two Liberals who should know, and you get two different answers.
“Of course there’s an increase in risk,” said parliamentary secretary to defence minister John McKay, contradicting what the federal defence minister had been saying for days. “I think there has been an uptick in intensity.”
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, on the other hand, has been on the defence since a senior official revealed last week that Canadian soldiers are spending more time on the front lines and engaging in more firefights with the enemy.
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“What is different is that the mission has changed since the spring,” said Brig.-Gen. Peter Dawe, deputy commander of Canada’s special forces.
“It’s gone from a more defensive posture to a more offensive one … The key takeaway for Canadians is that we are more engaged at the line … And, by extension, the risk has increased to our troops.”
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Since that revelation last Thursday, Sajjan has refused to say publicly that Canada’s presence in what has been deemed a non-combat role has become more dangerous.
“Our troops are in no more danger than the first time they’d gone in,” Sajjan said Thursday.
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This update on the operation in Iraq was one of few the Liberals have provided since forming government in October 2015 – something the opposition Conservatives had been pressuring them about.
Canada’s mission against ISIS just entered its third year.
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Defence critic James Bezan on Sunday told Tom Clark the Liberals are “hiding under a curtain of secrecy,” keeping Canadians and Parliamentarians alike in the dark about the actions of the troops.
“Canadians deserve to know exactly what is happening on the ground as it unfolds, without compromising the operational security measures raised by the generals in … the briefing,” he said.
The Liberals’ lack of disclosure, however, is so that neither the mission nor the troops become compromised, McKay said.
“It’s not all a bunch of nice people who watch your show,” he said. “It’s actually some people from Daesh. So we’ve got to be very careful about what we say.”
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Bezan quickly shot back, arguing that ISIS is as sophisticated now as a year ago, when his party was in power – and offering more frequent updates on the mission.
“Nothing has changed,” he said. “They will get this information, either through social media, they’ll get this information because other coalition members will be reporting it to the public.”
The Liberal government withdrew Canada’s fighter jets from Iraq and Syria earlier this year. Approximately 170 special forces troops are continuing to work with Kurdish forces in the north of the country.
Though their mission has been billed as “non-combat,” the government says they can shoot in self defence. Some critics have accused the Liberals of tailoring the definition of combat to fit with promises made during last year’s election campaign.
With files from The Canadian Press
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