International
Jack Guez / AFP / Getty Images
A drastic shift in Canada’s Middle East policy has put the country “on the map” of international armed groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), said one analyst, after two lethal attacks in the span of a week — one of which is said to have been inspired by the group.
“Canada seems to have gone far right” under the administration of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said Roksana Bahramitash, director of research for the Canada research chair in Islam, pluralism and globalization at the University of Montreal.
The Harper administration’s dramatic stance on Middle Eastern affairs, what analysts call an unprecedented departure from that of previous governments, which focused their diplomacy on aid and peacekeeping missions, “puts Canada in a position it has never been in before,” Bahramitash said.
Since Harper took office in 2006, Ottawa has sent funds to support the opposition in Syria’s ongoing civil war, expressed vocal support for Israel amid the ongoing offensive in Gaza and suspended diplomatic relations with Iran at a high point of tensions between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program.
“It’s likely we will see more [attacks], not less, unless we change our leadership,” said Bahramitash.
A fragmented left and a strong coalition of conservative parties have put conservatives like Harper in office and precipitated a hawkish turn in Canada’s foreign policy, said University of Toronto political science professor Aisha Ahmad. Canada’s next general elections will be held on Oct. 19, 2015.
This month Canadian lawmakers voted to join the U.S.-led airstrikes on ISIL in Iraq. On Wednesday the government said it would not back down from its role in the strikes, after Martin Rouleau — whom Harper called an "ISIL-inspired terrorist" — ran down two soldiers on Monday, killing one. On Wednesday, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a man who Canadian media say was also inspired by ISIL, gunned down a soldier at a national monument and attempted to kill others at Ottawa’s Parliament building.
Facing a sudden rash of national security threats, some analysts point to changes in Ottawa's reputation in the international community.
During the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980, after the U.S. severed diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic, the Canadian Embassy in Tehran helped secure the release of the hostages after 444 days in captivity. Harper, who did not respond to Al Jazeera’s interview requests, closed that embassy in September 2012.
Ahmad said she could not recall another occasion when Ottawa had “on principle of some sort shut down diplomatic relations with a government.”
“For the longest time, we had the credibility as a power to participate in international affairs as an honest broker,” said Ahmad. “We are no longer seen that way in the Middle East. That reputation no longer exists. Clearly, that is a product of dramatic actions the government has taken on its position on Israel” and other Middle Eastern affairs.
In Jerusalem in January, Harper was reportedly heckled by Arab lawmakers at the Knesset as he made a speech in support of the Israeli government. Amnesty International criticized Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, who has been vocal about Israel holding “such a special place in [his] heart,” for not condemning the Israeli bombardment of Gaza during the conflict this summer that left well over 2,000 Palestinians and 71 Israelis dead.
“Previous administrations have attempted to strike a balance between the sides of various Middle Eastern tensions,” said Daniel Hiebert, a professor at the University of British Columbia and a co-director of the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society. "The current government of Canada has a distinct policy on the Middle East compared to previous administration."
Bahramitash, who recently traveled along the Iran-Afghanistan border, believes that taking a clearer stance on Middle Eastern affairs endangers Canadians at home and abroad.
“I was told that as a Canadian citizen, I had to be careful,” she said, referring to her recent travels. “It used to be, if you have American citizenship, you are at risk. But now Canadian citizenship is very risky.”
Ahmad said that before, “we would all feel very proud having a Canadian flag on our backpacks traveling around the world,” but those days are gone. Canada no longer boasts the soft power of being an “honest broker.”
Hiebert, meanwhile, cast doubt on a possible link between Canada’s exploits abroad and recent attacks at home.
“ISIL is very adverse to the West in general,” he said. “There is anger toward the West in general among many extremists who’ve adopted a violent approach.”
Ahmad agreed that although Canada’s more militaristic approach to international relations with the Middle East puts it “on the map” with international armed groups like ISIL, it is too soon to determine the motives behind Rouleau’s and Zehaf-Bibeau’s actions.
Citing government figures, Hiebert said that 50 to 100 Canadian nationals have joined ISIL’s ranks in the Middle East. Some, he says, may have been radicalized in Canada. Rouleau reportedly had his passport seized after trying to travel to the Middle East to join ISIL’s fight.
Hiebert acknowledges that with Canada’s new stance on Middle Eastern affairs, the country has become more entrenched in fights like the ongoing battle with ISIL.
“When you are bringing the world into your country, you are inviting the issues of the world into the country,” he said. “We hope people will leave issues at the door. And the vast majority do.”
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