Younger Canadians reject peacekeeping role in Ukraine, Gaza: survey

Though involvement has diminished in recent decades, Canada has traditionally portrayed itself and operated as a peacekeeping nation since the Second World War .

Whether due to their efforts in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, or even going back to Lester B. Pearson’s instrumental and Nobel Peace Prize-winning role in de-escalating the 1956 Suez Crisis, the peacekeeper role became a core component of Canadians’ self-image.

But new polling for the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS) shows that when it comes to the current major global conflicts — the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel’s war on the terror group Hamas — that peacekeeping image may not be as deeply rooted for all Canadians.

Jack Jedwab, ACS president and CEO, told National Post that in an era where mega powers like the U.S., Russia and China yield increasingly more influence, “there’s some work to be done to determine how we feel about our own self-image and our own role in terms of these global conflicts.”

In a web survey conducted by Leger Marketing on Labour Day weekend, Canadian respondents were asked how much they agreed with the idea of Canada deploying peacekeeping soldiers to either region in the event that agreements bring an end to hostilities.

In the case of the Eastern European setting, it found a slight majority (53 per cent) think “Canada should consider sending peacekeepers even if it involves risk to their safety.” The same percentage of Canadians, meanwhile, disagree with the notion of participating in keeping the peace in Israel and Gaza.

Broken down by age group, however, there’s a divide in sentiment when it comes to Canada’s post-war involvement.

In the event of a Russia-Ukraine peace, a slight majority (53 per cent) in age groups 18 to 54 disagree with Canada playing a role, whereas 55 per cent of the 55-64 cohort and 66 per cent of the 65-plus (34 per cent) crowd think Canada has a part to play.

Should peace be achieved between Israel and Hamas, only the 65-plus cohort (53 per cent) favours Canadian peacekeeping involvement. All those younger, including 57 per cent of the 18-24 group, disagreed.

“They’re more opposed to it in terms of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than they are in terms of the Russia-Ukraine one, even though paradoxically there’s a lot more street and campus mobilization for the former one,” Jedwab said, “but that doesn’t necessarily translate into significant interest in supporting peacekeeping efforts.”

The survey also sought to understand how “directly affected” Canadians felt by either war relative to their American and European peers.

Canadians felt less directly affected overall and again, it was the younger cohorts that led the way, meeting or surpassing the national averages — including 66 per cent of the 18-24 group when asked about the Israel-Hamas war.

Jedwab said that while the same younger cohorts are often the ones leading public mobilization against Israel on streets and campuses, it may not paint an accurate picture.

“We need to be cautious and sort of put the street mobilization, which is not an insignificant thing, into that context,” he said..

As for why older cohorts are more engaged, he reasoned they’re likely getting their information from established sources and not relying on social media channels that are often “castigating” in how they present the news.

“It may also be a function of the perception, rightly or wrongly, that Canada can be more of a player in this thing,” he explained.

“To some degree, our perceptions around feeling affected are going to be influenced by the extent to which we actually think as Canadians we can have any impact on this, relative to say Europeans or Americans.”

Correlations between both sets of data for the two wars revealed that the more a respondent felt affected, the more they supported peacekeeping. Those who felt less affected were less willing to support it.

Jedwab concluded that while “it would be nice to see Canadians support” any future peace in either afflicted area, the results show that Ottawa could face a challenge because “Canadians seem to be rather divided about the matter.”

The (Aug. 29-31) survey of 1,62 respondents was conducted via web panel and would have a comparative margin of error of +2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

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