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5 things to know about Canada’s expanded mission against ISIS

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper stands to vote in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa March 30, 2015. Parliamentarians voted to expand Canada's military mission against Islamic State by launching air strikes against the militants' safe havens in Syria as well as Iraq. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

1) Original efforts to fight ISIS

On October 7 of last year, Canada’s Parliament adopted a motion in support of Canada joining the U.S.-led coalition, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Turkey, France, Germany, Poland, Italy and Denmark, against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The vote, supported by the Conservative majority in the House of Commons and with the help of some independent MPs, passed with 157 in favour and 134 against. All NDP and Liberal MPs, aside from Irwin Cotler who abstained, voted against the motion.

The original motion covered a 6-month time frame for air operations in the Middle East. Canada devoted 69 special forces operatives to advise Kurdish peshmerga fighting ISIL, as well as 6 CF-18 fighter jets, one refuelling aircraft and two surveillance aircrafts.

2) New mission

The House of Commons voted 142 to 129, with NDP, Liberals and Greens voting nay, Monday evening to extend Canada’s mission against ISIL for another 12 months. The motion, tabled by foreign minister Rob Nicholson, also expands where Canada is conducting airstrikes, into Syrian airspace.

The House of Commons foreign affairs committee, in a report tabled in the House of Commons that same day, said that Canada cannot ignore the threat posed by ISIL. So far, the report noted, the international coalition fighting ISIL has focused primarily on Iraq.

“However, no matter how seemingly intractable the general situation in neighbouring Syria may be, it cannot be overlooked that ISIL is active in both Syria and Iraq, and does not respect borders,” the report said. “Ultimately, defeating ISIL will require defeating them on the ground in Syria and achieving a political solution to the longstanding conflict in Syria.”

3) Legal questions

Critics say the extended mission — moving over into Syrian territory — is illegal under international law without UN Security Council authorization, or without a request for security assistance from Syria’s government.

The government, however, contends that the mission is legal. Conservatives cite Article 51 of the UN Charter that says countries have the right to self defence if an armed attack occurs against them.

“As a result of ISIL’s specific threats against Canada and Canadians, our Government has worked closely for the past six months as part of a broad international Coalition, including our closest allies, to help degrade and disrupt ISIL’s ability to inflict harm,” Harper said in a statement released after the vote on Monday evening.

“While the Coalition has succeeded in stopping ISIL’s territorial spread, the global threat that ISIL poses remains. In particular, we cannot stand on the sidelines while ISIL continues to promote terrorism in Canada as well as against our allies and partners, nor can we allow ISIL to have a safe haven in Syria.”

4) Humanitarian aid efforts

Many MPs in the House of Commons, including those from the NDP and Liberal party, want to see more of a focus on diplomatic and humanitarian work to counter ISIL in the Middle East, and outside groups have criticized the Harper government should be planning for more co-ordinated, long-term aid strategies.

An NDP amendment to the main motion — that would take Canadian forces out of combat and put Canada’s efforts fully into humanitarian work — failed when it came to a vote in the House.

Defense minister Jason Kenney has noted that Canada has already earmarked over $60 billion for aid in Iraq and a few hundred million towards Syrian aid, although he said there will be no new aid packages coming.

The foreign affairs committee report recommended that more be done to development and humanitarian efforts to combat ISIL in the region, as well as for the government to continue the aid work it’s already doing.

5) How Assad complicates things

The connections between ISIL and rebels in the deadly civil war — against Bashar al-Assad and his government — taking place in Syria is a concern for many. Although ISIL predates the Syrian civil war and knows no territorial boundaries, efforts to degrade the group is considered, in a roundabout way, a boon for Assad; as if Canada is helping a dictator who is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of his country’s civilians.

“We do not want to admit that if we are successful in Syria, we will have made Bashar al-Assad secure by removing a dreadful force that also happens to be against him,” said Green Party leader Elizabeth May in the House of Commons last week.

The foreign affairs committee report recognized the complications presented by moving into Syrian territory.

“When considering the optimal course of action in Syria, there are seemingly no certain or easy fixes with respect to the policy options,” the report read.

“The difficulty in devising a policy that can simultaneously address the crimes of the Assad regime, check the influence of extremist groups, prevent a splintering of the country, and facilitate a political transition that culminates in a viable governance model accepted by all Syrians, cannot be overstated.”

The report contains 16 specific recommendations, ranging from contributing to UN efforts to block financial resources going to ISIL, to working with academic partners in creating scholarships to help young people from the Middle East and North Africa study in Canada, to working with international partners to counter ISIL’s extremist messaging, to providing support to help strengthen political institutions in Iraq.