Chapter 1 – Security in an Uncertain World

Section 1.1 – Introduction

What does it mean for a person to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF)? Why does Canada have a professional military, composed of volunteers? What does it mean to be a member of the Profession of Arms in Canada? Fighting Spirit: The Profession of Arms in Canada, as a part of the capstone series of CAF doctrine, will examine these questions by laying out both the case for the profession of arms in Canada and describing what this means for all who serve Canada in military uniform.

Fighting spirit is an important attitude. It is not a mentality of always looking for a fight. Rather it is an attitude of determination, perseverance – a sense of grit – that all members of the profession of arms must apply to whatever duty, role or function they serve. This attitude must be a constant feature of all members of the profession of arms because the international environment in which CAF members operate is a competitive one with varying degrees of risk and uncertainty posed by the various threats to Canada and Canadian interests. The will to succeed in this context must be developed and sustained.

This publication aims to speak to all members of the profession of arms whether operating at the tactical, operational or strategic levels. This publication is designed to state the expectations for military professionals as well as explain how the profession of arms works with the Government of Canada to defend this nation and its interests. In short, this is a statement about what it means to be a member of the CAF: a member of the Profession of Arms.

Fighting Spirit begins by making the case for a profession of arms capable of accomplishing a wide range of tasks as part of the broader national security community while retaining its core responsibility for the defence of Canada by ensuring its warfighting ability. It describes what constitutes the profession of arms and how it applies to Canada’s national defence efforts. Finally, it sets out the context within which the CAF Ethos sits, completing the work first started in Trusted to Serve and adding additional depth to the reasons behind the approach taken in Trusted to Serve.

Section 1.2 – The Role of Government in Protecting Canadians

The body of work on the growing global insecurity is vast and even, at times, contentious. An examination of these ideas, trends and arguments is beyond the scope of this book. However, based on the analysis as part of this project, three features stood out as the catalysts to the increasing competition and indeed conflict between states, non-state actors and other organizations around the world today.

Accelerating technological advances, a changing climate and global population pressures are the root causes of the inequality and ideological conflicts behind modern competition and conflict. These disruptions are increasing the unpredictability of countries, international organizations, corporations, and the people who lead them, creating profound uncertainty for Canada. This uncertainty exacerbates an international system characterized by strategic competition with everyone seeing each other as sources of potential insecurity. International norms in place since the end of the Second World War are increasingly viewed with skepticism by many parties. As well, events and issues that once were viewed as historical artefacts are once again driving insecurity. The international environment is one of competition and conflict^{Footnote 1}. What has not changed, however, is the role of the Canadian government in this context.

One of the main purposes of government is to provide security – a freedom from care as the Latin origins of the word suggest^{Footnote 2} – for the people who live and work in the country being governed. The first and most important role of government is to protect its citizens from the range of threats posed by an insecure world so that Canadians can thrive and prosper. It is this protection that underwrites a large part of the government’s legitimacy – both at home and abroad – as well as Canada’s prosperity in general.

To meet the objective of protecting Canada there exists an evolving and growing national security community. Beginning with one of the three central agencies^{Footnote 3}, the Privy Council Office (PCO) assesses and disseminates national security and intelligence information to Cabinet. Expanding outward, the community includes those departments and agencies responsible for the collection and assessment of intelligence of all manner, including financial information. Well-known agencies such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) or the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) are major contributors to this collection and assessment. In addition, other agencies such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) or the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) are charged with community engagement, operations and enforcement of security within Canada. Given the evolution of threats with a national security nexus, many other departments, from finance, to agriculture, to transport, are being implicated in the national security enterprise.

Several departments – such as the Department of National Defence (DND) and the CAF or Canada’s foreign affairs agencies and departments – have explicit national security functions^{Footnote 4}. A key element of national security is national defence. DND is charged to “defend Canadian interests at home and abroad.”^{Footnote 5} In order to achieve this mandate, DND supports the CAF as the operational arm of national defence. In all, over a dozen agencies and departments constitute the national security and intelligence community in Canada. National security is a team effort and DND and the CAF are but one part of the team.

Section 1.3 – Emergence of the Military Profession

War is a brutal undertaking. The intentional, organized application of violence at scale is something for which a military professional must always prepare. Only the dead, the saying goes, have seen the end of war.^{Footnote 6}Major conflict leaves a legacy in the minds of the participants and survivors for the rest of their lives. As a result, the study of armed conflict has emerged not only to understand why it occurs,^{Footnote 7} but how it can be avoided or prevented.^{Footnote 8} One must not forget, however, that militaries are also charged with studying how to prosecute armed conflict, should it occur.^{Footnote 9}

Over the course of history, the military has evolved as an organization dedicated to the study, prevention and conduct of legitimate organized violence. What makes such efforts legitimate is the presence of controls on how the violence is conducted. These controls include not only laws and policies, but also rules, norms and practices that are authorized by government and then enforced through a chain of command from the senior-most admirals and generals down through the ranks to the newest trained member.^{Footnote 10} Adherence to such controls, especially in the face of combatants who lack such controls, remains one of the highest standards of professionalism. In short, the CAF’s ability to conduct operations and activities will vary depending on the nature of the government-approved mission, the authorities granted, the applicable Canadian and international law, direction, ethics, doctrine and policy.

Because a military is created and controlled by the state, it is given an initial degree of legitimacy to defend the state and its interest through its monopoly on the use of coercive means.^{Footnote 11} However, this authority is as much dependant upon the actions of the military as it is rooted in the norms, laws and policies of the state which control the actions of the military. If the military fails to act in the state’s best interest or fails to conduct itself in a manner consistent with the norms and values of the state, the military loses the legitimacy conferred upon it. By action or omission, a military can have a great deal of influence on the degree of trust that it enjoys.

Who, then, should serve in the military? Is it an obligation of citizenship or should it be based on the idea of voluntary service? Or is it some combination of the two? Given the gravity of the task, it is worthwhile to engage with these questions to understand who serves, and why.

A Legacy of Citizen-soldiering

In general terms, citizen-soldiers are those who, while leading civilian lives, volunteered or were driven to defend their communities and countries when faced with external threats. Either way, the profession of arms was not their primary calling, but rather, service was accepted as a responsibility of citizenship.  To preserve the self-determination and sovereignty of the country, the government must allocate resources to maintain a capable military, and this includes ensuring sufficient people fill the ranks required for national defence.^{Footnote 12} Tying service to citizenship is one such means to ensure that the military is ready when needed.

This citizen-soldier idea is deeply rooted in history and finds resonance in traditions that predate European contact. In a parallel development to what was happening in Eurasia, Indigenous societies across North America recognized the need for warfighting but also that certain separations be in place between warfighting and what scholars refer to as the “normal politics”^{Footnote 13} of peacetime. As but one example, according to the 37th Wampum of the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace, war chiefs were appointed just for the purpose of prosecuting a war. Upon the conclusion of the conflict, leadership would return to a peace chief and the normal politics would resume.^{Footnote 14} This practice was not unique to the Haudenosaunee as similar separation between wartime and peacetime leadership also occurred with the Cheyenne, Choctaw, Shawnee and Tetons.^{Footnote 15} However, the roles of war chief remained important, often serving as messengers between communities during periods of normal politics.^{Footnote 16}

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The Indigenous communities in pre-contact North America understood that prosecuting a war required a different mindset and expertise from that which is appropriate during times of relative peace. The development of the various citizen-soldier models in Europe parallels that which was found in Indigenous communities across North America. These together can serve as a cornerstone for a modern sense of Canadian military service, rooted in Indigenous and Canadian history.^{Footnote 17} Military service in Canada can be viewed as a combination of these Indigenous and settler legacies whereby service in the defence of Canada is provided by those few who choose to pursue mastery in the legitimate use of organized violence. However, those few must remain rooted in the values and norms of what it means to live in their communities and, as such, remain a valuable and vibrant part of their society when the fighting is over.

Citizen-soldiers stood as the foundation of armed engagements across North America, extending their influence into the initial century of Canada's existence. These individuals, embracing the dual roles of civilian life and military service, played an indispensable part in the defence of Canada. However, the citizen-soldier model would begin to change with the First and Second World Wars. During this period, the citizen-soldier model experienced a significant professionalization process.  The scale and destruction of these unprecedented wars necessitated a higher level of training, specialization, organization and commitment from these citizen-soldiers. By necessity, armed service became a full-time occupation which also resulted in a far smaller standing force for Canada.^{Footnote 19} While part-time service members – which would later be referred to as the Primary Reserve – remained, the emphasis would shift to the maintenance of a full-time Regular Force for the defence of Canada.^{Footnote 20}

Professionalization

Socio-political reasons also drove a shift away from citizen-soldiers towards a professional, standing force composed of full-time service members. Conscription - the forced enrollment in a military - was already falling out of favour during the Cold War and largely vanished from Western militaries in the 1990s and 2000s.^{Footnote 21} While it is seeing somewhat of a renaissance as of late,^{Footnote 22} the all-volunteer force models and the concept of the military professional continue to dominate in Western militaries. For Canada in particular, the idea of compulsory military service undermines our ideals of individual liberty and prosperity and has also been a source of historical linguistic and cultural divide in Canada.^{Footnote 23} In times of relative peace, compulsory military service also challenges the idea that national defence is executed by highly skilled and highly motivated professionals. As a result, the CAF is composed entirely of volunteers who chose to serve as part of the national security community that defends Canada and Canadian interests in either a full or part-time manner.

Given this diversity, the same standards of a military professional are expected regardless of component, rank, or service. Officers and Non-commissioned Members (NCM) of the Regular Force (RegF), the Reserve Force (Res) and its four sub-components – the Primary Reserve (PRes), the Supplementary Reserve (SupRes), the Canadian Rangers (CR) and the Cadet Organizations Administration and Training Service (COATS)^{Footnote 24} – are all considered members of the military profession. This professionalization led to what is now referred to as the Profession of Arms.^{Footnote 25}

Section 1.4 – Conclusion

The unyielding march of technological progress, Earth’s changing climate and expanding population pressures are driving geopolitical and social unrest around the world. These symptoms are exacerbated, if not exploited, by authoritarian and expansionist regimes aimed at challenging the rules-based international order we aim to uphold. These factors are complex in their interactions and are driving an international system characterized by competition and conflict.^{Footnote 26} This demands a group of Canadians and permanent residents who are committed to the study and prosecution of armed service in the defence of Canada. Defending Canada and Canadian interests includes both supporting Canada in the promotion of values abroad through humanitarian efforts and interventions, as well as providing domestic support to disaster response and other assistance to provincial and municipal governments in Canada, as needed.

While the process of professionalization, meaning a move away from conscription and exclusively part-time service, accelerated with the end of the Second World War, a deeper look at Canada - and indeed pre-contact history – suggests a nuance that is often overlooked: members of the profession of arms, while few, retained the values and norms of all people who call Canada home. This connection is as much a part of what gives the military legitimacy as are the laws and policies which created it.

Achieving a career profile of meaningful service in the profession of arms requires commitment to pursue increasing levels of professional knowledge, excellence and maturity. It requires a willingness to serve Canada and contribute to providing security to prevent open conflict, while ultimately maintaining military readiness to meet the demands of warfighting should armed conflict occur. This dedication to the professional craft is predicated on a fighting spirit that includes, but goes beyond, merely the strength of will to use up to deadly force.  It is the passion and perseverance to see an extremely challenging and potentially dangerous task done to a high standard and for a higher purpose in the service of Canada. As a force of last resort, the Canadian Profession of Arms is the nation’s ultimate insurance policy.

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