TRENTON, Ontario
Canada will seek to expand and extend its military mission against Daesh in Iraq, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday.
“Next week, it is the government’s plan to move forward with a request for Parliament for extension and expansion of the mission,” Harper said while making a trade announcement to media in Mississauga, Ontatio. The Harper government enjoys a majority in the House of Commons and passage of the motion is virtually assured.
The unanswered question Canadians are asking is if the mission extension will include joining allied forces to fight Daesh on the Syrian front, as well.
Harper said more details would be forthcoming when he introduces the motion.
“Let me just say, the current authorization laid open the possibility of going to Syria, although we have not done that,” Harper said. “But we’ll address issues like that next week when I make a proposal to the House of Commons. I will obviously give more details when we do that.”
Canada’s six-month mission in Iraq was set to expire April 7 and Harper's government would seek an extension from Parliament.
Canada’s involvement in the fight against Daesh began last fall when 600 Canadian troops joined the U.S.-led coalition in the Iraq conflict. In addition, 69 Special Forces are training Kurdish fighters.
The latter mission resulted in the first Canadian casualty of the current war when Sgt. Andrew Joseph Dioron was killed in a friendly fire incident and three Canadian troops were wounded when Kurdish fighters mistook them for Daesh militants and opened fire.
But after the incident, Canadian Defense Minister Jason Kenney said the soldier’s death “will not affect” Canada’s participation in the training of the Kurds.
“We believe that Canada has an important role to play in international security, including the very serious threat of (Daesh), which has explicitly declared a war on Canada, (and) encourage terrorist attacks against Canada civilians,” Kenny said at the time, as reported by CTV News. “There continues to be a very real national security imperative to join with our allies in confronting this organization and not sitting on the sidelines,” he said.
