From a cross-cultural perspective, what should we be doing to better prepare Canadian Forces personnel deploying internationally?
The Canadian officer corps must acquire, beyond its combat skills, conflict resolution skills based on anthropology, sociology, and philosophy. They must bring value-added to conflict resolution and not just be simply an extreme component of it. That’s where we have to move. Yes, everyone should get basic knowledge on the country and culture, but the officer corps and the leadership need far more intellectual depth into the entity of conflict resolution and how to work with different cultures. How to just sense and feel the conflicts, the frictions and tensions and remediate them. In a previous interview with Carolyn McAskie, one of her messages was that you have to address basic issues such as poverty and access to resources if you’re going to have lasting peace. And this requires a long term commitment from the international community. When a country is trying to pull itself out of conflict, we should be pouring in as many assets as possible. Money, brainpower, and other assets. But
