Canadians who fight in Ukraine are not heroes, but mercenaries
Dignitaries attend the annual Service of Remembrance for the Public Service at the Legislative Building on Nov. 9, 2022. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)
Written by: Morrigan Johnson
Heroes or mercenaries?
On November 8, 2022, Saskatchewan (a Canadian province) Premier Scott Moe told CBC that Joseph Hildebrand, a recently fallen Canadian man who died in Ukraine, is a “true Saskatchewan hero.” Moe continued to say “...Canada must ensure Ukraine defeats Russia and rises again as a free, independent, prosperous nation.” This military activity is not legal however, nor is any role Canada officially plays, responsible.
In April 2022, the Hamilton Spectator reported that wealthy philanthropists are helping to facilitate the recruitment and training of Canadians to fight Ukraine’s war through the International Legion of the Defence of Ukraine. Ken Stone’s previous article for The Canada Files explained how these Canadians are mercenaries, and recruiting them is a violation of Canada’s Foreign Enlistment Act. War should not be waged by the terms of the rich and the markets, they ought to be waged justly, in defense of nations and states. Currently the official activity of Canadian Armed Forces in Ukraine has been actively training these Ukrainian forces, but not engaged directly in combat. Operation UNIFIER has gained attention for embroiling Canada’s military in training neo-Nazi extremism.
There are two levels of law that are relevant to illegal recruitment of Canadian mercenaries.
Canadian Law
The Canadian Criminal Code contains the Foreign Enlistment Act 1985, originally passed in 1937 around the time of the Mackenzie-Papineau Brigade. The original law outlined the Canadian government’s refusal to combat fascism in Europe, erasing and criminalizing Canadians who aided the Spanish Popular Front against fascism. From its inception it was arbitrary in its vision.
It essentially criminalizes the activity we see in the present period. Ironically, when Ukrainian neo-Nazis need Canadian mercenaries in the contemporary international crisis the law is not enforced. The law appears to apply for some, but not for others. Other unpunished violations include Canadians that helped carry out the Palestinian Nakba, to present day Israeli IDF recruitment to enforce the apartheid of Palestine.
The Canadian Criminal Code is the weaker of the two law examples, interchangeably in the code mentioning 'any foreign state' on the grounds of recruiting is criminal, while actually enlisting to actively fight is found in violation only if it is against a 'friendly state'. But what is a friendly state? And who gets to decide this?
The law is still applicable on recruitment despite its arbitrary shortcoming in other clauses. Legitimate wars would entail the constitutional defense of nations and states to employ the service of Canada's Armed Forces, which should be the key discernment to make from those who recruit mercenaries.
Foreign Enlistment Act: Recruiting
11(1) Any person who, within Canada, recruits or otherwise induces any person or body of persons to enlist or to accept any commission or engagement in the armed forces of any foreign state or other armed forces operating in that state is guilty of an offense.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the action of foreign consular or diplomatic officers or agents in enlisting persons who are nationals of the countries they represent and not Canadian nationals, in conformity with the regulations of the Governor in Council.
International Law
The UN holds a convention relevant to our Canadian contexts, The International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries. Canada however, is not a signatory to this international convention, therefore not bound by international law, despite having a domestic law for the same purpose.
We might consider this International law the stronger legal mechanism. We might consider, why are undeveloped and developing countries held to a higher standard of international peace and conflict than Canada is? And when war is being waged illegitimately, how do other laws concern us in the embroilment in other violations that are normally chargeable against states, for example, with war crimes?
Canadian independent journalist Eva Bartlett, covering Ukraine’s war crimes in the Donbass, remains on a kill list for simply documenting Ukraine's war crimes. The ruling powers in Canada, along with corporate media, have not advocated for her safety, let alone the crimes her reporting has raised. International law cannot charge individuals, but crimes of nations or states at scale, therefore Canada's deepening embroilment falls into new forms of quasi illegality, if mercenaries are not obligated to a state.
One might argue that this is why the convention exists in the first place, to stem loopholes of quasi legality, and limits of international bodies of governance. It is important to note that Canada ought to sign the convention: International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries.
The Mercenaries Convention records in its preamble the conviction that its adoption will contribute to the eradication of these nefarious activities and thereby to the observance of the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.
Important clauses to note:
Article 1 sets out the critical definition of a mercenary,
(a) Is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;
Articles 2, 3 and 4 establish individual criminal responsibility for certain conduct involving mercenary activity (called here “Convention offences”). Recruiting, using, financing or training mercenaries (article 2)
Privatized delusion, financialization, and decline
What this means is that Canadian recruitment activity, by Canadian law, is criminal. And in principle to International laws, would make Canada chargeable in the International Criminal Court for the recruiting, financing and training of mercenaries, if Canada was bound as a signatory.
Canadian wealth holders, like Chris Ecklund, are demonstrating the privatization of military activity abroad, without the government providing proper oversight, as the powerful are concerned with laws only when it suits their political interests. Wars are now being waged on private terms enabled through markets, and other forces, cheered by the ruling powers of state such as the Saskatchewan Premier. From last spring, approximately 500 Canadians have been recruited as mercenaries, approximately 1250 have reached out to the embassy, and many more since then. By the summer, Russia estimated that 162 Canadians had been killed.
This follows no realistic or principled international strategy, as the war will drag on, potentially until the very last Ukrainian is exhausted. Canada subverts diplomacy through information campaigns, particularly through Global Affairs Canada, while expending an untold amount of funding both, private, and public, being sent to Ukraine for military purposes. The Canadian government has already contributed $2 billion dollars of public funds directly to the war. Combined sources and uses of contributions are approximately more than $5 billion to Ukraine from Canada.
On October 28, 2022, the Canadian government chose to further financialize the war through the International Monetary Fund. This was done by providing Canadian investors Ukraine Sovereignty Bonds, at 3.3 per cent interest, loaning to Ukraine’s war.
This move means bond buyers will profit through interest, embroiling Ukraine into debt, making the war even more profitable to Canada and the international financial system.
The international reputation of Canada is a matter of cognitive dissonance and delusion, dreaming of human rights and an “international rules based order”, starkly incompatible with its own declining reality.
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Morrigan Johnson is an anti-imperialist writer based in Calgary, Alberta.
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