Military Aid To The Civil Power - Canada

Canada

Canada has provisions similar to the UK (see below) for military aid to the civil power inscribed in its National Defence Act, a historical inheritance from its days as a British dominion. However, the application is significantly different due to the federal nature of Canada, where the maintenance of "law and order" is the exclusive right and responsibility of the provinces.

The political authority empowered to requisition military aid is therefore the Solicitor General of the affected province, which was provided for under the War Measures Act and currently the Emergencies Act. This request is forwarded directly to the Chief of the Defence Staff (not to the federal government of Canada) who is obliged by law to execute the request. However, the Chief of the Defence Staff alone can determine the nature and level of forces to be committed.

The requesting province may subsequently be billed to pay the cost of the military aid, although the federal government, which does not want to appear "cheap" after a major crisis affecting a province, most often waives it. One exception in recent years resulted from Toronto mayor Mel Lastman's request for military assistance following a snow storm in 1999, whereby 300 reservists were activated to assist in snow removal after the Ontario government acceded; this deployment was deemed by the Canadian government to be a trivialization of the military's emergency response role and the requesting authority was billed accordingly.

While the military is legally free to decide how to deal with an issue in regard to which it has been called out, in practice it works under the direction of the police forces or government of the province that has requested its aid. Such requests are made relatively often for specialized resources such as armoured vehicles (e.g. hostage situations) and technical capabilities not possessed by police forces.

They are also called out in the case of police strikes in those provinces that have unionised provincial police forces. Quebec has not hesitated to call on the Army for such help because the Army is the only other agency with French speaking members able to replace striking police; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has few reserves able to provide a "surge" capability, and its French-speaking capability is more limited.

Significant use of the Canadian Forces in aid of the Quebec civil power includes two relatively recent major civil crises:

• the October crisis of 1970
• the Oka crisis of 1990

The federal government can and does use the military in aid of its own responsibilities, such as guarding federal buildings and facilities. Since 1993, the Canadian Forces have also provided the country's federal counter-terrorist forces, replacing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in that function. (See JTF2 for details of request and control of this capability).