The RCR Museum
United Nations and NATO Operations
The Korean War was one of the first and largest UN operations. Canada has contributed to almost all UN operations or UN sanctioned operations before and since, and so has The Royal Canadian Regiment.
Operations during the Cold War usually took place as peacekeeping missions under Chapter 6 of the UN Charter. While they could turn deadly at a moments notice, there were normally well-defined limits to the mission. The international community backed-up the peacekeepers and the states involved. The awarding of the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize to the thousands of uniformed peacekeepers from many nations around the world recognized their contribution to world peace. The Royal Canadian Regiment participated fully in these missions, notably the contribution of Canada to the mission on the island of Cyprus from 1963 to 1992.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, the world has moved further away from the threat of nuclear holocaust but it has not become a more peaceful place. The unleashing of powerful forces such as nationalism, the removal of restraints imposed by the stand-off of superpowers, and the incidence of states failing to remain politically or economically viable have increased leading to more not fewer interventions in which Canada has participated. Canada, and the Regiment still participate in Chapter 6 Operations but the imposed constraints on the use of force have made such operations unviable in the post Cold War world starting with the break-up of the Former Republic of Yugoslavia. Operations involving regional alliances such as NATO under Chapter 5 of the UN Charter and operations explicitly authorizing the use of force to impose the will of the international community under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter have become the norm rather than the exception. Canada and the Regiment have participated in all three types of operations commencing in 1992 in the Former Yugoslavia, and continuing to this day in the Republics of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the Province of Kosovo in the Republic of Serbia.
Canada and the Regiment have also participated in operations in Somalia in 1993 and Rwanda in 1994-95 as well as the 1991 Gulf War and the on-going NATO out-of-area mission in Afghanistan. Individual members of the Regiment have served on observer, humanitarian and peace support operations in Central America, the Middle East, Indo-China, Africa, and Afghanistan. They have also served on International Arms Control Operations in virtually every country of Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
- Regimental History - 1945-1953; 1953-1992; 1992-present
- Regimental Memorial - Peacekeeping
Pro Patria