Security and Defence in the Terrorist Era

J.L. Granatstein, Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus,
York University, served as Director of the Canadian War Museum from 1998
to 2000. His latest works are Who Killed Canadian History?, Who Killed
the Canadian Military, and Hell’s Cor

Elinor Sloan is one of the bright lights among Canada’s military and
international relations specialists. A graduate of the Royal Military
College, a policy specialist at National Defence Headquarters, and now a
professor at Carleton University, she has published widely and well.
This, her second book, examines Canada’s role in the post–9/11 era
and does so in a hard-headed and straightforward fashion. It makes no
sense, Sloan argues, “to talk individually about Canadian security,
North American security, and international peace and security.” All
are intertwined, and Canada’s security is inextricably linked to that
of the United States and to global events. That truism should be obvious
to everyone, but many Canadians, in government and out, somehow continue
to believe that Canada is an island, immune from threats, and hence a
nation that needs to put ever more distance between it and the United
States. The message of Sloan’s book is clear: we can’t. But how
should Canada meet the threats it faces? There is room for debate here;
Sloan looks at homeland defence and security, war-fighting, and
development and diplomacy abroad. Her judgments are balanced, her
solutions firm and fair. A very good book, this.