Massive presence and promotion by the military have become a common part of many events around the city, from the PNE to Canada Place. The Canadian Armed Forces have even become part of celebrations involving the Stanley Cup and the Memorial Cup, Canada’s two revered hockey icons. And on October 30, four CF-18 fighter jets were flying overhead in Victoria as Vanoc revealed that two former Olympic gold medallists, Simon Whitfield and Catriona Le May Doan, would be the first to carry the Olympic torch.

It was especially hard to miss the expansive display put on by the Forces at this year’s Canada Day celebrations near Canada Place.

Taking up an entire block of West Cordova Street in downtown Vancouver, the Forces were obviously on a mission.

Funnelled into a tented area, flag-bearing holiday revellers, adults and children alike, were shown a plethora of military weapons—including various types of machine guns—and taught how to load, aim, and shoot. More than 60 soldiers in full camouflage and other Canadian Forces and Department of National Defence employees lined the tables, teaching people about their jobs and answering questions about what it’s like to join the Forces. Display walls with flat screens showcased stock military photos and footage of Afghanistan. People were encouraged to try out a firearms simulator and climb into a fighter-jet cockpit. Children and teenagers were gathered around a group of soldiers who used spray guns to apply military-themed tattoos to their arms and faces. Exiting the display, the people passed under an archway composed of two giant converging guns and walked past a wall-size image of soldiers and words in large print that proclaimed: “Strong. Proud. Today’s Canadian Forces.” (A similar exhibit graced the north side of the PNE grounds a few months later.)

Approximately 70,000 people visited the Canada Place display, which was part of Op Connection, a public-awareness program. Launched in 2006, the recruitment initiative informs Canadians of their military’s roles, responsibilities, and capabilities.

And the people ate it up.

Swarms of people crowded around the table with the guns, clamouring to try them out. Parents’ faces shone with pride as their children were shown how to load the weapons. Soldiers proudly described the use of the weapons to the young spectators—who looked up at their instructors with curiosity and admiration—before allowing them to hold the guns. The line for the firearms simulator almost spanned the entire block. Grown men grew giddy at the chance to sit in the fighter jet and teenagers shoved in front of each other to get multiple military tattoos temporarily displayed on their bodies. As people exited the display under the artillery barrels, they radiated excitement as if they’d just gotten off a carnival ride.

Lt. (Navy) Joseph Frey, public affairs officer of the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group, told the Georgia Straight that the vast majority of visitors to the Op Connection Canada Day display were “extremely pleased with the event”.

But to some, the event was an unwanted element of Canada Day celebrations in Vancouver. It was an unabashed endorsement of violence for young children and an unprecedented public salute to a type of military involvement contradictory to Canada’s traditional image of peacekeeping.

“Canada Day was ruined for me,” said Jillian Skeet, mother of two. “We actually stepped over all sorts of cables and posts to get around it.” Skeet, a former Ottawa resident, recalled that Canada Day festivities in Ottawa revolved around Canadian talent that filled spectators with pride.

Yet a letter to the editor in a daily newspaper, criticizing the display and its place among the Canada Day festivities, was furiously shot down by the majority of printed responses. Most used examples that defended certain images of Canadian soldiers. Some rebuttals heralded a modernized, militaristic, aggressive version, while others clung to the peacekeeper image that has been adopted by Canada for the past 53 years. Finally, some replies supported a newer version of the peacekeeper myth, one in which Canadian soldiers might have to actually fight but are noble pacifists underneath.

From the clear exhibition of enthusiasm at the Canada Day event to the varying definitions of Canadian soldiers in the letter responses, it is apparent that a shift is occurring when it comes to how this country views its military.

Whatever happened to the Canadian peacekeeper image that we are all so proud of? You know, the one of the placid-faced, multicultured, do-gooder Canadian camouflaged not for battle but to help, teach, and inspire?

“Canadians have this image of themselves—and people from other countries have an image of Canada as well—as being a global force of peace in the world,” Richard Sanders, coordinator for the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade, told the Georgia Straight. “We’re seen as heroes. So that’s how we like to see ourselves and how we like others to see us.”

Michael Byers, a UBC professor of political science, agreed, adding that the traditional image of a peacekeeper was always just an image. “Even Pearson didn’t call it peacekeeping but, rather, peacemaking,” he said, referring to former Canadian policymaker Lester B. Pearson. “What happened is that after the Cold War, we began to think of peacekeeping as a light-footed, nonmilitary exercise which was essentially policing. Canada got the image because some of the missions we were involved with were heavy on the mediation aspects of peacekeeping.”

Even the Forces agree that peacekeeping is not what a lot of people think it is. “We have never been just peacekeeping,” said Lt. Frey. “We have a wide range of duties, from peacekeeping to war-fighting.”

Peacekeeping was the vision of Pearson, then the secretary of state for external affairs and later Canada’s 14th prime minister. He proposed that a multinational United Nations peacekeeping force be used to separate warring groups during the Suez Canal Crisis in the mid-1950s. Pearson was quoted as saying that “the stark and inescapable fact is that today we cannot defend our society by war since total war is destruction. And if war is used as an instrument of policy, eventually we will have total war.” The UN liked his idea, and because of its success, Pearson received the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize. Canadians also supported his ideas, and thus the image of the Canadian “peacekeeper” was born.

Traditionally, peacekeeping involved being positioned between hostile forces to separate warring factions. Later, it expanded to include the delivery of humanitarian aid, the supervision of elections, the repatriation of refugees, and other duties that ensured stable government and human rights.