Canadian Special Operations

The current Canadian special operations capability resides in JTF 2, a unit established within the Canadian Forces in 1992 to take over the domestic counter-terrorism task from the RCMP. The government’s recent International Policy Statement (IPS) called for a significant enhancement of this capability. It is, however, difficult to determine precisely what tasks this new Special Operations Group will perform, how large it will be, how much of our defence treasure it will consume in even rough terms, or who will command it. Much of this data is necessarily imprecise because the process of transformation announced in the IPS has only just begun. There is also a certain secrecy attached to special force developments, much of which I will argue is overdone. Finally, the development of this capability is not assisted by a small but strident amount of special forces advertising or boosterism verging on hype. This paper will, therefore, examine the tasks, size, cost, and leadership of our Canadian special forces with a critical eye and offer as concrete a set of recommendations as is possible