Canada's Long Fight Against Democracy

by Yves Engler, Owen Schalk

Canada’ s Long Fight Against Democracy is a sweeping overview of Canadian-backed coups since 1950. It documents Canada’ s contribution to the ouster of over 20 elected governments from Mohammad Mossadegh in Iran to Patrice Lumumba in Congo, Salvador Allende in Chile to Jean Bertrand Aristide in Haiti. As part of subverting democracy abroad, Ottawa has cut-off aid and imposed illegal sanctions as well as financed opposition civil society groups and allowed protesters to use its embassy as a staging point to topple a president. Canada has also organized a secret international gathering to discuss overthrowing a popular leader, decided a marginal opposition politician was the legitimate president, and employed its military to subvert democratically elected governments. While Canadian officials and media commentators often frame conflicts with geopolitical rivals as motivated by a belief in democracy, the authors debunk the notion that decision-makers in Ottawa are driven by promoting democracy abroad. Washington’ s role in subverting elected governments has been detailed in countless studies by scholars and observers from around the world. This is the first to challenge Canada.

Genres: Canada, Politics, History

210 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2024

Reviews

[Jasmine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Washington’s role in destabilizing and otherwise interfering in democratic governments in the imperial periphery has been well-documented (see, for example, Manufacturing Consent, Washington Bullets, or The Jakarta Method). Canada has curated an image as a friendlier, more peaceful version of its southern neighbour, while aiding the US in its regime-change efforts (or sometimes playing a leadership role in such efforts, as in the anti-Venezuelan Lima Group). Canada’s role in geopolitics is under-explored, and Canadians should be more informed of the real foreign policy of their state. Engler and Schalk aim to address this need, but I found the book disappointing.

One of the most important tasks for a work of this sort is to draw out the tactics and repeated themes underlying western interference in global south politics. In Manufacturing Consent, the authors present their propaganda model, then show its application through several examples of American interventions. In Washington Bullets, Prashad presents a manual for regime change, and explores how intervention has shifted from one of “boots on the ground” and assassinations to economic warfare and lawfare, again providing a slew of examples from American interventions. Excepting three paragraphs or so in the brief conclusion to his work, the authors provide no such structural analysis to the events they recount. 

Another angle for a work of this sort is to educate the reader on a small handful of examples with enough context that the reader really understands the conflict. Vincent Bevins takes this approach in The Jakarta Method, using a combination of archival research and witness interviews to show the reader how Washington pushed for regime change in Indonesia in the 1960s, and then applied this same method to later interventions. In contrast, Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy covers 22 conflicts in 210 pages, providing just a cursory summary of each event.

The result is essentially a listicle in book form. The authors seem to hope to convince via a fire-hose of facts rather than providing their readers with the structure and context needed to remember or recognize Canadian regime change operations. And even this approach could serve a useful function in being a repository of resources for deeper research, however the small handful of references I investigated out of curiosity were of low quality. (Clicking through the footnotes did introduce me to Canada in the World by Tyler A. Shipley, which seems to be a more promising read.)

The real prize for a Canadian writer would be to put forward something like the “manual for regime change” or the “propaganda model” but for Canada. Is there a difference at all between Ottawa’s approach and Washington’s approach? How does Canada distribute its aid dollars and diplomatic resources differently? Does its media apparatus — just as concentrated in the hands of billionaires as the US, but also with a prominent public broadcaster — manufacture consent any differently? Canada’s focus appears to be drawn towards the locations of its mining operations, but protecting its corporations alone cannot explain its involvement in countries like Ukraine; is its goal in geopolitics the same as the US’s, or are there slight differences? Canada is far less likely to deploy troops abroad: is military capability and expense the sole explanation or is there more to it? The answers to these questions are not in this book.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Killing Hope---Now in maple flavour! An essential primer on Canada's role in the overthrow of elected foreign leaders, from Arbenz to Zelaya.

[Jackson Burrowes · Rating 3 out of 5]

good but brief history of canada’s assistance in many regime changes over the last 100 years or so

[Evan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading for Canadians and any interested in our own contributions to the US empire. Most of Canadian ventures played a support or vassal role to our masters south of the border, but we are complicit regardless.

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a handbook than a book, but a serious dive into history and politics, even if a little brief. Book aims to highlight Canadas undemocratic activities abroad, focusing on all the times Canada has supported indirectly or directly a coup. It highlights patterns of behaviour by the GoC which are inherently undemocratic and interventionist, such as supporting opposition parties, ousting leftist governments, funding opposition NGOs/ civil society groups, condemning leftist governments democracy or doubting their elections, etc.

I loved the short chapters format within the book, and having the sources at the end of each chapter. However if you’re going to do that, I suggest not including Wikipedia as a source, it only would’ve taken a couple extra minutes to find a proper source. It made the book feel rushed or thrown together. I still would highly recommend it as a jumping off point or brief overview for anyone interested!

[Connor B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very useful as an introduction and overview to the history of Canadian imperialism’s role all over the globe. Spans from the 1950s to today, and covers 5 different continents. The key strength of the book is just how thoroughly researched it is. On every page there are facts, quotations, and details that are extremely useful in arguing against “Canada’s defence of democracy on the international stage”. For that reason, the book is worth reading. On a theoretical level, though, this book falls remarkably short of the mark. The conclusion is just another binge of lukewarm democratic moralizing calling for “an informed public” as a panacea to the crimes of imperialism and the fig leaf of “Canadian democracy” at home and internationally.

[Antoine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Livre très intéressant qui comble un vide sur les affaires étrangères du Canada. Alors que beaucoup d’encre a coulée sur les putschs supportés par les États-Unis, je suis rarement tombé sur des critiques similaires du Canada. Habitant au Québec, je perçois que plusieurs critiquent facilement nos voisins du Sud, mais ne parlent pas des actions de notre propre gouvernement. Comme nous avons davantage de pouvoir sur ce que notre propre État fait, ce que Engler et Schalk évoquent est très important.

Certains exemples sont un peu plus ténus, mais la majorité éclaire bien comment le Canada s’est impliqué plus activement dans le renversement de gouvernements élus. Il est également bien intéressant de voir quelles sont les actions et stratégies précises sont utilisées pour arriver à ses fins.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a great starting point to learn about Canada's history of meddling in other countries' internal affairs, and it does shatter the myth of Canada as a benevolent defender of freedom and democracy. It's an eye-opening list of regime changes that Ottawa supported and some of the ways it did so. That said, there's very limited context or analysis. The book's goal is to shatter an illusion, and does so by presenting a list of documented facts. Conclusion: illusion shattered. The authors don't explore the whys here.

[David Inwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yikes! This book was surprisingly bad. The first (and only) chapter I read was the one about Canada's involvement in Ukraine, and it's just filled with pro-Russia disinformation. It's extremely one sided and easily debunked with a few minutes of outside research. I encourage anyone who reads this book to do some independent fact checking, because these authors did a very poor job in that regard.
I'm curious about what they have to say about Canada opposing democracies in South America. That's the main reason I picked this book up. But I don't trust them enough to read any more.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and a must read for all Canadians.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet again another book to demonstrate for the Canadian Federal Government's determination to undermine the political will of other countries around the world.