[6][7] Canada's successful role in mediating the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis gave it credibility and established it as a country fighting for the common good of all nations.

[15] Canada's foreign policy of peacekeeping, peace enforcement, peacemaking, and peacebuilding has been intertwined with its tendency to pursue multilateral and international solutions since the end of World War II.

[17][18][19][20] Canada's central role in the development of peacekeeping in the mid 1950s gave it credibility and established it as a country fighting for the "common good" of all nations.

[21] Canada has since been engaged with the United Nations, NATO and the European Union (EU) in promoting its middle power status into an active role in world affairs.

[28][29] Lester B. Pearson, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, had become a very prominent figure in the United Nations during its infancy and found himself in a peculiar position in 1956 during the Suez Crisis.

[30] Pearson and Canada found themselves mediating a conflict involving their closest allies when the United States opposed the British, French, and Israeli invasion of Egypt.

[32] Pearson's proposal would intercede and divide the combatants, and form a buffer zone or 'human shield' between the opposing forces, offering to dedicate 1,000 Canadian soldiers to that cause was seen as a brilliant political move that prevented another war.

[37] During the Suez Crisis, Pearson was disturbed when the Egyptian government originally objected to Canadian forces in view of the fact that Canada's Red Ensign contained the same symbol (the Union Flag) used by the United Kingdom, one of the belligerents.

[2] Canada's ongoing participation in United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (Operation Snowgoose) that began in 1964, has seen over 33,000 Canadians serve with 28 deaths.

[62] Traditionally focused on ceasefire monitoring and maintaining stability in conflict zones, peacekeeping missions evolved to have a wider range of activities including; peace enforcement, protecting civilians, promoting human rights, and supporting political processes in post-conflict societies.

[63] Critics argue that Canadian personnel may not consistently had the necessary training or resources to successfully navigate complex and volatile environments, leading to mixed results in their peacekeeping and peace enforcement efforts.

The mission was criticized for the perceived failure to prevent or intervene in the genocide that occurred, despite Canadian General Roméo Dallaire warning top UN officials of an impending humanitarian crisis.

[74][75] On 11 January 1994, General Dallaire, commander of UNAMIR, sent his "now infamous genocide fax" to UN headquarters, stating [the informant] has been ordered to register all Tutsi in Kigali to prepare "for their extermination".

[12] The military reallocation in the 21st century resulted in a shift towards more militarized and deadly missions, where Canadian troops were tasked with combat and security support roles rather than traditional peacekeeping duties.

[87] Canada in total allocated $2.49 billion to multiple UN organizations including those related to peacekeeping, policing, research, training, climate change and humanitarian efforts such as medicine and food distribution.