For decades, members of our Canadian Armed Forces, RCMP and other police services—many of them now new Veterans—served in conflict areas under the United Nations banner to help countries navigate the difficult path to peace.

From Lester B. Pearson’s trailblazing work to help devise the peacekeeping mission that would bring the Suez Crisis to an end, to the groundbreaking Elsie Initiative and Vancouver Principles that Canada introduced at the 2017 UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial, our country’s contributions to global peace efforts have been numerous.

More than 125,000 Canadian Armed Forces members and 4,000 officers from the RCMP and other police forces have served in international peacekeeping operations in dozens of countries.

Their stories are important and deserve widespread recognition.

Thank you to the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association for your dedication in compiling these personal reflections from our peacekeepers in this second edition of the PK75 publication.

Ginette Petitpas Taylor