Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair said on Wednesday that Canada is open to sending troops to a “coalition of the willing” to protect Ukraine from Russian invasion.
The remarks followed assurances from radical leftist Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that “everything is on the table” regarding Canadian sacrifices to help protect Ukraine. Trudeau’s government has been among the world’s most vocal opposing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began in 2022 and has regularly engaged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to support the war effort.
It also followed calls by European leaders to strengthen their support of Ukraine, which has not outpaced their purchases of Russian fossil fuels, following a very public disagreement between Zelensky and President Donald Trump in the White House last week. The leaders of Britain and France, in particular, have proposed the establishment of a “coalition of the willing” of peacekeepers stations in Ukraine to discourage Russia from further violating the sovereignty of that country.
“Canada is ready and able to make a contribution to that force,” Blair said on Wednesday, according to the CBC. “But we also believe that there’s important discussions that need to take place with respect to security guarantees for Ukraine and foreign forces that we’re serving.” Blair reportedly emphasized that Canada was actively discussing sending troops to Europe, a new development in Canada’s participation in the Anglosphere’s attempts to support Ukraine.
While the attempt to build a “coalition of the willing” out of European and Anglosphere countries to protect peace in Ukraine is a response to growing concerns that Washington is not anymore willing to endlessly bankroll the Ukrainian armed forces, Blair suggested that Canada would only put boots on the ground with American support, leaving unclear what the purpose of Canadian soldiers would be in that situation.
“We’ve strongly indicated we’re willing to be a part of that, but I still believe it is going to require security guarantees from the United States,” he explained.
The proposition of a “coalition of the willing” to defend Ukraine – a term borrowed from the group of countries that joined the United States in invading Iraq in 2003 – is a joint British-French effort emerging after Trump expelled Zelensky from the White House on Friday, pausing a planned signing of an agreement to develop Ukraine’s rare-earth mineral industry.
“Led by the U.K. and France, the peacekeeping force could see a number of European countries put boots on the ground in eastern Ukraine should there be a ceasefire or peace settlement,” the CBC explained. “The idea would be that the presence of Western troops would deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from re-arming and then attempting to conquer all of Ukraine.”
Notably, regardless of America’s desire to join such an effort, the CBC emphasized that this force would require “security guarantees, most notably from the Americans.”
The Canadian outlet suggested that the objective of creating this informal coalition was to send troops to Ukraine without having to use the NATO apparatus, overriding concerns from multiple NATO countries that have expressed hesitation at fully embracing the Ukraine war effort.
Prior to Blair’s comments this week, Canada’s CTV News cited an international legal expert who suggested that it would not be legal to Canada to participate in any peacekeeping force in Ukraine as it has so clearly taken sides in the conflict. David Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, noted that the United Nations does not allow non-“impartial” countries to join peacekeeping efforts in conflict zones.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) share a close moment on the stairs on their way to a plenary meeting at a summit held at Lancaster House in central London on March 2, 2025. ( JUSTIN TALLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty)
“It would be difficult to see what kind of role Canada could really play as sort of a neutral observer or arbiter of anything,” Perry explained. “This would be a circumstance where the Russians would have good reason to say that we can’t really provide an independent role because we have (been), again, for all the right reasons, partial to one side in the prevailing conflict.”
Canada has repeatedly welcomed and honored Zelensky for his efforts against the Russian invasion. In one notorious episode, the Canadian parliament honored Zelensky with the presentation of a guest, Ukrainian veteran Yaroslav Hunka, who fought in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician), a Nazi Germany contigent.
The Canadian defense minister’s comments occurred on the same day that French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a nationally televised speech reinforcing his commitment to Ukraine.
“The future of Europe does not have to be decided in Washington or Moscow. The threat is returning to the east, and the innocence of the last 30 years, since the fall of the Berlin Wall, is now over,” Macron declared. “The path to peace cannot be through the abandonment of Ukraine. Peace cannot be concluded at any cost and under Russian diktat. Peace cannot be the surrender of Ukraine.”
Macron declared Russia a direct threat to France. The French president has also reportedly begun considering using France’s nuclear deterrent to protect Europe from Russia.
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