Canadian "Myths For Profit"

Amy Miller of Wide Open Exposure sent me an email to bring attention to a new documentary of hers, "Myths for Profit: Canada's Role in Industries of War and Peace". Here's the demo reel:

The documentary explores "Canada’s role in the Industries of War and Peace", looking at three central beliefs (or "myths") held by the majority of us Canadians in order to question what motives hide behind them and who stands to gain. The three "myths" in question are the following:

Myth 1) 'Canada is a peacekeeping nation' examines the changes in the Department of National Defence since 1999 and looks seriously at the role Canada has taken in NATO. Focus on Afghanistan, Haiti and former Yugoslavia.

Myth 2) 'Canada’s aid is helping people around the world' scrutinizes how is the money and programs used to reduce poverty, investigating the existence of CIDA’s phantom aid in post and present conflict zones-former Yugoslavia, Colombia, and Haiti.

Myth 3) 'Canada’s military purpose is defence' investigates the magnitude of the military industrial complex that exist within Canada- from the mining of uranium that is turned into depleted uranium weapons, to producers of components in weapons system. This section probes the intersecting relationships between various government agencies, corporations, and the ways that Canadians contribute unknowingly to this vast industry.

Although I disagree on some specifics (for instance, the overall take of NATO's intervention in former Yugoslavia, namely in Kosovo, including hyperbolic charges of "colonialism", or the seemingly somewhat disingenuous bypassing of the fact that the majority of aid organizations do nevertheless provide aid despite genuine "difficulties on the ground" where they seek to help), the documentary nonetheless brings into sharp critical light the changed roles of Canada's military (previously discussed in this post here), from one of UN peacekeeping to one of interventionism - usually at the call of the US and NATO (especially with regards to Haiti and Afghanistan) - and, of course, all the profits which are gained by the Canadian military-industrial complex through such continuing transformation.

Which in turn brings to mind this little piece of news, as well as that one.

In any event - go check out "Myths for Profit: Canada's Role in Industries of War and Peace" for yourselves ... if you will.


Peace.