By Yves Engler

It now seems quaint to call Canada an “honest broker”. Ottawa’s support for Israel’s holocaust in Gaza has made the idea seem absurd.

In a recent speech, Avi Lewis repeatedly referenced Canada’s honest broker mythology. He noted, “can this country ever again claim the role of honest broker when Canada continues to sell arms to a country even after it faces trial for genocide.”

He concluded, “the myth of Canada as an honest broker in international affairs was laid to rest under the rubble of Gaza.”

But many liberals and self-described leftists were promoting this damaging notion until not too long ago. In 2015 newly appointed foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion declared that Canada would return its traditional role as an “honest broker” internationally and in 2017 Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East head Tom Woodley promoted the mythology.

He wrote, “Lester B. Pearson won a Nobel peace prize for his role in mediating the Suez Crisis in 1956, and for many decades afterwards, many perceived Canada as an ‘honest broker’ in the Middle East, trusted by both Israel and the Palestinians.”

My 2010 ‘Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid’ was partly a response to the honest broker idea. It shows how Liberal and Conservative governments, usually with support from the NDP, have staunchly backed Israel since before its creation.

Canada helped realize the 1917 Balfour Declaration, a crass expression of British colonial thought granting Palestine to European settlers. Among other assistance, 400 Canadians fought with the British to help conquer modern day Israel/Palestine.

Canadian diplomats and a Supreme Court justice promoted the highly unjust 1947 United Nations partition plan, which gave the Zionist movement international cover to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their homeland.

A representative from the Canadian Arab Friendship League explained: “Canadian delegates, Mr. Lester B. Pearson and Mr. Justice Ivan C Rand … did their utmost to impose upon the Arabs the infamous partition scheme. The Arab world, I am sure, will remember them.”

Soon after the new state was established Canada began selling Israel arms. Weeks before the 1956 British-French-Israeli invasion, Egyptian President Gamal Nasser condemned Ottawa for selling Israel F86 jets. “The supplying of Israel with arms despite her repeated aggressions against Arab frontiers is considered a hostile act aimed at the whole Arab nation.”

During the Suez Crisis Pearson’s main concern was disagreement between the US and UK over the invasion, not Egyptian sovereignty or the plight of that country’s people. Canadian peacekeepers were dispatched partly to extract Britain from its disastrous invasion.

In the lead-up to the 1967 war Egypt’s Al Ahram newspaper labelled Canada “a stooge of the Western powers who seek to colonize the Arab world with Israel’s help.” For his part, Nasser denounced Ottawa’s “biased stand in favour of Israel.”

After Stephen Harper, who was bombastically pro-Israel, became PM in 2006 it was hard to argue that Canada was an honest broker. So, the proponents of the mythology suggested Harper was an aberration. A Liberal government — enabling a dastardly Israeli crime — was required to put the myth to rest.

The honest broker construct is damaging for two reasons. It confuses people about Canada’s role in the world, undermining the critical consciousness required to seriously challenge Canadian foreign policy. It suggests Ottawa is a benevolent international actor rather than largely driven by the interests of empire and corporations.

The mythology is also an obstacle to understanding why Zionism has been successful. Basically, the anglosphere nations have ganged up against the Palestinians. After seizing Palestine in 1917 — with hundreds of Canadians participating — the British Empire provided the Zionist movement with the necessary protective umbrella to thrive. They have given Israel immense support ever since.

The honest broker mythology must be consigned to the dustbin of history.

 – Yves Engler is the author of Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid and a number of other books. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit his website: yvesengler.com.