RCA Museum exhibit puts focus on peacekeeping

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This article was published 06/09/2022 (1109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CFB SHILO — Unlike a lot of the special exhibits put on by the Royal Canadian Artillery Museum, its latest endeavour takes a closer look at something in which the Canadian Forces are still actively involved.

Last Thursday, the museum at CFB Shilo opened “In the Service of Peace,” which chronicles the history of Canada’s role in peacekeeping efforts around the world from the Suez Crisis in 1956 to present-day operations in Mali, Uganda and Rwanda.

Included are artifacts and remembrances not only from veterans of those operations still alive to tell their stories, but also from those who died during their missions to show the cost of keeping the peace.

Prior visitors to the museum will know that it contains a wide variety of military vehicles and machinery, and this exhibit is no different.

Entering the exhibition hall, a mannequin wearing the blue cap that is the trademark of United Nations peacekeeping missions beside a security checkpoint draws the eye until a pair of white vehicles come into view — one a transport and the other an armoured transport.

The Track Lynx, a tracked reconnaissance vehicle that was phased out from use by the Canadian Forces in the 1990s, was already in the museum’s inventory, according to director Andrew Oakden.

However, the museum’s mechanic painted it white and decorated it to look as close as possible as it would have been in service during a UN peacekeeping operation.

The .50-calibre machine gun mounted on the top is real, said Oakden, though it isn’t loaded. The museum can display weapons that would ordinarily be restricted to the public due to its location on a military base.

That’s not the only armoured vehicle on display, with an AVGP Grizzly from Canada’s Balkans peacekeeping missions in more standard camouflage present as well.

Another UN artifact, a white observation post, stands tall above the room, a mannequin peering down with binoculars to keep an eye on patrons.

According to Oakden, the exhibit is the product of senior curator Jonathan Ferguson, a reservist who unfortunately was not able to attend its opening due to being on a training mission. Another key contributor was summer student Graeme Chapman, who wrote much of the text for the exhibit.

“Classic peacekeeping includes the Suez Crisis back in ’56 with Lester Pearson winning the Nobel Prize for creating the United Nations Emergency Force,” Oakden said. “That’s when they came up with the nice blue headdress that we show prominently in the exhibit.”

There are also exhibits on peacekeeping in Southeast Asia, the Balkans, Africa, Cyprus and the Middle East.

Despite the impressive display of big hardware, Oakden said he’s more interested in the human side of things. A lot of the artifacts were brought back by soldiers returning home from peacekeeping missions.

One example is a white patrol tunic worn by Capt. H.F. Leggett on Sept. 21, 1957, when he attended the royal wedding of Princess Savivanh Savang Manivong in Laos. The display case housing that tunic is accompanied by an explanation of Leggett’s career in the military and the situation in the former French Indochina that necessitated the presence of a peacekeeping mission.

A diary provided by Cpl. Fred Connor, a cook with 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, gave the museum an insight of what it was like to be stationed in Croatia in 1993 and allowed for detailed annotations to accompany other personal items of his put on display.

One of Oakden’s favourite group of artifacts is a collection of Izzy Dolls. When stationed in Croatia in 1993, Master Cpl. Mark Isfeld noticed a doll in the rubble of a bombed house and realized the power of reconnecting children with toys. He would collaborate with his mother to crochet dolls to distribute to local kids.

After Isfeld died when a mine went off during his next tour of duty in 1994, his unit named the dolls “Izzy” after their comrade and continued to distribute them. They are still handed out.

One combat shirt on display was cut off of Capt. Ian Anderson in 1994 when he was wounded in Bosnia and required medical assistance. Oakden said Anderson died a few years later in a different conflict.

Since the turn of the century, Oakden said Canada has transitioned from peacekeeping or peacemaking to what are termed “peace support missions,” but Canada is still active in more than 40 countries.

“Canada has a long and proud history of peacekeeping that can sometimes get a bit complicated,” Oakden said. “We don’t shy away from the missions that may not have the confidence in the Canadian public due to them not going well, such as the Rwandan genocide or the actions in Somalia. We do talk about those as well.”

The exhibit is scheduled to run until May 2023.

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