Canada is a principal initiator (founding country) of the alliance.[2] This Atlanticist outlook was a marked break with Canada's pre-war isolationism, and was the first peacetime alliance Canada had ever joined.
Canada has stationed troops in Germany (atKaiserslautern) since 1951.[3] During the 1950s Canada was one of the largest military spenders in the alliance and one of the few not receiving direct aid from the United States.[4]
The costs of maintaining forces in Europe combined with those defending its own vast territory and participation in the Korean War caused strain on the Canadian budget during the 1950s.[5]
In 1969 then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau withdrew half of Canada's forces in Europe, even as many leftist intellectuals and peace activists called for a complete withdrawal from NATO.[6]
The bulk of Canada's military was focused on the less-glamorous NATO mission in Germany, where there remained a brigade group and an air division. In all, over 5,000 soldiers at any given time were deployed until 1993, when the remaining Canadian troops were withdrawn from Europe by the government of Brian Mulroney following the end of the Cold War. The peace dividend was spent elsewhere than on the military.[8]
Given the small size of Canada's military, most contributions to NATO were political but, during NATO's 1999 Kosovo War, Canadian CF-18 jets were involved in the bombing of Yugoslavia.
Since it began in 2001 Canadian troops were part of the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan, ISAF.
Bercuson, David J. "Canada, NATO, and Rearmament, 1950-1954: Why Canada Made a Difference (but not for very long)," in John English and Norman Hillmer, eds., Making a Difference: Canada's Foreign Policy in a Changing World Order (Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1992) pp 103–24
Bercuson, David J. and J.L. Granatstein. Lessons Learned? What Canada Should Learn from Afghanistan (Calgary, 2011).
Cooper, Andrew F.; Momani, Bessma (May 4, 2014). "The Harper government's messaging in the build-up to the Libyan Intervention: was Canada different than its NATO allies?". Canadian Foreign Policy Journal. 20 (2): 176–188. doi:10.1080/11926422.2014.934855. S2CID154860882.
Granatstein, J. L. "Is NATO Still Necessary for Canada?." CDFAI policy paper, March (2013). online
Granatstein, J. L. Canada's Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace (University of Toronto Press, 2002)
Kasurak, Peter C. A National Force: The Evolution of Canada's Army, 1950-2000 (University of British Columbia Press, 2013)
Keating, Thomas F., and Larry Pratt. Canada, NATO, and the bomb: the Western Alliance in crisis (Hurtig Pub, 1988).