Canada Was Prepared to Send Ships to Iraq in 2003 if UN Approved Action, Records Show The release of previously classified cabinet minutes has shed new light on a long buried chapter in Canadian history: Ottawa's secret preparations for war in Iraq, just months before Prime Minister Jean Chrétien officially announced that Canada would not join the US led coalition.
While Canadians have been taught to remember their country as a stalwart opponent of the invasion, these documents reveal a more nuanced truth.
In February 2003, Canadian officials were quietly preparing contingency plans for military action in Iraq, should the UN give the green light.