ARTICLES

ARTICLES
operational needs without the need to retender contracts for every individual operation.
CANCAP was designed to offer the CAF greater operational flexibility thanks to a privately
contracted military-support capacity and was viewed by CAF leadership as a resounding
success in that respect. 14 As one retired Canadian officer wrote, “CANCAP provides the
capability to plan, mobilize and deploy key employees and equipment, hire local labour and
manage the delivery of a broad range of support services.” 15 These services can include
administration and management, food services, material management and distribution,
ammunition (handling only), communications, equipment maintenance, health services,
transportation, accommodations, construction, engineering, power and water supply, waste
management, roads, grounds and facilities management, fire services and geomatics support.” 16
The initial contract, valued at 200 million dollars for five years, was granted in 2002 to
SNC-Lavelin and American PAE Government Services, who signed as a joint venture company
called SNC-Lavelin PAE Government Services (SNCL/PAE). In 2003, SNCL/PAE took over
from Atco-Frontec in Bosnia and offered support to Canadian troops as part of TFBH in the
first implementation of CANCAP. At its peak, between 2002 and 2004, 300 CANCAP employees
supported 1200 soldiers at an estimated cost of 56 million dollars. 17 As one report stated,
“The transition from ATCO-Frontec to SNCL/PAE TFBH was relatively seamless, and the
service was generally considered to be excellent.” 18 The real test for CANCAP, however, came
in 2003 when it was utilized to support the Canadian contribution to ISAF and helped build
Camps Julien and Warehouse in preparation for Roto 0 and the start of deployment in and
around Kabul. At its peak, approximately four hundred CANCAP employees supported
2,300 Canadian soldiers. A total of 6,000 Canadian soldiers were billeted in Camp Julien
between 2003 and 2005. The contract was renewed for another five years as Canadian assets
were shifted from Kabul to Kandahar during Operation ENDURING FREEDOM and the
eventual establishment of ISAF in that area. As one veteran CANCAP employee wrote, “From
a work point of view, we had a mature workforce in Kandahar and many employees were on
their second or more six month tour and were used to working with the military and to the
theatre conditions.” 19
INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS TO CODIFY BEHAVIOUR OF PMSCS
With the growing usage of PMSCs comes a need to better regulate the industry using international
guidelines similar to those governing the conduct of state militaries during combat
operations. The primary concern for Canada is ensuring that companies contracted by the
Canadian government, based out of Canada or operating within Canada’s borders, conduct
themselves according to the guidelines set by the Montreux Document and the ICoC (the
International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers). Both these documents
codify PMSLC behaviour within the framework of accepted humanitarian and human rights
law and represent significant steps towards providing an ethical and legal framework for better
industry regulation.
The Montreux Document was the result of a joint initiative between the government of
Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross and is the first international
document to review international laws as they apply to PMSCs. Seventeen nations, including
the United States, Great Britain and Canada, supported the creation of the document in 2008,
and since its inception forty-six states and the European Union have adopted the Montreux
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