Canada applies to join Britain’s rapid-response defence force

Canada has formally applied to join the United Kingdomled Joint Expeditionary Force, a NATOlinked group designed to respond quickly to crises. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the move during a meeting with U.K. counterpart Andy Burnham on Wednesday. The proposal marks a reversal from more than a decade ago, when Canada declined an earlier invitation to join. The force grew out of military cooperation during the Afghanistan war and later took on new relevance after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and, more recently, its fullscale invasion of Ukraine. Unlike NATO, the Joint Expeditionary Force does not include a collective defence clause like Article 5. It is a flexible coalition of willing countries that can deploy forces for specific situations, but Canada did not outline how its participation would work in practice.