Article content continued

Harper said the move is a response to ISIS’s “murderous rampage” and the humanitarian crisis it has caused. Left unchecked, the radical group is a “direct threat” to Canada and its allies, he said in the statement.

The advisors are expected to be drawn from the Canadian Special Operations Regiment. Two Canadian military cargo planes are also ferrying weapons to the Kurds.

The prime minister said the new deployment is not without risk, but it’s not a combat mission, something for which the Conservatives have traditionally sought the blessing of Parliament.

He also signalled very clearly that it’s not the end of allied action, and that Canada would evaluate further participation as events unfold.

“The measures taken to date, particularly in the north of Iraq, have certainly been successful in halting the advance of [ISIS] and to some degree pushing back on it,” Harper said. “But this is far from truly turning back the advance of [ISIS] or diminishing its long-term threat.”

The allies are also considering further sanctions on Russia, which Canada fully supports, he added.

Despite being one of the harshest critics of President Vladimir Putin’s actions, the prime minister was not part of a Thursday meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko convened by the U.S., Britain, Germany, Italy and France.

Harper later met separately with Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose opening remarks on Friday underlined another sore point, a call for NATO members to increase defence spending to a consistent level.