Canada and the United States had been in discussions since 2013 over the creation of integrated forces for expeditionary mission. According to CBC News information, the meeting took place at the highest military level of the two countries. They involved the Chief of the Canadian Defence Staff General Tom Lawson and his US counterpart General Martin Dempsey. Both of them have been retired.

The integrated force would involve land, sea, air and special operations forces, under a unified command outside Canada, as CBC mentioned. However, after research on behalf of the Canadian TV channel, the government stated that it «has neither expressed interest in the concept of Canada-U.S. force integration nor directed exploration of it» and that the two sides had no desire to establish a standing force.

However, the information from the Canadian MoD showed that the discussions and plans were ongoing. That showed that the discussions were exclusively on a military level and according to General Tom Lawson’s opinion towards the political leadership, the Canadian Forces were not in position to join a fully integrated force. Nevertheless, the Canadian Armed Forces would focus on interoperability and cooperation with their US counterparts.