Canada failing to live up to obligations on the world stage

| Commenting on this story is closed.

${image_caption}$

If Canada can truly be called a global consensus builder, LGen Roméo Dallaire (Ret’d) is one of our foundation blocks. Ever since he had a front-row seat for one of the modern world’s great humanitarian failures, the genocide in Rwanda, he has been a tireless advocate for globalism, and in particular for expanding Canada’s role in the developing world in the hopes of preventing not only tragedies on the unimaginable scale he witnessed, but countless smaller incidents that persist on an almost day-to-day basis.

Increasingly, however, Dallaire seems to be standing alone on that front. Canada has, in many respects, withdrawn from its international duty, or at least significantly narrowed its focus: to use an example close to Dallaire’s (and, for a time, Canada’s) heart, of the more than 90 000 UN police officers, observers and soldiers involved in peacekeeping operations around the world last month, a mere 168 were Canadian—17 times less than Rwanda contributed, for some frame of reference.

The General—currently a sitting senator, as well as an officer in the Order of Canada—will be in town on Thu, Feb 21 (7:00 pm) at the Myer Horowitz Theatre on the U of A campus to speak about Canada’s role in world affairs as the keynote speaker at the Global Voices: Sharing our Vision conference. The conference, put on by the Alberta Council for Global Cooperation, aims to provide Albertans with a chance to discuss the UN Millennium Development Goals, and what role we can take on issues such as the elimination of poverty, prevention of disease and promotion of universal education and medicare, making Dallaire an ideal keynote.

Vue Weekly had a chance to speak with General Dallaire over the phone last week, and offers a selection of the enlightening and frequently inspiring conversation below.

Vue Weekly: Though historically Canada has taken a prominent role in world affairs, lately we’ve curtailed our involvement. Why do you think that is, and why do you think it’s important for Canada to maintain an active role on an international level?

Roméo Dallaire: Part of the reason is not purely the current political situation, but the position of politicians in the past on cutting our capabilities, setting up other priorities in the budget that did not provide for building a new-generation military, or reinforcing diplomatic ties or moving our international development commitment up to 0.7 per cent of GDP.

Having said that, we are doing something, but it’s far below our potential, and what I would say is our responsibility, to do. Canada is one of the eighth largest economies in the world and is perceived as one of the best places in the world to live, and in those two dimensions is one of the leading countries in the world, and as such, it has essentially stumbled upon a responsibility beyond its borders.

I think one of the things that’s often difficult for Canadians to realize is that we’re no longer the kid brother of the colonial powers, helping them out when they’re in trouble; we have matured into a big player, a responsible player, a player that a lot of people want to see a lot more of. It is my humble opinion that we should try to meet the responsibility the rest of the world thinks we’re capable of.

VW: A common criticism of international development initiatives is that we should be taking care of the problems between our own borders first: it’s hard to justify aiding developing nations when much of our Aboriginal community is living in poverty, for example. How do you respond to those types of concerns?

RD: Well, I consider that position to be highly irresponsible. When we established the Charter for Human Rights, we acknowledged that human rights are for all humans, not just those between our borders. In so doing, we know that we have capabilities that extend beyond our borders, and where we see abuses of human rights, we should be assisting in preventing these things from happening.

I think what we have to ask, too, is is the support that we’re giving other nations the reason that we still have Aboriginal peoples treated like they’re living in the Third World, for example? We certainly have serious issues, but it’s not a matter of just turning inwards, it’s a matter of ensuring that we’re prioritizing our budget such that we’re responding to all these issues in a responsible fashion. If we’re not putting enough assets into reducing poverty in our own country, it’s not because we’re putting too much money into some nation overseas, it’s because we haven’t really made human rights issues a priority.

VW: One of the things you and other globalists speak about is the importance of preventative methods over reactive ones. Despite this, and ample evidence that preventative methods work far better than things like military response, why do so many of our political leaders continue to shy away from such methods?

RD: One of the reasons is it’s not sexy, and I say that in the most pejorative way: it’s not a crisis, so it doesn’t attract attention. For the eight months that I was in Rwanda before the genocide, I couldn’t get anybody interested in what was going on; once the blood started to spill, I couldn’t keep people away.

The other side of it is that it’s long-term: if you’re going to prevent something, the question is, ‘When do you enter into the process?’ Is it poverty reduction over the next 20 years? Is it building an education system and so on? When is that time frame? Then, even if you identify something, then you run into the bizarre realm of political pressures: the politicians don’t like using their political capital on less immediate things.

How many politicians are going to go in there and try to resolve this terrible ethnic tension that’s going on? You’ll find that it’s probably less than those who are willing to send the peacekeepers into a hotspot.

VW: It’s often easy to talk about the future, but what kind of tangible steps do you want to see Canada take towards becoming more prominent on the international stage?

RD: First of all I think government in this country needs to listen to people who are under 30, and get them understanding what the government can do for them. Their future is not 20 years from now, it’s five years from now, it’s two governments from now, and we need to understand their concerns and harness their will and desire for our country.

Secondly, once we have that, we need to articulate what we’re going to do with it: we need to ask ourselves why Canada exists. Just because we’re here and we’re working hard?

In maturing to one of the great, powerful nations in the world, have we not also acquired the maturity and depth needed to go beyond our borders and take on responsibilities on a global level. The background, I think, for moving forward is that Canada is a nation that has advanced technology, that has a strong work ethic, that believes fundamentally in human rights for all, that has no aspirations of subjugating anyone, and on the contrary, commits itself to the advancement of humanity around the globe. If we have that, it would be a lot simpler to explain to the families of those that are being killed in places like Afghanistan or wherever we ask them to go that that sacrifice is not made in isolation because of the current political situation, but is in concert with the will of this country that has committed itself, its resources, its sweat, its blood—yes, even blood—in order to move humanity forward. V

Thu, Feb 21 - Sat, Feb 23

Global Voices: Sharing our Vision

Keynote by LGen Roméo Dallaire (Ret’d)

Also Featuring Dr Hasina Rasuli, SOL GUY, Dr Elizabeth Lange, Antonia Martinez Alfaro, Hilaria Supa Huaman and more

Myer Horowitz Theatre & Lister Conference Centre, U of A Campus

globalassembly.ca

Got something to say? Send a letter to the editor.
letters@vueweekly.com

Canada failing to live up to obligations on the world stage

Most recent comments