Apologies to those who have checked in over the last month -- I have left you hanging. But it has been filled with its share of trials and tribulations. Those have ended, starting today. I share with you my departing message to UNDP colleagues.
I am going to take another month (or so) to decide how to best continue my blogging and promise to keep you posted but, in the interim, to my readers, supporters, and champions in cyberspace -- I thank you, from the bottom of my heart. There are challenges ahead for our country, but major opportunities, as well. Today, I begin my journey towards helping solve some of the issues facing Canada and putting our country back on a respectable track. It will take time, but with the support of you all, I will stay the course. Merci! **********
Dear friends and colleagues in the Partnerships Bureau (and beyond),
Today was my last day at UNDP -- thank you all very much for an interesting, engaging, and event-filled year.
Though I move on to new challenges in Canada, the calling remains the same: help those less fortunate; promote peace, order and good governance; and help establish just and inclusive societies for all. I will remain keenly tuned to UNDP under the leadership of the new Administrator, and from the cold, windy shores of historic Halifax harbour, promise to cheer you on in all your international development efforts. It is for that reason I say goodbye for now, and not farewell forever -- considering how small the world is, it's not a matter of if, but when, our paths cross next.
I have tried to say personal goodbyes to as many of you as possible. If I didn't get a chance to share a laugh or a hug, please know that I was thinking about you and look forward to the next time we meet. (Of course, visits to Nova Scotia are more than welcome!)
Apologies to you, loyal readers. I am a little late with my post this week, but there is good reason. Almost a year ago, I started this blog with the intention of articulating thoughts about what it means to me to be Canadian, about how growing up Canadian shaped the way I see our country's place in the world, and how I envision a future for our country in an increasingly globalized, interconnected world. This blog was born out of a strong sense of pride, after being laughed at for wanting to be a more involved in Canadian political affairs.
Something similar happened again this weekend. In responding the question about where I was from, "I'm sorry about that" was the response from Richard, who tagged along with a friend to a wine tasting I was at this past Saturday. He may have been teasing, he may have been serious, but I still wanted to throw him the Trudeau salute. Being true to national character however, I cracked a joke, bit my tongue and kept my digits to myself.
Whether it is a testament to my perseverance, pure luck, or divine intervention, I will be moving on to a new position back home in Canada within 45 days -- I call it Phase II in the plan to restore Canada's reputation in the community of nations. I am mulling over what to do about blogging but, in the meantime, I have another four weeks to share feelings and thoughts about being a Canadian in the United Nations. I hope you'll join me as this journey winds down and help me as I plan another wild adventure in my home and native land.
Ah, the Winter Olympics! The eyes of the world are on Canada, land of ice and snow.
So is it just me who finds the warm weather and lack of snow at the mountain venues on the outskirts of Vancouver just a bit ironic? Or how about the fact that, despite all the hype about these games being the "greenest ever", organizers have been buying and trucking in snow. Juxtaposed against our less-than-genuine efforts in Copenhagen, I think we have the makings for a delicious 'sundae of irony'.
Would you like some sprinkles with that?
And by sprinkles, I mean latest word from an international survey by Globescan that shows that Canada's reputation has slipped amongst the community of nations. We just don't enjoy the same kind of respect we used to. It wasn't that long ago, in September 2003 to be exact, that The Economist dubbed Canada a 'rather cool place' to live. The ensuing years have been rough. We now have The Economist mocking our country and, in particular, our government, for having to prorogue parliament on the pretext that the Olympics would be a distraction to the act of governing.
How stupid have Canadians become? In a world increasingly used to multitasking, are you telling me that we can't handle sports and politics? What about war and politics? Or worse, sports, war and politics. When will the insanity in Ottawa stop?
The priorities -- at least to me -- are glaringly clear. Put our fiscal house in order, protesting loudly when money is squandered by the government on ideological rubbish; make strategic investments to help Canadians transition to more localized economies, including boosting spending for, and building more, public transit, repurposing urban sprawl, and encouraging localized agriculture; building high-speed rail links between every major urban centre from coast to coast to coast, creating a high-speed backbone supported by conventional rail links to smaller provincial centres; boost spending to increase access to education, specifically in the areas of nutrition, civics, international relations, and languages; and of course, focus Canadian ingenuity in energy, technology and medicine.
See, that wasn't so hard! I was typing this while sipping a cup of coffee and listening to the radio. I wonder if that would make me overqualified to work in Ottawa these days?
Between 7 and 13 February, a collection of meetings and lectures across Canada will publicize the work of the Canadian Government and other Canadian organizations regarding progress achieved and lessons learned in international development work. For more information about happenings in your area, check out the calendar of events and get involved.
Notwithstanding the current Government and the general meander away from a centred, solid politic in Ottawa over the last 7 years, Canada has a tradition of helping others. In fact, it's a rather short legacy in which we should all take pride -- it's only since the 1960s that as a nation, we began to understand the value of international development and helping others beyond our borders. Pearson really built the foundation, which then blossomed into a reputation for non-politicized assistance to developing countries in the ensuing years.
'Non-politicized' is really the key. Today, that has changed dramatically with the unenlightened, rather provincial and downright Machiavellian conservative yahoos who have steamrolled Ottawa. So let me get this right -- prorogue parliament but take away a couple of week-long breaks for MPs? How utterly stupid. Change internationally agreed-upon language in foreign policy documents to a sanitized and incompatible lexicon? When did Ottawa become a national daycare centre?
Mr. Jean-Philippe Laberge, a national of Canada, had been working as a Civil/Military Coordination Officer with the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) since 2005 when he was killed in the earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010. He was 36 years old.
He held a Bachelor of Science degree in International Relations and Political Analysis from Université du Québec in Montréal and later received a Master’s degree in European Politics and Policy from the London School of Economics.
Since early 2000, Jean-Philippe, always eager to transmit his knowledge and share his working experience, regularly gave briefings to students at the prestigious Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris. He was also sought after to prepare various case studies for the school.
After his first job as a parliamentary assistant at the Canadian Parliament, he worked for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Bosnia as a Human Rights Officer and Project Manager (1999-2000), and from there he moved to Kosovo to work for the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) as a Minority Affairs and a Return Officer.
In Kosovo, Jean-Philippe was a “tireless advocate for the most downtrodden of the territory's ethnic minorities, its large Roma population, many of whom fled to neighboring states during the NATO bombing campaign. His passionate enthusiasm for their cause and the links of personal trust he built with Roma representatives were critical in overcoming suspicions of the UN, encouraging them to return to their homes in Kosovo and rebuild their lives,” said his former supervisor there.
Jean-Philippe worked in Kosovo for over three years during the reconstruction phase after the war. It was there that he met his future wife, Victoria, who was also working with UNMIK.
After Kosovo, he took up a post in the Middle East with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) as an Operation Support Officer in the Gaza Strip. Victoria followed him there, later taking up a position with the World Food Programme (WFP) in Jerusalem.
Jean-Philippe’s “kindness and generosity were unique and made him a wonderful human being and friend,” said his colleagues from UNWRA in a letter signed, among others, by the agency’s Commissioner-General, Karen Abu-Zayd. He was a “true leader, taking the right decisions particularly in difficult situations – as was often the case in Gaza.”
“I can not forget Jean-Philippe’s sense of humor even in very difficult and dangerous situations, especially in the village of Beit Hanoun where we had to facilitate UNRWA’s medical staff access,” remembered another colleague who also described how Jean-Philippe put in long hours during tough negotiations.
Jean-Philippe left UNRWA to follow Victoria to Haiti. “They had a tacit agreement to follow each other by turn. They traveled a lot together, always had new ideas and plans, and were extremely respectful of one another. To their friends, they were the most beautiful, lovely couple. Everybody admired them as friends, humanitarian professionals, a couple, and, of course, parents,” said a close friend.
A memorial service is scheduled to take place in Montreal on 10 February 2010. Additional details are available in the eRoom.
Jean-Philippe is survived by his wife Victoria, their two children, Emilie, three years old, and Maxime Antoine, one year old, his mother Marjolaine Lord and his father Jocelyn Laberge.
UPDATE -- 4 February
Sadly, the names of colleagues -- Canadiuns -- who perished in the Haiti earthquake continue to be reported to headquarters. As a show of support, I wanted to leave this post up for another week and, with great sorrow, add the following:
Sgt. Mark Gallagher, United Nations policy, UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
Sgt. Mark Gallagher, 1959 - 2010
Sgt. Mark Gallagher, a national of Canada, was a member of the United Nations Police serving with the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) when the earthquake struck Haiti on 12 January 2010.
A veteran police officer who also was an avid boating enthusiast, Mark garnered 25 years of professional experience in Canada. Before starting his nine-month peacekeeping mission in Haiti, he had most recently served as Media Relations Officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) where he had been working since 1998. Prior to that, he worked for the Moncton Police Service in New Brunswick for 14 years.
In 2002, he was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Commemorative Medal and the Police Exemplary Service Medal for over 20 years of police service.
Deployed to Haiti in July 2009, Mark worked as Officer in the Haitian National Police (HNP) Development Pillar and was responsible for coordinating HNP needs in MINUSTAH.
Mark was one of 100 Canadian police officers who have served with MINUSTAH.
“This is the first time that a serving Canadian police officer has been killed on active duty in an international peacekeeping operation,” said Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in an official statement.
“He was a fine officer who always put the welfare of others before himself,” said Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter, adding, “It was this selflessness that led him to volunteer in Haiti.”
Described as a “gentle, kind spirit” by those who knew him, Mark went to Haiti to help the less fortunate. He told his colleagues that “the smallest gestures can make all the difference for those living in such extreme poverty.”
Given the day-to-day realities of life in Haiti, Mark had a hard time adjusting to his comfortable lifestyle in Canada during his recent Christmas trip back home, according to those close to him.
Attendees at his funeral were told that “Mark discharged his responsibility with dignity, with respect and with a great deal of compassion.”
Thanks to his honorable service, the Premier of New Brunswick plans to nominate Sgt. Gallagher for the Order of New Brunswick, the province’s highest honour given to individuals who have “demonstrated excellence and achievement and who have made outstanding contributions to the social, cultural or economic well-being of New Brunswick and its residents.”
Mark is survived by his wife Lisa, his son Shane and his daughter Heather.
*****************
With the dust mostly settled in Haiti, the aftermath and devastation can now be truly understood. The situation is, in a word, tragic.
Let me share the names of those Canadians who were an integral part of the United Nations family serving in Haiti, and who paid the ultimate price in the service of humanity. They are:
Renée Carrier, Personal Assistant to the Special Representative
Doug Coates, Acting Commissioner, United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
James Coates, Administrative Assistant
Alexandra Duguay, Public Information Assistant
Guillaume Siemienski, Political Affairs Officer
Sadly, the ranks of those killed may yet swell; there are staff who remain unaccounted for. The United Nations has a memorial webpage and has encouraged colleagues and friends to eulogize all those who perished. So far, there are stories available for two of the five CandiUNs. I post their stories here, for your consideration and will update them as they become available:
Renée Carrier, 1955 - 2010 [added 25 January]
Ms. Renée Carrier, a Canadian national, had been serving as the Personal Assistant to Special Representative Hédi Annabi at the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) since 2007 when she died in the Haiti earthquake of 12 January.
Renée began her UN career as a Secretary in the French typing pool in 1988 and soon after was assigned as an Editorial Clerk in the French Unit of what is now the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management (DGACM). As her friends and colleagues all attest, her “legendary professionalism” led her to a first peacekeeping post in 1991 when she began working for the Force Commander of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
Though she returned to UN Headquarters in between assignments, she enjoyed life in the field. She served twice in Haiti and once in the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) during her 22 years of service.
For Renée peacekeeping was more than an assignment, as she shared with one colleague when asked why she never married: “I am already married to the United Nations and my spouse, the UN, always invites me to join him whenever he is invited to serve.”
“She was the dream employee every supervisor wants.” As one colleague put it, “I always had the impression that her bosses felt they had won the lottery when Renée decided to apply for a position in their team. And in fact, they did.”
What separated Renée from everyone else was her work ethic. “She stood out for her poise, utmost professionalism and the effortless way in which she resolved even the most challenging difficulties at short notice,” said Under-Secretary-General for Management Angela Kane who worked with her in Asmara, Eritrea. “She never said ‘no’ or ‘that can't be done.’ Instead, she listened carefully, went back to her desk, only to return soon thereafter with a solution.”
Ambassador Legwaila Joseph Legwaila of Botswana, former UNMEE head with whom she worked as a Personal Assistant, described her as “peerlessly efficient and dedicated, a valuable friend and colleague and an indispensable partner.”
“She was organized and super efficient perhaps from her background as a school administrator in Quebec before joining the UN.”
A colleague with whom she worked closely in Peacekeeping Operations commented: “I don’t think I ever saw her make a mistake in the years we shared offices.”
This petite dynamo of a woman, who worked closely with Force Commanders and Special Representatives of the Secretary-General was also a loyal friend and helpful colleague to everyone with whom she worked, regardless of rank or level.
But it was her ability to engender trust and confidence that endeared her to so many.
More than her dedication to duty and her consummate professionalism, what her friends will remember most are the special times they shared with her and her many acts of kindness. As one colleague noted, she attached great importance to doing the right thing and was uncompromising about it.
One colleague recalls “my own children loved her dearly, and she was often a part of our family celebrations.”
Others talked of Renée’s laughter and her love of life: “I remember her goofy sense of humour and her sensitivity about her braces and how she was the world’s worst karaoke singer and would only do it if we gave her a bunch of white wine first.”
She also took pride in being fit and ran long distance both in the New York City, when at home, and wherever she was in the field.
Haiti, which she loved, was to have been Renée’s last assignment as she was making plans to retire in her beloved Quebec.
“She had recently bought an apartment and was getting ready to go home and settle down. Her friends were in line to spend more time with her and enjoy her company,” shared a close friend in a tribute to her.
But as another friend who exchanged emails with her some twenty minutes before the earthquake reminds us, Renée will always live on in our memories for her selfless “love for Haiti and the passion for the job she was doing there” to help the people of that country.
General Robert Gordon with whom she served in Eritrea said: “Her star still shines.” Renée is survived by her brother Marc and her sisters Andrée and Danielle.
Doug Coates, 1957 – 2010
Doug Coates of Canada was serving as acting commissioner at the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) at the time of his death in the 12 January 2010 earthquake.
A Royal Canadian Mounted Police superintendent, he made frequent UN peacekeeping missions to Haiti over a 17 year period.
Former colleagues noted that Doug’s passion, energy, focus and professionalism were instantly recognizable.
His son stated that he was proud of his work mentoring police officers while at the UN Mission in Haiti. “He has touched the lives of countless Haitians,” he said.
Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon called him a UN hero and said he was “a great police officer who believed to his core in the importance of rule of law and justice.”
One of Doug’s defining achievements with the UN was to open five police stations in the Grand Anse region of Haiti, re-establishing police services for the estimated 800,000 citizens of that area.
In 1993, Doug undertook his first of numerous missions to Haiti, where he helped train local law enforcement officers. After several months, he was pressured to leave due to civil unrest in the region but returned in 1995 to continue his work, receiving a medal for his peacekeeping efforts on this subsequent trip.
As a decorated officer, Doug saw his peacekeeping experience as more than a job. According to colleagues, he would close all meetings and correspondence by saying, “Working together in the service of peace” – his personal motto.
This devotion was evident throughout his extensive law-enforcement and peacekeeping career that began in 1978, when he joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. He specialized in mountain search and rescue among other things.
After showing his strengths as an investigator in Alberta, Canada, his interests led him to Ottawa where he became part of an elite emergency response team.
In 1996, he assumed responsibility for the management of Canadian police deployments, his competency eventually bringing him to head the Proceeds of Crime Unit in Quebec which focused on money laundering. He also took secondments at Pearson Peacekeeping Centre in Ottawa and the Australian Federal Police.
During the course of his extensive career, Doug was the recipient of a Canadian peacekeeping service medal, a Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal, a 30-year silver clasp and the police exemplary service medal. He will be remembered as a brave and generous friend, colleague, father and husband.
He is survived by his wife, Lise and his three children, Julie, Mathieu and Luc.
James Coates, 1972 - 2010 [added 26 January]
James Coates, a native of Canada, held several positions in the Department of Public Information (DPI) before joining the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) in the summer of 2008.
After a musical childhood in which he played guitar and piano and was an avid singer and gymnast, James left Newfoundland to pursue a Bachelor of Arts at Laval University in Quebec City. He also received a degree from the London School of Journalism.
Described as “sharp-witted, personable and disarmingly charming,” James was well-read, well-traveled and passionate about seeking out new experiences.
His career outside the UN included jobs in Togo, Benin, Vietnam and Italy, as well as in Toronto and Quebec City, where he lived for many years. James spoke English, French and Vietnamese.
One colleague remembered that “his travels were also occasions to show what an amazing photographer he was, which I strongly believe has to do with the way he saw the world. James was also very fond of nature and the great outdoors.”
To satisfy his passion for writing and music, he worked as a journalist and a disc jockey, and frequently wrote reviews of music and travel destinations.
In New York, James worked in the Meetings Coverage Section of the Press Service in DPI’s News and Media Division and then in the Communications Campaigns Service of DPI’s Strategic Communications Division. He also worked with the team that drafted the Report of the Independent Panel on Safety and Security of UN Personnel and Premises Worldwide.
According to one colleague, “James' sense of humor brought such joy at the end of a long day and our lunch dates were a bright spot in my weeks. James had an ability to be light and funny, but he also had a profound appreciation for the complexity of our lives and the lifestyle we had chosen as UN staff. He offered invaluable counsel to his friends and never shied away from being lovingly honest.”
Another said that James “always gave [his friends] the best advice. He was very fond of practical solutions and was incredibly helpful in solving complicated situations.”
"James made friends easily because he could always connect on some common ground. And people, no matter who they were, just seemed to like to talk to him,” added a close friend.
“I was with James when he found out he had been selected to go to Haiti on mission and I will never forget how happy and excited he was,” said a colleague. “He was good to the people and good for this planet […] He had this great ability to really seize the day and live it fully and peacefully at the same time. He was very much appreciative of life and was making the most of it.”
A brief biography of James can be found at the journalism web site “suite101,” to which he was a regular contributor.
Alexandra Duguay, 1978 - 2010
Ms. Alexandra Duguay, a national of Canada, began her career at the United Nations some 12 years ago. Then only 19 years of age, she started as an assistant during the General Assembly and then took on various communications roles within the Department of Public Information before joining the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) in 2009. She had been in Port-au-Prince for seven months.
Known occasionally as “Miss Sunshine” or simply as “Alex,” she served as a warm welcome to all new staff covering the General Assembly. This sunny attitude ensured she always remained courteous under stressful situations. One colleague remembered how nicely she approached a then newcomer to help evacuate the building on 11 September 2001.
Originally from Québec City, a colleague described Alex as “a perfect example of the type of ambitious, accomplished, multilingual, effortlessly cool young person who is drawn to New York and the UN.”
She moved to Haiti in June 2009, spurred on by her sense of adventure, eagerness to help out, and to join her partner and UN staffer, Marc-André Franche (Canada), who survived the earthquake.
“She had been drawn to the UN by her passion for humanitarian affairs that had existed since childhood,” said her mother.
This devotion was evident, as she consistently looked for extra ways to help where she could in Haiti. In December, Alex was involved with the work of Sister Flora, who runs an orphanage on the island of Ile à Vaches.
A truly selfless person, she helped neighborhood children. She designed and decorated colorful new street signs for “Impasse Tulipe” in her neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince where many streets are nonexistent. Alex took the initiative to construct a sign herself.
This notion of injecting the world with color was natural to Alex. Colleagues and friends recollect her signature sense of humor, boundless enthusiasm and infectious laugh.
She is perhaps best summed up with the following quote from one colleague: “Alex is the equation between energy and perpetual motion."
Alex enjoyed all aspects of life. She ran marathons in New York and in Paris, loved traveling and children, and was fascinated by arts and photography. She was described by her professor at the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies as his “star student.”
As a UN figure that made a positive impact on everyone with whom she came across, most will agree with one of her colleagues who said, “The memory of your light will fill the void. The tragedy of your loss reminds us never to take anything for granted.”
Her family is planning to organize a public funeral to take place towards the end of next week in her hometown of Québec City.
She is survived by her parents, her four sisters, her brother and Marc-André Franche.
Mr. Guillaume Siemienski, a Canadian national, started working with the United Nations in 2008 when he was posted as a Senior Political Affairs Officer with the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) in Tbilisi. He was reassigned to the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) in Port-au-Prince in August 2009. He was 55 years old when the earthquake struck.
Before joining the UN Guillaume worked in the Canadian Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism for over ten years. From 2001-2005, he worked in Canadian Embassies in Moscow, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ankara. During this period he also went on a few missions for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In 1999, he was appointed Senior Development Officer at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
On 16 January 2010, the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement on the deaths of Guillaume Siemienski and another Canadians stationed in Haiti. “Their deaths are a reminder of the sacrifice Canadian men and women … are willing to make in order to bring Canadian generosity and aid to Haiti and the world.”
Guillaume was the head of the Messaging Unit in the Political Affairs Division in MINUSTAH and was in charge of reviewing and supervising the production of all speeches, ranging from medal parade speeches to speeches for inaugurations, and daily and weekly situation reports.
His team described him as “a pleasant, jolly colleague.”
He was remembered for “cracking jokes and laughing loudly during Monday morning team meetings.”
He was “very personable and had a great way of never making you feel supervised.”
He always inspired positive energy among his family, friends and colleagues. “The house would shake from the energy that he inspired.”
“He was the sunniest, most loving person,” said his sister.
Guillaume held an Honours Bachelor’s degree in Russian and Slavic Studies from McGill University and another degree from Université de Paris III, in Contemporary Soviet Studies. He spoke several languages fluently including English, French, Russian, and Polish as well as German less so.
He spent most of his life doing humanitarian work. “He truly believed in working towards democracy and human rights,” his sister also said.
Guillaume and his wife had just returned to Haiti after a visit to Montreal, where the couple spent the Christmas holidays with their family. At the gathering, he sang a song he composed to describe his life with his wife, Maria Karolina.
Guillaume is survived by his wife, and two sons, Christopher who resides in Poland, and Martin who attends university in Montreal.
First, in the context of the terrible devastation that has struck Haiti, let me say that my thoughts and prayers go out to its people, my United Nations colleagues, and the wider development community. The UN and NGOs stationed on the front lines are staffed with good people, trying to overcome hellish odds, to do good work for the betterment of humanity.
Yet, I can't help but see the week's tragic events in Haiti in its larger (and I would argue more important) context.
I am not an imperialist. But given the relatively close proximity of Haiti to the US and Canada, we must see this destructive tragedy as a mirror. Our hemisphere has failed to deliver fair and equitable development assistance and has failed to transfer the skills needed to build a sustainable society and reinforce democratic principles in support of self-determination and sovereignty.
We have forsaken the people of Haiti and it was on full display this week. Most, if not all of the government buildings were destroyed in the earthquake (note the 'before' and 'after' photos of the presidential palace, for example). A vast majority of the functionaries critical to ensuring government continuity, were killed or are unaccounted for. Systems for communication, internally and externally, were essentially destroyed. At a special session of the Joint Meeting of the Executive Boards of UNDP/UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Food Programme on the situation in Haiti last Friday, the representative spoke emotionally and passionately about the situation on the ground. (I intend to post his audio here - please check back)
We have known for a very long time that Haiti, despite the efforts of the UN, has been unable to combat its dire poverty or put its internal affairs in order. Instead, for most of the 20th century, the world was preoccupied with obfuscation and confusion of the real issues, focused more on the instability brought about by a myriad of puppet dictators and petty thugs, each claiming to be the political saviour for the Haitian people. With the exception of the name plaque on the office of the President, has anything changed? We certainly witnessed the literal collapse of the Haitian government this week.
So now, the question in my mind related to the title of this blog post is, do we hate Haiti? Do we value our lives more than those in Haiti?
While we can barely manage our own population of poor and disenfranchised in Canada, is it not in our best interest to invest in democratic institutions (and associated redundancies) so that a country like Haiti can be self-sufficient and stable, even in the worst time of need? The burden of responsibility is extra heavy on Canada -- we are as much French as we are English; Quebec has been -- and remains -- a beacon of hope for many Haitians. From a justice and dignity perspective, we must begin to play a greater role in ensuring the requisite knowledge for modern physical and social constructs are shared swiftly and take firm root immediately. Meanwhile, isn't it a shame -- actually, isn't it disgusting -- that our politicians aren't around (thanks to prorogation) to show solidarity with the people of Haiti on behalf of Canadians? Another nail in the coffin of the ideological and the negatively-progressive Conservative government.
At the Joint Meeting of the Boards, the WFP representative on the podium was quite candid. He said things would get worse, before they get better. My prayer for Haiti is that we are in a position to turn our hate into hope... and action.
With national champagne glasses empty, and “Happy New Year” streamers and noisemakers piled high in our garbage bins, I think it’s fair to say the sobering-up time -- or wake-up time -- starts now. Pick whatever action applies most appropriately in your mind.
The games being played in Parliament are games that we Canadians have sanctioned. We were only too happy to wear a blindfold in 2009 – better to ignore what was happening than deal with the ugliness of denying – and then embracing – the need for stimulus funding, growing unemployment, massive fraud and pork barrel spending with taxpayer money, removal of funding from the arts, a military mission in a far-off land doomed to failure, allegations of torture, undermining global efforts at a climate deal… and now, another proroguing of Parliament. Why?
Our Government has essentially become undemocratic and unscrupulous – substitute whatever other words you like: unprincipled; dishonest; deceitful; untrustworthy. It’s no wonder China laughs at us when we invoke the language of “democratic reform” – we can’t even practice what we preach!
This is not as simple as a partisan argument against the Conservatives... though admittedly, they have become rather skillful practitioners of cloak and dagger politics (more so than even the Liberals) in a very short time. But somehow, when Chretien prorogued Parliament or shrugged off a scandal, it didn’t bring the same kind of deep-seated, pit-of-the-stomach sickness as when Harper does it. Nor did Chretien’s actions instigate the same kind of scathing criticism from the international community – certainly not to the point where it undermined our reputation around the world and challenged our perception of ourselves. Somehow, Chretien (and before him Trudeau) had his finger on enough pulses around the country that a majority of Canadians were in tune and in agreement with his leadership and party.
Harper, on the other hand, is happily remaking Canada as a neo-conservative nation, installing the requisite ideological Senators, ambassadors and civil servants, and challenging conventions of open communication and of proper language and access to information. (Sadly, I’m not sure Iggy would be much different.) The question is, are we Canadians satisfied with this approach? Will Canadians look back in 10 years and say: “You know, Stephen Harper really knew what Canadians wanted. He really spoke for us and represented the best of Canada.”
I certainly hope not.
Canadians must not accept the lowest common denominator in Ottawa. We must remove our blindfolds and reengage with our systems of democracy. To paraphrase Mahatma Gandhi, Canadians must be the change we want to see in the world. That is our challenge in 2010 – demand better political leadership, demand better choices by our parliamentarians, demand honest and open interaction with our government, so we can hold them to account and help rebuild Canada’s international reputation as a fair and just nation.
It won’t be easy, I admit. But given the current state of affairs, each of us must feel a responsibility to get involved in local activities. This can be a local environmental group, a poverty rights group, or even a campaign for Member of Parliament… we all must work to promote change for the better. I, for one, have made that my resolution in 2010. Stay tuned, I hope to have some interesting information to pass along shortly.
Happy New Year, dear readers. May the year be filled with health, wealth and happiness for you and your loved ones.
Now that the gifts under the Christmas tree/Hanukkah bush have been unwrapped, and the boxes from the questionable quality, lead-tainted Chinese toys have been discarded, and the chocolates, cookies and marzipan coagulate on the bellies and thighs of our nations citizens, it still came as a shock, as I walked down my local block, to see just how many "recyclables" were piled on the sidewalks in the City.
And while I am not intending to put a damper on the festivities of readers out there (or compete with the Grinch), I guess that's why I continue to feel a sense of dread as the holiday season comes. Conversely, I cannot begin to explain the genuine sense of relief as the season moves on.
The consumerism around the holiday was never supposed to BE the holiday. The exchange of gifts was never intended to be a shop-till-you-drop affair, working credit limits and patience to the extreme. Instead, it was always supposed to be about family and friends. It was always about thoughtfulness -- perhaps a bespoke knitted scarf or handy tool, or something special acquired on travels to a far off land -- you know, like gold, frankincense and myrrh.
I had a great Christmas this year. In addition to spending time with my lovely wife, I wrote a message to James Howard Kunstler and got a response, and wrote him back, and heard from him again. Simple pleasures, I suppose.
Let me just take this opportunity to wish you all the very best of the season. A new year will soon be upon us and with it, new challenges and thoughts. I will have something to say about it, no doubt. I hope you will, too.
I feel the need to apologize for the generous column-inches this blog devoted to the Copenhagen climate summit. As I suspected all along, there was never any REAL chance that the feeble-minded governments of the West could ever take the lead in moving its slothful populations -- raised on a steady diet of Swedish Fish, CNN sound bites, chrome-wheeled SUVs and the cheap abundance of Dollar Store shelves -- in the desperately-needed direction of quickly changing our behaviour and consumption patterns. Worse, my defeatist sentiment is hammered home with clear signals from our Conservative government that there was little or no interest in trying to use our middle-power status for positive change.
The most recent excrement to flow from Ottawa, that it won't rule out giving oil and gas companies an emissions break on the oil sands, is proof to me that the double-talk spin machine is lubricated and powered 100 per cent by fossil fuels, to the detriment of Canada's international reputation and respect. If I was ever more embarrassed to declare myself Canadian, I can't really remember.
Sure, there will be those out there who subscribe to the very basic understanding that it would be "bad" for our economic system. Like blackmail, this argument continues to hold sway because, well... I don't really know. Tell me what it is we produce in Canada that is so economically dependent on protecting massive carbon emissions (like the United States and China want to do)? There is mostly light manufacturing in Quebec and Ontario. There is mining in Northern Ontario and Quebec and various other locales, such as the Northwest Territories. There's logging and paper mills in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Frankly, all of these need an eco-overhaul as it is... but otherwise, our economy is built on entrepreneurs and commercial and retail operations. And if the stats are true, that 90 per cent of Canada's population lives within 300 kilometres of the US border and that our massive landmass and low population means a population density of about 3 people per square kilometre, why can't we progressively, quickly and urgently transition to wind farms and other energy alternatives (geothermal?) on land most Canadians will never see? I don't get it.
But, cleverly, while all the bickering goes on about tar sands and tax breaks for corporations, the Cons are pulling the wool over the eyes of Canadians on equally pressing issues of national character, international reputation and national security. Take the torture of Afghan detainees, for instance. This is not something Canadians should take lightly -- no matter how many schools or hospitals we say we are building in Afghanistan. Having lived in that part of the world before, family and tribal pride are far greater influences than any bricks and mortar buildings. This is not a criticism of the young Canadians in military uniforms dying needlessly in roadside bombs, but a scathing indictment of the stupidity of those running our government and their lack of understanding, specifically Peter MacKay who has presided over this fiasco. We torture ourselves when we torture others.
But Afghanistan aside, we have news of the sale of CANDU -- made-in-Canada nuclear energy technology developed by Canadians, for Canadians, with Canadian taxpayer money. Even if the 50-year-old technology is dated, it does not warrant a sale of what I call 'national innovation infrastructure'. Neglect of such infrastructure by our government is not an excuse for a fire sale to private interests. Regular readers of this blog know that I have a deep commitment to re-establishing centres of excellence across this country. Candu, the national space agency, our aerospace industry and our arts and sciences are examples of areas that need proper funding to put Canada back in a leadership position. Coincidentally, probably seeing the writing on the wall given what's happening in other critical Canadian industries, the aerospace industry is being proactive with a website and ad campaign -- "Our Aerospace Industry" -- to which I say, bravo! After all, success in Canada makes us all winners. In a very tangible way, it is "ours".
So what's the way forward? Good question. I found the recent article in The Walrus -- The Stranger Within -- provided an excellent overview of how the Liberal Party got to where it is today. And despite the modestly optimistic note the author, Ron Graham, closes the article with, it is by and large clear that Iggy and the Liberals are unlikely to pose any threat to our current status quo. We have no clear direction forward but are too fearful of the possibility of change; we know we don't like where we are, but aren't happy with the alternative. I guess you might say that makes all of us strangers within. Pass the Swedish Fish, please!
It's no surprise what's happening in Copenhagen right now... dubbed by some, ironically, as "Hopenhagen." The forces of obfuscation, moral corruption and economic globalization are working overtime with their leaky email systems, scandalous memos and supposed "draft documents." You see it here at the United Nations all the time - the alliances, the politics, the backroom deals. I have to say I saw it coming a mile back.
The question is: how can we take the United Nations or the United States (or any other Western nation) seriously anymore? The West has lost the high road. It's obvious that our petro-party is slowly coming to a close and yet we continue to deny its impending demise, choosing instead to tighten the blindfold and pour more champagne. There are some real gems in James Howard Kunstler's blog post from last week, a snippet of which I share with you here:
Reality doesn't care if we are on-board with its mandates or not. The human race has to get with whatever program reality is serving up at a particular time. Are we shocked to learn that scientists fight among themselves and cheat as much as congressmen? Does that really change the relationships we understand about parts-per-million of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere and the weather?
What the people of the world can do or will do about a change in climate is something else. My guess is that the undertow of entropy is now too great to provoke any meaningful unified change in behavior... In the meantime, it is unlikely that any of the major players will burn less coal and oil, or not cheat on each other even if they pledge to burn less.
Absolutely. So where is Canada on all this? Right where you would expect, given the Prime Minister and his party: with the climate change deniers, debunkers and discreditors. Want to know just how bad it has gotten? Check out this headline beauty from the Guardian:
Canada's image lies in tatters. It is now to climate what Japan is to whaling; The tar barons have held the nation to ransom. This thuggish petro-state is today the greatest obstacle to a deal in Copenhagen
Granted, I suspect the Guardian reporter, Georges Monbiot, is being purposely scandalous to bring attention to our recent, deplorable record on the environmental disaster that is the Alberta tar sands. Still, if ever there was a crisis of image, of reputation, of confidence in Canada, now would be it.
It's clear we have lost the plot but perhaps what is more disappointing is the apathy of a majority of Canadians. We must all demand better from our elected officials rather than accept what can only be described as a pathetic effort at proper government.
Let's see what comes of Copenhagen. I, for one, think not much, even if there is some fanfare about a deal at the close of the conference. Hey, at least we can always take pride in the spitting accuracy of our diplomats, can't we?
Forgive me for missing my self-imposed posting deadline this week. I have just returned from travel with a pile of work and other email to catch up on -- a consequence of opting not to touch my computer over the last 7 days. Not that I haven't been thinking about blogging but, choosing instead, a much-needed disconnect. Apologies to my loyal readers out there. My fingers are itching to share thoughts with you stemming from what I saw last week ... more to follow.
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It's clear this government is in a complete shambles.
Just two days ago, the tap-dancing, double-talking, unaccountable Prime Minister emerged from his fortified lair after weeks of galavanting around the world to tell the media that he would indeed be going to the Copenhagen Climate summit after all.
Perhaps he was hoping that we Canadians didn't notice the timing of his announcement -- just a day after US president Obama announced he would be attending (which was also a flip-flop. He had said he would not attend). Maybe he was hoping that we'd forget that Canada has not articulated a Canadian position on climate change. It's likely he was thinking that, after his long hiatus from the picture tubes, websites and radio waves of the Canadian media, people around our country would be mesmerized by his salt-and-pepper hair and blue eyes and not see past that to his complete and outright ineptitude.
This Government is a government of failure. And on so many fronts: leadership; principle; fairness; intelligence; originality; strategy... (I can go on). Little, if anything, substantive has comes out of Ottawa. As a Canadian in the UN, working just two hours flight from several major Canadian cities and our capital, there is nothing that I can point to to say: "We're doing it a bit differently" or "We've got a different take on it in my country" or even "We're pioneering new ___________ (technology, policy, approaches) to __________ (fossil fuels, rising sea levels, poverty alleviation, illiteracy)." Nothing.
Instead, as we wind our way to the end of 2009, we continue to have gaping holes in income distribution across Canada and in levels of poverty and child poverty from coast to coast. We continue to lose fine, intelligent young men and women in a battle half-way across the world that our leaders know is doomed to fail -- not a comment I say with glibness or disrespect for the efforts of our soldiers, but a comment informed by history. And yet, no opposition seems to be able to raise a strong enough voice to bring attention to the incompetence of the Harper Government.
What other smouldering fires can we add to the list? How about $50 billion of debt (and growing)? How about Arctic sovereignty? How about a strong Canadian dollar; not in itself a bad thing, but when combined with the fact that our economy is almost inextricably linked to selling our commodities and wares to Americans, it's a problem. Either we diversify, or we start to die.
Canada has never faced a more crucial time in its history -- so many national infernos ready to break out with so imprudent and incompetent a party at its helm. And for the foreseeable future, it would appear that its position is secure, with the opposition essentially unorganized and ineffective, and Canadians caught in a paralysis of sticking with a known devil. Who can blame them.
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On a different note, I just saw a rather dark, BBC movie/comedy called "In the Loop". If you want to get a humourous and expletive-filled sense of the cutthroat nature of politics and international diplomacy, I recommend a watch (though not with the kids!). Here's the trailer... Enjoy.
Back in September, I came across an interesting article that led me to the website of the Canadian Council on Learning.
The organization created a survey of 'prose literacy' in Canada, which is used to measure basic literacy -- the knowledge and skills needed to understand and use information from news stories, editorials, brochures and instruction manuals. It is, therefore, an instrumental building block for developing more sophisticated literacy skills and is critical to understanding a rapidly changing world.
Two things stuck out for me.
The Canadian Council on Learning created its survey using a geographic information system (GIS), which presents data linked to location, allowing for the information to then be analyzed, managed, compared and presented multiple ways so as to provide deep insight into what's happening, where it's happening, and with some analysis, why. Modern technology has given GIS new abilities to layer data as well as dramatically increase interactivity and linkages -- when designed with accurate information, modern GIS systems are the equivalent of striking data gold.
The interactive literacy map created by the Council looked at 52,000 cities, towns and communities across Canada, revealing that we Canadians are not as literate as we thought. Using data from Statistics Canada and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and combining these with 2006 federal census data, showed that some 48 per cent of adults in Canada have low literacy levels.
Adult literacy is often measured on a prose literacy scale of 1 to 5. Level 3 is widely considered to be the minimum threshold for coping with the demands of the global knowledge-based economy, while a Level 2 denotes someone who is able to deal with simple, straightforward material, but “their poor literacy makes it hard to conquer challenges such as learning new job skills.” With nearly half of adults in Canada having low prose literacy levels, there is major cause for concern; it explains why the current government has been able to pull the wool over the eyes of Canadians for so long.
The other important lesson that stuck out for me is the utility of GIS mapping. This should be the foundation for policy formulation in Canada -- providing insights on how best to ensure the most good for the most number of people, be it in education, health care or employment creation. With baseline data established, such as we now have with literacy, it becomes another layer in the GIS onion for when the next census takes place in 2011. It also becomes a way for Canadians to compare 2006 data with 2011 data, understand areas of progress or decline, and hold our politicians to account. In the case of literacy, knowing what we know now, there should be commensurate investment in bolstering primary and secondary education so as to improve literacy.
We have Statistics Canada. But it's clear that Canada now needs to step up its game to connect the dots between the gathering and analysis of statistics, and allowing that information to have realtime impact. Right now, we have fairly high levels of illiteracy. But, if we learn the lesson correctly from the Canadian Council on Learning, there is in fact, literacy from illiteracy -- we just have to be willing to read between the lines.
The Minister of the Environment, Jim Prentice, hasn't yet articulated the Canadian position on climate change and emissions reduction, as was promised, before Canada sits at the table in Copenhagen for the December 2009 climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. And Prime Minister Stephen Harper was quite frank at the APEC meeting this weekend: nothing tangible will be coming out of Copenhagen. He may not even show up if other Heads of State don't show up.
In what is becoming a template approach to governing our country, and unfortunately an acceptable form of governance to Canadians, a docile Federal Government patiently waits in the wings for an American position. With the American position established, Ottawa can then decide on a Canadian position. Fellow Canadians, is this not sovereignty squandered? Is this not a waste of nationhood and a blatant underestimation of the power and ingenuity of Canadians and the Canadian economy?
While I agree that, since signing the North American Free Trade Agreement, the economies of Canada, the US and Mexico have become closely intertwined, I am also of the opinion -- whether climate change is purely an act of nature or heavily influenced by man -- that we have a moral imperative to choose newer cleaner technologies over old polluters. Consider it an insurance policy. Consider it a way to transition from an economy built on dying consumerism, to something fresh, with new job and technology opportunities. Whatever stance you take on climate change, it's hard to argue that the oil economy is in a fight for its life, and dare I say it, will be our energy 'Waterloo' if we do not have the courage to move boldly and quickly.
The demand for a major shift in our approach must be driven by mainstream Canadians. We are sleepwalking by allowing our current Government to align itself with the old world approach and not asking it to make difficult, informed decisions. Perhaps we are mesmerized by the double-speak coming out of Peter MacKay's mouth on the should-we-stay-or-should-we-go Afghanistan approach. Perhaps Canadians can't see past the idiocy of the Minister of Natural Resources and her sexy isotopes. But one thing is for certain, all this stupidity has compromised the integrity of Canada.
We are now the obstructionist, laggard sidekick to America. We support too-big-to-fail auto companies, just like the Americans. We have lost all credibility on the international stage, undermining the very international processes we worked so hard to create. We have changed the language used by our diplomats and bureaucrats to give it an unhealthy ideological bent, in line with our neighbours to the South. I have blogged about all of this before -- the world has taken note, and the world thinks a lot less of Canada.
I wouldn't have said this a year ago, but given the very rapid shift in context and perspective, I think the failed Liberal leader, Stephane Dion, may have been prescient with his Green Plan. (I suspect my friend MD would agree.) I also think that Canadians, and our environment, are poorer have having missed an opportunity for much-needed reform, which is clearly not going to come from this Government.
***** Interested in following Canada in inter-governmental processes? Or other countries for that matter?
Last Friday, the United Nations Department of Public Information launched: United Nations Member States: On the Record. Here is the launch press release, reproduced from the United Nations intranet, which also includes a publicly accessible link. I thought readers might find this tool useful. Enjoy!
Their work in the principal organs determines the work of the Organization throughout the world, and yet finding out exactly who said what has until now required an in-depth understanding of the Organization.
This website is an easy-to-use research tool that provides access to information from a variety of existing United Nations databases and websites. Just click a link to get to the most up-to-date, accurate, and historically comprehensive information on a Member State’s participation in the United Nations.
Based on the experience of the librarians at the reference desk of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library in New York, this tool responds to frequently asked questions about United Nations members.
On the site, each Member State has a page with links to dynamic searches in various United Nations databases. Over 4000 links provide current information -- without the user needing to know how to use each database.
Information available for each Member State includes: the key documents related to its membership in the United Nations, statements made before the principal organs, draft resolutions sponsored, periodic reports submitted on Human Rights conventions, and more.
News came this week that the unemployment rate in Canada continues to rise. On the heels of this news, which I think is the harbinger of some very difficult times ahead, Canadians must begin transitioning away from the economic and social model we've grown comfortable with in the last 50 years.
The globalized economy has given us unprecedented access to everything from every corner of the world at any time of year. Fruits from Chile and South Africa, t-shirts and shoes from Honduras or Vietnam, and every other conceivable item -- from ceramic mugs to knock-off modern furniture -- from China. These are proudly displayed on the shelves and in the cabinets at Walmarts, Zellers and Dollar Stores across Canada as the cheap trophies of globalization.
Our commuter highways, box stores filled with cheap goods, and cookie-cutter homes in 'The Fields at Oak Park' are premised on cheap and easy access to energy. This energy is now more expensive, has an increasingly larger impact on our environment, and has hollowed our nation's skill set. In major cities across Canada, the industrial base that once drove employment is now either gutted or its vestiges being converted into lifestyle condominiums. Our skilled draftsmen or millwrights are now being put to use as customer service representatives at Home Depot. I'm certain there are a lot of botched tile and plumbing jobs across Canada -- the Home Depot slogan "You can do it, we can help" really needs to be "You can't do it, but we'll still sell you the stuff." We've devalued the very skills upon which our society is built: anyone can do anything, only not that well.
Education is directly related to the productivity of our society and economy -- whether that education takes the form of specific skills training (drafting, millwright, metallurgy, mechanics) or a liberal arts University education. We have ignored the former, and devalued the latter. Not everyone is cut out for University education. This has not been lost on the Germans, where their education system has long recognized that some people are better suited to working with their hands or in technical trades. These people are identified when they're young and streamed into a suitable educational program. In this regard, they're recognized as having an important role to play in the larger social and economic system.
On the other hand, a liberal arts University education is reserved for those who are technically challenged, but have a mind better suited to intellectual rigours. Universities become centres for strong theoretical development and knowledge creation, and move away from trying to cater to the lowest common denominator. I'm not suggesting that higher education become a bastion of elitism -- that would be a very narrow understanding. I am suggesting that if we are trying to build an inclusive and just society, everyone must play a productive role.
So where am I heading with all this?
The globalized economy is showing just how flawed and fragile it is. Our government must begin to think about alternatives -- regionalized and localized, entrepreneurial, balanced upon the technical innovation and creative intellectual thought. Right now, there is no balance. The skills of our tradesmen have been lost to fickle globalized capital, which takes its business wherever it can to get the best price. But Made in Canada means something -- well built, of high quality materials, made by family, friends and neighbours who care.
The same can be said of our intellectual stock -- currently seduced by capital to take their gained-in-Canada education to serve faithless multinational corporations focussed solely on their own interests. This is unsustainable for Canada. We need a complex approach to strongly link education to the Canadian economy -- centres of thought, centres of art, research and engineering -- so that we can begin reinvesting in aviation and aeronautics, in alternative transportation methods (shipping, rail), investing properly in our food and agriculture system, our farmers, and ultimately in quality and diversity on our tables and on store shelves. Ultimately, it's an investment in ourselves.
I often think about the deep and dangerous hole dug for us by stimulus funding from the government. It has created ballooning debt for Canadians and is providing money to building bridges and roads (providing you're in the right political riding), and saving Chrysler and General Motors. At the same time, tuition fees for higher education continue to rise due to lack of funding. Public health funding is woefully inadequate. Housing for low income families is almost non-existent. In short, the stimulus funding put money in all the wrong investments.
Do not believe the hype. Claims of a 'jobless' economic recovery -- all the rage in US media these days -- simply reaffirm the shortsighted and unsustainable approach of our government. After all, what's the point of a jobless recovery if a majority of people can't put food on the table?
Working in international development, certainly at headquarters in New York, isn't always what it seems. Despite the best intentions of most staff members, outcomes are often disconnected from logic and are heavily political.
I was recently reminded of this at a meeting of the Bureau of the Executive Board, where five grown men — each highly-paid senior diplomats in the service of their governments — sat around a table discussing the date for the UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board in January 2010. The date had already been set for mid-January, but this was now the second meeting to discuss changing the dates; Bureau members were unhappy that the Executive Board of UNICEF would be preceding the UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board. After an hour of deliberation, there was still no resolution.
Creating the documentation for this one-hour meeting took two-and-a-half days, with a lot of back and forth between colleagues in UNDP and UNFPA. The output was a four-page rationale as to why it would pose serious problems to move the date for the session before UNICEF (distributed at the meeting and therefore, not read). Perhaps the most poignant moment for me was when, during the course of the meeting, the President of the Bureau reminded me, and other members of the Executive Board secretariat, that the United Nations exists to serve Member States. Whatever the Member States want is what the United Nations needs to deliver. If Member States want the days of the Executive Board session moved to the first week of January, when most people aren't around and when the session would coincide with Christian Orthodox Christmas and when it would be unlikely that most documents could be delivered in all official languages, then that's what Members should get. And we were reminded that, regardless of the costs, those documents should be delivered in all languages.
It was a stark refresher: the lofty goals of the original United Nations, laid out while the ashes of war still smouldered around the globe in the late 1940s, has essentially devolved into petty politics of ego maniacs and blatant stupidity.
Another, more serious, reminder came later in the week. At an inter-agency meeting — that is a meeting with several organizations present at the table — one of my colleagues mentioned 'COP 15'. For the sake of simplicity, COP 15 refers to the upcoming (December 2009) climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, where a successor agreement to Kyoto is supposed to be agreed upon. A tremendous amount of resources — your tax dollars and my tax dollars — have been spent organizing the conference, creating documentation and informational resources, and promoting it (Seal the Deal!).
The Secretary-General and many of the heads of United Nations funds and programmes have strongly vested interests in a meaningful outcome from Copenhagen. They argue, quite rightly, that poverty alleviation is now closely tied to climate change mitigation and prevention because most of the impact from rising ocean levels, for example, will be borne by those least able to cope with it. And furthermore, the poor are least responsible for changing the environment. If we are to have any credibility in meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, climate change must be addressed.
At any rate, back to my meeting.
My colleague mentioned, in passing, that it may be possible that several critical international players may not be at the table in Copenhagen to forge a deal. In fact, she followed that up by saying, without these participants the entire outcome possibility for the conference will be changed. Whereas before, at the conclusion of the conference, the intention was to announce a climate deal to which the world agreed, the Secretary-General in now likely going to settle on an announcement that the world agrees on the need for a climate deal. In other words, all that money has been spent to take us from the possibility of solid action to the continuation of political conjecture.
There is still a month left to go before Copenhagen, and if I learned one thing, it's that the real deals take place in the shadows and back rooms. I generally don't have access to this, so things may change. Still, I felt this nugget of interesting information might be valuable for a couple of reasons.
The hopes and possibilities for multilateralism are, despite the dire need for such a collective approach, slipping to forces of business, lobbyists and financiers. This is the main reason why players who need to be at the table won't be at the table -- the perception that limiting greenhouse gas emissions will have a detrimental impact on the economy. It would seem, therefore, the multilateral system is as much about creating problems as it is about solving problems, which is why there are very few real outcomes from 60 or so years of United Nations presence. If we are to correct the problems around multilateralism, we must make it as much about humanism as it is about capitalism — right now, the balance is most certainly in favour of the latter.
Canadians — most of whom are moderate, generous, and compassionate — must invest as much, if not more, in creating stronger bilateral exchanges with partners around the world. I don't believe a full extraction from the multilateral system would help Canada. But I do believe that we can help promote the ideas of justice, human rights and good governance through direct knowledge exchange and setting a proper example, rather than relying solely on the United Nations. If the United Nations is quickly becoming toothless and moribund under its own weight, it is certainly thanks to the calibre of direction it receives from its Member States. It's clear that, now more than ever, it has become servant to all, but unable to play master in any of its mandated areas.
By the way, it did not take me two days to write this.
I was going to start this week's blog post with a great phrase I heard from a guest speaker on CBC's The Current: "We are all equal before the law, but not under the skull."
It was, I thought, a rather fitting way to voice another complaint about the rapid, downward spiral of intelligent options in Canadian politics. In particular, the news that Olympic snowboard gold medalist, Ross Rebagliati, would be seeking the Liberal nomination in the B.C. riding of Okanagan-Coquihalla. Maybe the Liberals are thinking that, if Stockwell Day can get elected, Rebagliati has a fighting chance? Maybe party officials are keen on having Rebagliati snowboard up to a lectern to give a press briefing in a tight, multi-coloured body suit to make a mockery of a similar stunt pulled by Stockwell Day in a jet ski some years back? I must be over-thinking it. I'm sure the Liberals are focussed on the match-up of some of the greatest debating wits ever -- nothing like refuting an opponent's point starting with: "Dude, I disagree."
At any rate, this was just a taste of my thinking until I saw Food Inc. this weekend. And Food Inc. came on the heels of a radio documentary I heard earlier in the week, again on CBC's The Current, called The Philosophy of Pig. If the old adage is true, that we are what we eat, we are in very big trouble, folks.
The way in which food is produced has changed more in the last 50 years, than it has in the last 10,000. Food Inc. takes viewers on a candid tour of industrialized food production, starting with the coop of a Perdue chicken supplier, explaining how a chicken is now fully mature 45 days from hatching, as opposed to 60 or 75 days, and is engineered to yield larger-than-normal breasts (white meat) thanks to genetic engineering, growth hormones and antibiotics. The bodies of the chicken develop so quickly, their internal organs can't keep up -- the chickens take a few steps, and have to sit down again.
A quick walk around a stock yard, which has cows standing ankle deep in their own feces, serves as the spring board for a discussion about how the rash of deadly e-coli outbreaks in the North American food supply over the last 15 years, has come about.
It's pretty scary stuff, particularly when you consider the relentless pace of modern life -- people don't have the time to think about food safety. Naturally, it's presumed that enforcement of governmental standards protects us. But the food lobby and the power of massive multinational corporations has politicians eating out of their hands -- pun fully intended -- which essentially means the connection between regulation by government and food safety standards are tenuous at best.
Food, Inc. is a US-based documentary. But it would be dangerous to assume that its concepts are not applicable in Canada. In the context of free trade and a globalized world, and our growing addiction to cheap, fast, sugar-and-salt-laden food, Canadians are just as removed from understanding their food supply and implications of their changing diet.
The explosion of obesity and type-II diabetes in the United States is a public health epidemic. All across America, the poor are locked into a spiral of death -- without health insurance, cheap food saves them the money they need to buy the drugs they need to stay alive. But the food is killing them, and without the drugs, certain death is guaranteed -- pure genius if you subscribe to a system that sees individuals as profit centres.
From a Canadian perspective, it is imperative that we learn from this, as food is intimately and critically tied to our public health, too. But there are also more serious implications. Because of our nationalized health care system, the same explosion of obesity and diabetes costs ALL of us money and strains the ability of our system to cope. So just as we are obliged to help people treat their disease, Canadians are mutually accountable for making wise dietary choices. Without such a responsibility, it might just be easier to stop funding health care and send money to fast food corporations, because that's essentially what's happening.
A last point. Industrialized food has fundamentally shrunk the diversity in our food chain. One breed of chicken, engineered to grow fast, is being used to produce all fast food chicken. One breed of cattle is used to ensure consistent hamburger taste from Victoria to Charlottetown. One type of hog is used in breakfast sausages, again to give consistent texture and taste. The Food and Agriculture organization estimates that 45 per cent of farm breeds are extinct, or on the verge of extinction. Some of these animals have been with us -- humans -- for 1000 or more years.
There is a cornucopia of taste and choice in our food chain we no longer have, and the radio documentary, The Philosophy of Pig, gives listeners a decidedly Canadian perspective on the fight by one Ottawa, Ontario woman to preserve diversity. She lost her job as an environmental policy advisor, started a farm, and re-invented herself as a pig farmer dedicated to saving a dying breed.
There are others all over Canada working to keep local, healthy food on our tables. Let's support them, our economy, and our health, all the while enjoying the delicious tastes of diversity. It is the intelligent choice.
I hope readers will forgive me. I hate nothing more than inconsistency and -- worse yet -- missing deadlines. The last few weeks, between my post-Executive Board reporting crunch, the useless creation of last-minute lobbying reports and meeting minutes, and responding to an avalanche of emails, have kept me off-line with Canadiuns. That doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about blogging; I can't tell you how good it feels to get back behind the keyboard in support of the Great White North.
There's so much to write about. The past four weeks have seen a flurry of political activity in Canada, notably the complete avoidance of the collapse of the Conservative minority government. The soap opera around it has been just as fascinating -- the terrible Liberal Party playbook and revelation that Ignatieff is anything but Prime Minister in waiting, the disgustingly blatant politics of NDP leader Jack Layton, the parachuting of Elizabeth May into a riding almost as far away from her home in Cape Breton as the chances of winning her seat... the list goes on.
It has crossed my mind however, that I sound like a broken record -- over and over again with the critiques and over and over again with what might be perceived as sour grapes. To be honest, calling attention to the sorry state of our country is far more important than concerns that I sound like a broken record. We need progressive, intelligent, informed change, and we need it now. This sometimes requires relentless hammering.
The talk around my family's Thanksgiving table made that obvious. The discussion turned to the way in which technology, specifically 'e-books' have created an amazing opportunity to reduce the amount of paper necessary to publish traditional books. Someone even mentioned that e-books may supplant libraries in the future, alluding to an Internet and e-reader approach.
While transitioning quickly to a society galvanized more strongly by technology is no doubt important, I had to also draw attention to the fact that the concept behind the creation of public libraries was to ensure access to knowledge was exactly that, 'public' and open to all. Until such time as access to the Internet across Canada becomes as ubiquitous as a public utility -- something my readers know I have advocated for strongly -- it will be difficult to transition away from past models of knowledge access and knowledge dissemination. Another logical impediment is owning a computer or e-reader, which is affordable (or unaffordable) in relative terms.
The transition we need in order to be competitive and relevant beyond simply selling our oil and timber commodities must be swift, but it has to be nuanced and multifaceted because, building a just society requires as inclusive an approach as possible. That's the driving idea behind universal healthcare; it is as much an issue of public health as it is an issue of access. Preventive medicine for all Canadians, rich and poor alike, often pays back dividends not easily measured or understood, but which reinforce a collective mentality in our society -- we're all in this together. In the same vein, the responsibility rests with each of us to safeguard our system from dismantling or dilution, making informed improvements free of political influence and that preserve universality and fairness, while ensuring relevance in a rapidly and constantly changing context.
This surely must have been the prevailing thought in the late 1960s and 1970s when our Government provided young, cutting-edge Canadian talent with unfettered support to achieve great things for the benefit of all citizens. On a recent visit to Vancouver, MD walked me around the exterior of the Arthur Erickson-designed Provincial Law Courts, with its waterfall terraces and cantilevered walkways. The brilliance and whimsy of its design was evident immediately, and the discussion quickly turned to whether such a design would have even made the grade in the current fiscal accountability, value-for-money, era. "No," we both agreed, in the same way the modular, pre-fabricated public housing works in Montreal (Habitat '67) -- commissioned as part of Expo '67 and designed by an amateur at the time, Moshe Safdie -- would never have seen the light of day.
Brilliance needs a patron. In the United States, visionaries like Frank Lloyd Wright or Eero Saarinen were nurtured by private/industrialist capital and, for that reason, their genius was allowed to blossom. Canada is a different place, our relatively small society and modest personal incomes make for a society less apt to spending imprudently or superfluously -- perhaps that's the reason we don't have our own Kentuck Knob or Falling Water. Today, only through the kindness of individuals and an $18 entrance fee, can one tour Falling Water. Work commissioned by and for the Government is, by its very nature, owned by the people for all to enjoy.
Talent begets talent. Imagination begets imagination. Wise investment in today's young Canadians is not unlike planting seeds for a future harvest -- it is imperative for our well-being, for our souls and ultimately, to strengthen Canadian culture.
My dear friend Red Canuck, the inspiration for having started my blog, passed away this afternoon, October 13, 2009, in Vancouver. He died peacefully, surrounded by his family.
May he rest in peace in the full knowledge that he touched so many with his biting wit, uninhibited humour, and incredible logic and persuasion skills.
Let me be the first to say that Canada has lost a great Minister of Health.
You are missed already, RC. But Zahra and I will take up the cause to build a just society in Canada, in your name and in the name of those like you, who never wavered in your support for this great land, who want nothing more than to see Canada a haven for thoughtful, intellectual policy and populace, and whose vision of Canada is to be a beacon of fairness, moderation, and tolerance for the world to envy.
United Nations HQ New York, 2 November 1959: The United Nations First Committee (Political and Security) continued its general debate on the Soviet proposal for general and complete disarmament. Among the speakers at the meeting were Mr. Wallace Nesbitt, seen here addressing the Committee, while behind him is Ambassador C.S.A. Ritchie, Canada's Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
