Close X
Sunday, November 17, 2024
ADVT 
National

A Peaceful World Needs More Canada As 'Honest Broker': Ex-UN Refugee Chief

The Canadian Press, 29 Jan, 2016 11:29 AM
    OTTAWA — A former United Nations refugee chief says Canada's new foreign policy makes it perfectly suited to play a major role in bringing peace to a world facing a dramatic shortage of it.
     
    Antonio Guterres said Canada is now perceived as an honest broker and can play a leading role in bringing together warring factions to negotiate peace.
     
    It's just one of many countries that must help negotiate peaceful solutions to the ongoing wars across the globe and their ensuing — and escalating — refugee crises, Guterres said Friday at a foreign policy conference hosted by the Canada2020 think tank.
     
    "It is my deep belief that Canada is in a privileged position to play an important role in this regard," he said, citing the country's membership in the G7, G20 and NATO as advantages.
     
    "But at the same time with your new foreign policy, I believe Canada has all the conditions to be perceived as an honest broker."
     
    Guterres, who stepped down last year after a decade as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said Canada can play a major role in helping resettle the world's record number of displaced citizens.
     
    The two-day conference is examining the new Liberal government's foreign policy, which focuses on increasing Canada's involvement in multilateral institutions such as the UN.
     
    But there has been an undercurrent of criticism of the policies of the former Conservative government, which bristled at the notion of Canada as an honest broker.
     
     
    "The time has come at long last to fashion once again a foreign policy for Canada that will be worthy of Canadians and that reflects those values and aspirations," University of Ottawa president Allan Rock, a former Liberal cabinet minister and UN ambassador, told the gathering.
     
    Canada's incoming UN ambassador, Marc-Andre Blanchard, said Canada needs to engage with international partners on a host of issues, climate change, poverty alleviation, gender equality and the global displacement crisis.
     
    "Canada needs to be prepared to engage honestly, consistently and rigorously internationally," he told the gathering. "In doing so, we can drive change rather than simply react to it."
     
    Guterres said the fact that Canada has moved "from an unusual suspect to an honest broker" increases its ability to lead and draw participants together to mediate solutions to intertwined conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan.
     
    He said the world needs a "surge" in peaceful diplomacy.
     
     
    "Leadership needs to be shared," he said, with different countries "creating the conditions to convene" warring factions and make them understand that continued conflict serves nobody's interest, including their own.
     
    Guterres praised Canada's recent emphasis on bringing in more Syrian refugees and said the country was always a good partner during his decade at the UN refugee agency.
     
    But he said the number of refugees and internally displaced people has almost doubled in the last decade to 70 million, a "staggering escalation."
     
    The Portuguese politician also lambasted his own continent for being ill-prepared to receive an influx of refugees and for not wanting them in the first place.
     
    He said the world only started paying attention to the refugee crisis in earnest last fall, as Europe was deluged.
     
     
    "This proves that if, indeed, everybody is equal, there are some that are more equal than others," he said, adding that the "rich" only become aware that the "poor exists when the poor is entering their homes."

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Transgender Judge In Manitoba Credits Hard Work For His Appointment

    Transgender Judge In Manitoba Credits Hard Work For His Appointment
    Judge Kael McKenzie says when he learned of his appointment to Manitoba provincial court, he felt a surge of elation and pride that he quickly shared with his wife and two teenage sons.

    Transgender Judge In Manitoba Credits Hard Work For His Appointment

    Pointed Discovery: Woolly Mammoth Tusk Found East Of Saskatoon

    Pointed Discovery: Woolly Mammoth Tusk Found East Of Saskatoon
    SASKATOON — A woolly mammoth tusk believed to be between 12,000 and 15,000 years old has been discovered at a gravel pit east of Saskatoon.

    Pointed Discovery: Woolly Mammoth Tusk Found East Of Saskatoon

    Aakash Odedra Explores Identity and Dyslexia at PuSh Festival

    Aakash Odedra Explores Identity and Dyslexia at PuSh Festival
    This fantastic performer will be arriving in Vancouver for two compelling pieces Inked and Murmur. Presented with the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, this cutting-edge contemporary figure will highlight expressions of identity and belonging, and the warped perception encountered by dyslexics. 

    Aakash Odedra Explores Identity and Dyslexia at PuSh Festival

    Alberta Aims To Keep Deficit At $6.1b Despite Low Oil Prices: Finance Minister

    Alberta Aims To Keep Deficit At $6.1b Despite Low Oil Prices: Finance Minister
    EDMONTON — Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci says the government's goal is to keep this year's deficit at $6.1 billion despite oil prices that continue to slide.

    Alberta Aims To Keep Deficit At $6.1b Despite Low Oil Prices: Finance Minister

    Brad Wall Saskatchewan Party's 'Strongest Asset' Going Into Election Year

    REGINA — In his office at the Saskatchewan legislature, Premier Brad Wall has a photo of himself with former U.S. president Bill Clinton and a copy of a speech that Wall gave and which Clinton autographed.

    Brad Wall Saskatchewan Party's 'Strongest Asset' Going Into Election Year

    Inmates Lose Appetite Over Quality Of Food Served At Regina Correctional Centre

    Inmates Lose Appetite Over Quality Of Food Served At Regina Correctional Centre
    Justice Department officials say on Saturday morning, more than 60 inmates refused their food trays, complaining the eggs they had been served were raw.

    Inmates Lose Appetite Over Quality Of Food Served At Regina Correctional Centre