Annual Reports > Annual Report 1998

President’s Message

This will be my last message to you as President of UNA-Canada as my term in that position will be complete this June. I will continue, however, to be an active Board member as Past President of our Association. I want to take the time to say how pleased I am with the progress our Association has made over the past three years and to express my warm appreciation to all those who helped make that progress a reality. We are thrilled to see the support from individual Canadians going up regularly. Over the past three years our budget has increased by nearly 50%. Our web site has grown from a tiny beginning into a major instrument which serves thousands of Canadians, as well as people around the world. Our programmes are increasingly important and we have solidified the partnership between our national office and our Branches across Canada by building together for the future.

My main disappointment is that the situation of the United Nations itself continues to be so problematic. With the non-payment of UN dues by the US and other countries and the difficulty for the UN to act in this terrible Kosovo crisis, we are very concerned that the UN could be significantly sidelined – could even fail. We must not let that happen! We must continue to work toward not just maintaining the UN but improving it and making it into a dynamic force which is able to handle both the potential crises and the creative challenges which lie ahead of mankind in the new millenium.

We need the UN more than ever. The need for public education about the UN is evident. Our task is enormous and we must find new sources of revenue and new partnerships to allow us to continue to increase and improve our programmes and our effectiveness.

It is ironic that the end of the Cold War has fostered the growth of regional conflicts which seem intractable and which are deadly to so many. Even military power seems helpless sometimes to resolve these issues. Clearly there is a need for an effective international body to deal with such questions. It is our duty – to ourselves and to our children – to do our part to ensure that the UN can be an effective player on the world scene in the new millenium.

UNA-Canada has its work cut out for it in the coming years – to continue to build an organization which is strong at the community level through its Branches and Local Groups, which is effective on the national scene, and which continues to promote an understanding of human rights, peacekeeping, and equitable and sustainable development as carried out through the UN. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished over the past three years and I look forward to participating as Past President, and to working on behalf of all Canadians, to further the development of our Association in the coming years.