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Canada & the UN > Canada at the UN: A Proud Tradition

Canadian Accomplishments in the UN

Canadians have played a central role in creating, developing, and maintaining the UN system. Canadians have contributed their expertise to virtually every aspect of the UN. Our extensive involvement in the organization makes it impossible to list all of those who have enhanced the United Nations1, but the following sample gives an idea of individual Canadians’ involvement in the UN.

  • General Maurice Baril was the senior military advisor to UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and headed the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
  • In the early years of the UN, Brock Chisholm helped draft the constitution for, and became the first Secretary-General of, the World Health Organization, a UN agency that has saved millions by eradicating the threat of smallpox and limiting or eliminating the occurrence of other health threats like polio.
  • Elizabeth Dowdeswell, was, until recently, the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme.
  • John Humphrey organized the Division for Human Rights in the United Nations Secretariat and was one of the principal drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that outlines the obligations of governments to protect the rights of their peoples.
  • Lester B. Pearson, a distinguished former Prime Minister of Canada, was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for establishing a peacekeeping role for the United Nations through the UN Emergency Force to help resolve the Suez Crisis in 1956. He was also the President of the UN General Assembly during its Seventh Session in 1952.
  • Maurice Strong became the first Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and the Secretary-General of the UN Environment Conferences in Stockholm (1972) and Rio de Janeiro (1992). Until recently he was the Executive Coordinator for UN Reform.

A few other prominent Canadians currently involved in the United Nations include:

  • Justice Louise Arbour, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia;
  • Louise Fréchette, former Canadian Permanent Representative to the UN and currently the first Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations;
  • Stephen Lewis, former Canadian Permanent Representative to the UN and Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on African Economic Recovery, and currently a Deputy Director with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF); and
  • William O’Neil, the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization.