Canada and Canadians have long played a central role in the work of the United Nations. Every Canadian Government has placed the UN system at the heart of its foreign policy, has contributed generously in terms of both personnel commitments and financial and resource contributions, and has taken pride in the multilateral endeavours in which we have played significant roles.
As individuals, Canadians have maintained a remarkably positive support for the ideals and the work of the UN system. A large majority of Canadians remain committed to the concepts which underlie the United Nations and equally committed to the task of ensuring that the UN evolves in ways which permit it to meet the needs and aspirations of the world’s peoples.
A history of Canadian participation in the UN would encompass a major book but there are highlights which serve as sign-posts.
- In 1945 the Canadian delegation to the San Francisco Conference was among the most active in the challenge to draft a document which would launch the new entity into the future and meet the aspirations of “We the Peoples...” in whose names it was issued.
- It was a Canadian - Lester B. Pearson – who devised the formula which saw the establishment of the first UN Peace-keeping operation in 1956.
- Canadians have served with distinction and pride in the majority of peace-keeping operations since that year – and have been involved in the processes which have seen peace-keeping evolve in many situations into peace-making and peace-building (including election monitoring).
- It was a Canadian –John Humphrey - who was an original drafter on the International Declaration of Human Rights. Adopted by the General Assembly in 1948, the Declaration has been at the centre of a remarkable evolution in international law and practice related to human rights as the accepted norm in inter-personal and international practice.
- Individual Canadians have served at all levels of the international bureaucracy, including at the very highest echelons. A Canadian – Louise Fréchette - currently serves as the first Deputy Secretary-General of the UN. Canadians have served as heads of several UN Agencies and Programmes, including Brock Chisholm as the founding Director-General of the World Health Organization; Maurice Strong and later Elizabeth Dowdeswell at the UN Environment Programme; (and - deleted) William O’Neil is the current Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization and Sharon Capeling-Alakija is the Executive Coordinator of UN Volunteers. At least two Canadians – Margaret Catley Carlson and Stephen Lewis, have served as Deputy Directors of UNICEF, and Mr. Lewis is now the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on HIV/AIDS in Africa. Louise Arbour served with distinction as the second Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda before returning to sit on the bench of the Canadian Supreme Court. And there have been numerous others in equally challenging positions.
- The UN system has drawn on the skills of Canadian diplomats as chairs of several key conferences in which major International Conventions have been painstakingly crafted (Alan Beesley for the Law of the Sea Convention and Phillipe Kirsche for the recent Convention to create an International Criminal Court, to name only two).
- Canada has served six terms as a non-permanent member of the Security Council (1999-2000). Only three other countries have served that many times in that capacity.
- Canada is a active member of all but one of the UN Specialized Agencies and Programmes (UNIDO).
- Canada’s remarkable record as a country which welcomed and worked to support refugees was recognized by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees with its Nansen Medal, awarded to Canada in 1986.
- Canada has been a consistent and generous contributor of aid and development assistance through the multiple channels of the multilateral system. Significant monies are channeled, especially through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), to a myriad of UN development and humanitarian assistance projects. At the same time there are Canadian non-governmental agencies which are often active partners and collaborators with UN offices in the field delivery of aid.
This list only touches on aspects of the interconnections - at both
the official and unofficial levels - between Canada and Canadians and
the United Nations system. It is a history from which we can draw both
satisfaction and inspiration.
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"Canada and the United
Nations" highlights our long record of service and achievement
at the UN—a role that has made Canada a more than suitable participant
at the top table of international affairs.
