It has been fifty years since a remarkable
Canadian - Lester Bowles Pearson - was honoured with the 1957
Nobel Peace Prize for his vision, wisdom, perseverance and skillful
success in establishing an international police force to resolve
the 1956 Suez Crisis. In effect, creating the UN's first designated
peacekeeping mission, and the blue print for the UN's now well-recognized
role in peacekeeping and, subsequently, peace-building as well.
Throughout his career and lifetime, Pearson was a strong advocate
of the UN's role in peacekeeping, and in strong Canadian involvement
in UN peacekeeping operations. He firmly believed that Canada
had a responsibility, indeed a vital national interest, in active
participation in any international activity that would lessen
the chances of another world war, and in robust intervention
to end ongoing conflict. As such, he was a strong and effective
advocate for peaceful resolutions to several major international
crises that faced the UN during his tenure as a leading Canadian
diplomat - from the Korean War to the Suez Crisis to the Cyprus
Crisis. Through his involvement in early UN conflict solving,
both Pearson and Canada emerged with distinction.
In addition to his unwavering belief in the role of the UN
in fostering international cooperation and peace, Pearson
was a strong advocate for the UN's role in the very issues
that can directly influence the delicate balance between peace
and unrest - economic issues, social issues, development issues,
human rights, and environmental degradation. All of these
he perceived as direct threats to his vision of a peaceful
and cooperative world.
"Threats to
global survival, though they are sometimes exaggerated in
apocalyptic language which makes our flesh creep, are real.
The prophets of doom and gloom may be proven wrong but it
is a chilling fact that man can now destroy his world by nuclear
explosion or ecological erosion."
"The stark
and inescapable fact is that today we cannot defend our society
by war since total war is total destruction, and if war is used
as an instrument of policy, eventually we will have total war.
Therefore, the best defense of peace is not power, but the removal
of the causes of war, and international agreements which will
put peace on a stronger foundation than the terror of destruction."
- Lester B. Pearson
And it was in the United Nations that Lester Pearson put his
tireless effort and faith as our best hope for building a universal
foundation for peace, justice and prosperity where people would
be united for peace, not war; in hope, not fear.
"Throughout his career, Pearson displayed two characteristics,
one absolutely stable and undeviating, the other completely
responsive and dynamic. His abiding principle was entire devotion
to the ideal of a functioning international community within
which, as in domestic society, power would be based on rule
of law and shared interests, not on the dominance of brute force
or the dangerous instability of a balance of power. The dynamic
element was his extraordinarily sensitive awareness of changes
in world society and the human condition, and of the degree
to which they must influence the wider goal of achieving a functioning
world order. His principles made him an idealist, his sensitivity
a realist." (Barbara Ward)
It is precisely this unique balance between idealism and realism
that the United Nations strives to find and uphold. And it is
Pearson's vision of the UN being the place where the international
community discusses and collaborates, including acting on threats
to world order, peace and the human spirit, that the United
Nations Association in Canada continues to embrace and promote.
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Peace and cooperation is a way of being, doing and living
in society that can be taught, developed and, best of
all, improved upon. Lester Pearson showed us how one person
could seize moments in time to truly affect positive change.
Today, we hope you will decide to seize this opportunity
to help us celebrate and build upon his remarkable legacy.
Donate Now to help keep Lester Pearson's dream of a strong,
dynamic and universal United Nations alive.
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