Rapports annuels > Rapports annuels 2000

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National Office Programmes, Initiatives and Activities

In addition to answering the thousands of information queries we receive from all sectors of the Canadian public, Projets and programmes are developed and delivered throughout the year. Often they are undertaken in collaboration with partners in government, the corporate community and other non-governmental organizations and institutions. Through such Projets and programmes, we strive for education of the largest possible audience regarding UN information and issues from a Canadian perspective. The following represent some of the highlights of our outreach in 2000.

Sustainable Development

The year 2000 saw the further expansion of the sustainable development section of our website. Particular attention was given this year to two key United Nations programmes: The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In addition to introductory information on UNEP, overviews of the key multilateral environmental conventions were produced with links to key sources for further information. UNDP’s four main areas of focus until 2005 were summarized (Information Technology for Development, Globalization and Trade, Conflict and Natural Disaster Prevention, HIV/ AIDS and Development). Visit our website to learn more about these two key UN Programmes (http://www.unac.org/monitor/SusDev/). The expansion of our website content was made possible by the continuing generous support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Once again the Association collaborated with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Development Research Centre in the Canadian launch of the Rapport mondial sur le développement humain on June 29 th . For the seventh year in a row, Canada placed first on the Human Development Index that captures the average progress of a nation’s human development, by reflecting achievements in longevity, knowledge and standards of living. The 11 th annual edition of this seminal report examines the mutually reinforcing links between human rights and human development, which together share the common goal of securing freedom, well-being and dignity for every human being. The Rapport mondial sur le développement humain 2000 demands the eradication of poverty not just as a development goal, but as a central challenge for human rights and proposes bold new approaches to political and economic governance that deliver social justice.

The latter parts of year 2000 were active months for youth and sustainable development at UNA-Canada. Continuing with the organization’s priority area – youth, the Project Officer for Sustainable Development initiated a project aiming to ensure the active and substantive participation of Canadian youth in the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 (WSSD 2002).

Programme jeunesse 2002 is a youth-for-youth project. This long term initiative aimed, in its first year, to build solid partnerships with leading youth and non youth organizations in order to ensure that the work accomplished for the Summit would build on existing actions and tools developed by youth in Canada.

With our partners, UNA-Canada developed an outreach strategy to inform youth about the Programme jeunesse 2002 project, formed a selection committee to select young Canadian leaders to become members of the Youth Summit Team (the decision-making body of the project), and planned an Interim Planning Team (IPT) workshop. The IPT workshop brought together 16 young leaders from youth organizations in the country to define a preliminary action plan for youth’s preparations to the WSSD.

UNA-Canada also created an electronic network to inform youth about the WSSD and other initiatives by youth in Canada relative to sustainable development. A website has been developed as a tool for information sharing and networking. We invite you to visit the evolving website to learn more about the Programme jeunesse 2002 project (www.youth2002jeunesse.unac.org)

Funding from the T. J. McConnell Family Foundation was confirmed in December to hire two young interns. In 2001, these interns will work on the development of a dynamic "best practices" database; a youth survey on sustainable development to inform the youth community about the issues that are of particular importance to their diverse group; and a youth database, in partnership with the Institute On Governance (IOG).

UNA-Canada would like to thank our key partners for the generous and important support in the accomplishment of Phase 1 of the Programme jeunesse 2002 project. Sincere thanks to the Canadian Commission for UNESCO (CCU), Sierra Youth Coalition (SYC), Action Canada for Population and Development (ACPD), the Institut On Governance (IOG), the Youth Action Network (YAN), the Canadian Environmental Network (CEN), Scouts Canada, the Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA), the Youth Round Table on the Environment (YRTE), and to our key funder in this period-the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

Educational Projets

In 2000, UNA-Canada’s educational Projets took a variety of approaches to reach out to youth across the country, and were delivered by the skilled education team of Steve Mason (Director of Educational Projets), Ian Foucher and Joe Hooper (Junior Project Officers), and Awil Hassan (Intern).

Our Model United Nations programme was initiated in August and played a crucial role in supporting and strengthening of Model UN activities in Canada. Model The Culture of Peace booth travelled across Canada UNs are simulation activities that allow youth to role-play member states of the United Nations and debate issues of global importance. Through participation in Model UN activities, youth gain a valuable understanding of the realities and possibilities of international cooperation, while also seeing first-hand the importance of strong communication skills and a willingness to engage in cooperation. Our programme involves awarding grant to Model UN participants and organizers, publishing an updated Sourcebook Model UN Activities, and establishing a comprehensive website (www.unac.org/mun/) and an extensive inventory of existing Model UN conferences. This programme is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

In March, we held our first annual Cours action-jeunesse on the UN and Human Rights. At this three-day residential course, high school students got together to participate in experiential workshops on a variety of human rights topics, and then strategized on how they could take action to strengthen respect for human rights in their homes, schools, communities and world. The results from the course were outstanding, with youth returning home to create some truly exciting and interesting events, clubs, newspapers and conferences, all focused on the UN and human rights. We look forward to holding our second Cours action-jeunesse in May, 2001. This programme is funded by the Canadian Centre for Foreign Policy Development.

Looking ahead, we are excited about the possibility of initiating a new anti-racism education project early in 2001. This project would provide the opportunity for youth to develop their own tools to fight racism in Canada, and to demonstrate these tools to the rest of the world at the World Conference Against Racism in South Africa. Such a "by youth, for youth" approach is critical in making the anti-racism message relevant to youth.

Our focus on youth would not be complete without a comparable focus on educators. Youth spend the greater part of each day in school, and we place a high importance on ensuring that teachers have the resources they need to adequately incorporate the UN and global issues into their classrooms. In 2000, we did this through two principal programmes:

What Kind of World…? is a participatory programme that aims to teach 10-15 year olds about the UN and global issues from a Canadian perspective. Through hands-on activities, role plays, and group exercises, young Canadians gain insight into the purposes and work of the UN while at the same time acquiring an understanding of how international issues relate to their own lives. The What Kind of World…? resources are classroom ready, complete with curriculum 6 Annual Report 2000 7 connections and links to further related resources. Through a network of trained volunteers, we have been steadily engaged in getting this programme running in schools and youth clubs across the country. This programme is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency.

The Refugees: A Canadian Perspective project similarly aims to provide teachers with well-thought out, easy-to-use resources for the classroom. This time the focus is on refugees, an issue of critical importance in Canadian schools. The Teacher’s Guide will provide essential information for teaching about refugees, including activity ideas and real-life stories. The corresponding Catalogue of Teaching Resources will provide in-depth descriptions and curriculum links for a variety of existing free, classroom-ready resources that will further enable educators to help their students understand the plight of refugees abroad and within Canada. This programme is being done in partnership with the Office for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Canada and the Canadian Council for Refugees, and is being funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Youth International Internship Programme

For a fourth year UNA-Canada was invited to act as an implementing agency for the government’s Youth International Internship Programme (YIIP). Our placements were sponsored by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Thirty eight young people between the ages of 18 and 30, most of whom had recently graduated from various university programmes, were given an extraordinary opportunity to work in a United Nations office. There were fifteen more placements this year as compared to last! Host offices ranged around the world from headquarters placements in New York, Geneva and Rome to field offices in countries such as Kosovo, Ecuador, Thailand and Fiji.

The internship programme has proven to be an excellent way to increase our organization’s visibility among younger generations of Canadians. It has also enhanced Canada’s relations with UN agencies around the world. Virtually every organization to which we have sent interns has been extremely impressed with the caliber of work they have been offered. We are proud of our interns and the work they have done! A long list of UN offices has expressed interest in hosting more Canadian interns in the future. UNA-Canada looks forward to the coming round of recruitment.

UNAC has been asked by DFAIT to launch the website for the Youth Internship Alumni Association (YIAA). Funded by DFAIT, the website will enable YIIP participants to search for new jobs, share their experiences and search through a database of interns. It is an honor that DFAIT has entrusted UNAC with the opportunity to ensure that the YIIP experience continues for participants at home!

Peace and Security

A great deal of the work of the Association in 2000 was linked to initiatives to promote the aims and programmes of the International Year for the Culture of Peace (IYCP). The objectives of the Year, derived from the UN Charter which calls for peace and security for every man, woman and child, was to strengthen the universal goal of peace and solidarity for humanity. The lead Agency within the UN system was UNESCO, whose objective is to educate people about the root causes of conflicts and violence, and to encourage people to react to precarious situations in a non-violent manner.

Working in close collaboration with the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, UNA-Canada developed a series of Retourground papers and a section on our web site to promote the Year, hosted a list serv of interested organizations and individuals across the country and maintained a calendar of events related to the issues of IYCP. We also put together a display for the annual Tulip Festival in Ottawa to mark the year and gather signatures on the key IYCP document – Manifesto 2000.

The Manifesto 2000 for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence was written by a group of Nobel Prize Peace Laureates in order to create a sense of responsibility, starting on a personal level, in each and every individual to put into practice the values, attitudes and forms of behaviour which inspire the culture of peace. UNESCO collected millions of signatures which were presented to the UN General Assembly in the fall of 2000. Our Culture of Peace display was then made available on a loan basis to our Branches and other interested organizations across the country. Much of this effort will roll forward into the continuing Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001- 2010).

At the UN itself Canada served the second year of its sixth term as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. In January we collaborated with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade to host a seminar on Canada and the Security Council 1999- 2000: Objectives for the Second Year and Beyond. A distinguished group of informed and interested individuals Peace and Security A great deal of the work of the Association in 2000 was linked to initiatives to promote the aims and programmes of the International Year for the Culture of Peace (IYCP). The objectives of the Year, derived from the UN Charter which calls for peace and 7 United Nations Association in Canada 8 Gala host Alain Gourd of BCE Media and Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette at the October fundraising Gala UNA-Canada President Geofrrey Pearson, Executive Director Harry Qualman, and former Peace and Security Intern Greg Little at the October fundraising Gala assembled for a one-day round-table dis-cussion to assess Canada’s achievements to that date on the Security Council, and to engage in thoughtful debate on directions that Canada might pursue for the remain-der of its term toward the long term goal of enhancing Security Council effective-ness and authority. Participants expressed support for Canadian activities on the Council, in particular the work on the pro-tection of civilians in armed conflict and the Angola sanctions committee, reinforced the relevance of Canada’s human security agenda and reflected broad support for current Canadian priorities for its Coun-cil term. The full report of the seminar is available on our web site (www.unac.org/canada/objectives/index.html).

October Gala Honouring Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette

A major event of the UNA-Canada calendar for 2000 was a fundraising gala in Montreal on the 7 th of December in honour of the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mme. Louise Fréchette. The dinner-dance, at the Hilton Montreal Bonaventure hotel, was generously hosted by Alain Gourd, President and CEO of BCE Media Inc. We were pleased to have Pierre Pettigrew, Minister for International Trade, Minister Sylvain Simard, Jacques Joli-Coeur of the Quebec government and Bernard Dussault of Montreal International as special guests.

The post of Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations was created in 1998 to assist the Secretary-General in the discharge of the full range of his responsibilities. This has brought Mme. Fréchette a key-coordinating role, be it with regard to the operations in Kosovo or East Timor, or in the area of economic and social development. She also spearheads the United Nations internal reform, and is responsible for promoting strategic partnerships, such as with the foundation set up by Ted Turner in support of the UN. Prior to joining the United Nations, Mme. Fréchette served in several senior diplomatic and civil service positions in Canada. The Association was very pleased to have the opportunity to recognize and celebrate Mme. Fréchette’s global contributions to the reform of the UN and in the key area of peacekeeping.