Public Dialogues

This project marked the 50^th Anniversary of UN Peacekeeping through a series of public dialogues on Canada’s role in UN Peacekeeping, past, present and future, with a major conference in Ottawa. Drawing on expertise from a broad network of government actors, academics and researchers, field practitioners, civil society organizations, leading think tanks, and the media, among others, UNA-Canada facilitated the series of forward-looking dialogues focused on the development of multifunctional response strategies to Canadian involvement in failed and fragile states, in particular on key priority areas of Afghanistan, Sudan, the Middle East, and Haiti.

The Ottawa Conference brought together academics, policy-makers, and civil society from Canada and internationally to discuss emergent issues of peacekeeping, such as R2P and the UN Peacebuilding Commission. This conference highlighted Canada as a leader in public diplomacy and promoter of multilateralism, feeding into Canada’s foreign policy development.

Each public dialogue had a specific topic of focus and each included an international component and expertise. The series of public discussions took place in cities across Canada from August 2006 – March 2007, with a major conference in Ottawa on November 23, 2006 to mark the 50^th anniversary.