"...PROMISES TO KEEP..."

Almost all participants in the consultation process agreed that a national structure to promote and coordinate the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration was needed. All were equally adamant, however, that the primary, if not the exclusive role of such a national structure was to facilitate programming at the provincial and community level. This suggestion emanated from both a defined need for a horizontally structured national presence to provide ideas, information and an "overview", as well as from a fear that a "nationally canned and packaged" programme would not be appropriate at the level of communities. Consistent throughout all the consultations and stated more positively, participants felt that human rights and the Universal Declaration had to relate to the reality of people's experience in the communities in which they functioned. As such, projects and initiatives organized at the local and regional level would be reflective of local interests and concerns.

With this in mind, efforts continue in seeking the views of policy and decision-makers as to the purpose, form and function of such a national presence in the planning of activities to mark the anniversary year.

Purpose and Function

The role of the enabling structure or National Structure would be to provide a supportive venue where the interests and activities of the regions, provinces and territories could be considered and discussed. The National Structure would assist in creating regional and provincial/territorial structures whose purpose would be to provide the "operational and coordination hubs" for community-level activities.

The roles of the National Structure would be:

• to act as a clearing house for the sharing of information about regional and provincial/territorial initiatives and to provide a national overview of activities;

• to serve, in partnership with one or more national organizations, as a focal point for the dissemination of information and print resources to regional and provincial/territorial committees and community groups;

• to liaise with national institutions and organizations and to encourage them to undertake programming initiatives of a national scope;

• to plan, coordinate and implement a national communications strategy that would "market human rights and the Universal Declaration" to selected audiences;

• to serve as a point of contact for parallel initiatives in other countries and for multilateral agencies seeking information or re-direction to appropriate Canadian organizations;

• to keep track to some extent of the activities throughout the country so that there is record and possibly a means of assessing the impact of the Declaration Year.

Anticipated Outcomes

Functioning as described, a National Structure would "incite and excite", not control or coordinate. Its composition would provide a stimulus for local and regional activity, while providing sufficient overview and facilitation functions to encourage and ensure a "national presence" in Declaration year activities. This would occur through its primary function of preparing and implementing a national communications strategy. The result would be a highly visible campaign of activities and information-sharing at the community level coupled with a national communications strategy, giving exposure and amplified resonance to its tenets.

Composition of the National Structure

To emphasize its facilitative role at the national level and the limited resources which may be available, the composition of the National Structure should be modest in size. A mechanism will have to be found (provincial governments or legislatures, statutory human rights agencies, coalitions of NGOs, etc) to allow one or two representatives of each of the five regions to be appointed to the National Structure. They could be joined by representatives of five or six national organizations representing appropriate sectors (eg. education, youth, culture) and human rights constituencies (Amnesty International/Amnistie Internationale, CASHRA). The National Structure should be "anchored" by two prominent co-chairs from each of Quebec and the ROC. It could also solicit a patron's list of notables who would be willing to lend their names and prestige to the Declaration Project. The National Structure could meet quarterly if resources permit.

National Secretariat

A national secretariat of modest size (coordinator, regional officers, communications specialists and support staff) could be assembled using hired, seconded and pro-bono staff. It might possibly be hosted in donated office space. Attempts would be made to obtain as many "freebies" as possible, such as courier, centrex services, travel vouchers, etc.). Responding to the needs of the National Structure and reporting to it, the national secretariat would be a planning and implementing body supporting and facilitating the activities of the regions and liaising with and encouraging national organizations and institutions to implement or engage in activities to commemorate the year.

Financial Resources

Consistent with our recommendation that the federal government cost-share activities using a matching-dollar formula, it is proposed that government underwrite the costs of the National Structure and Secretariat with the provinces/territories contributing to the costs of regional and provincial/territorial structures. It would be most difficult to raise thee operating costs from either foundations or the private sector. Programming funds would be allocated to and distributed through two envelopes:

• National Initiatives - Funds from the federal government, foundations and the private sector. Consideration could be given to the option of having the National Structure coordinate and make the selections.
• Regional and Provincial/Territorial Initiatives - Funds from the federal and provincial governments, foundations and the private sector for community-based initiatives.

A natural corollary to this recommendation relates to the current and future status of the budget of the Human Rights Directorate of the Department of Canadian Heritage. Clearly, since this is likely to be the lead agency for both the Declaration Year and the Decade for Human Rights Education, funding to the Directorate should be fully restored without delay. Other departments of the federal government should also be expected to make a substantive contribution to the Year.