Canada's Policy Towards the Americas: The Good News that Didn't Make the Press
On Wednesday, March 24, we were given a very positive insight into Canada's work within the Americas by Renata Wielgosz, Director of the Inter-American Affairs Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Renata reviewed the steady engagement of Canada in the Americas since 1990 when Canada joined the Organization of American States (OAS), highlighting the contribution Canada had made to the creation of its Unit for the Promotion of Democracy (UPD) and the role of the UPD in ensuring democratic elections. She also described how Canada had spearheaded numerous security initiatives at the OAS, including humanitarian de-mining and widespread adherence to the Ottawa Landmines Convention, the creation of the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism in the fight against drug abuse, and the promotion of confidence and security building measures through the Committee on Hemispheric Security which Canada had also helped create. While not characterized by newsworthy moments, this work has made a significant contribution to the region.
She then spoke of how Canada consolidated its role in the Americas by hosting the annual OAS General Assembly in Windsor in June 2000, by its key role in the resulting OAS High-Level Mission to Peru that helped restore democracy to that country, and by hosting the Third Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in April 2001 - a Summit that saw the adoption of an unprecedented “democracy clause” by the 34 countries. The democracy clause - perhaps the most newsworthy achievement of the Summit - was overshadowed by media coverage of the violent turn that some of the demonstrations had taken. Similarly overlooked was the Canadian effort to increase transparency and civil society engagement, including in the Summit process. These efforts bore fruit, as subsequent Summit hosts Mexico and Argentina have continued to build on this initiative. Another milestone, again overshadowed by the events of the day, was the adoption on September 11, 2001 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter which had been mandated by the Quebec City Summit. The only regional Charter of its kind in the world, it signifies a "strong commitment to democracy" and an important "expression of political will" in the Americas.
Renata went on to provide an update on the implementation of the many other mandates in the Quebec City Summit Plan of Action. She also flagged that the hemisphere has negotiated an Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, together with a Follow-Up Mechanism, as well as an Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism; these show that the region is capable of creating collective responses to evolving governance and security challenges.
Renata had just recently returned from the Special Summit of the Americas held on January 12-13, 2004, in Monterrey, Mexico, where she was part of the Canadian delegation headed by Prime Minister Martin. The Special Summit had been proposed by Canada to the other 33 countries of the Americas in order to address the new challenges that had arisen since Quebec City. It focussed on three key issue areas: economic growth with equity to reduce poverty; social development; and democratic governance. The resulting Declaration of Nuevo Leon made significant commitments, including the strongest language on corruption to emerge from any multilateral forum to date.
Canada is now preparing for the next or Fourth Summit of the Americas in Argentina in November 2005. After completing its role as Chair of the Summit of the Americas process in June, 2003, Canada published a hand-over report entitled, "Commitments Made Commitments Kept: Canada's Contribution as Chair of the Summit of the Americas" which can be found, together with more recent reports submitted by Canada on a regular basis to the Summit Implementation Review Group, at http://www.dfait-maeci/latinamerica/summit-publication-en.asp