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<title>MR. GRAHAM - ADDRESS AT THE CANADIAN ARTS SUMMIT - BANFF, ALBERTA</title>
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<p><font face="Arial"></font><font face="Arial" size="+1"></font><font face="Arial" size="+1"><u>CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY</u></font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial" size="+1">NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY</font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial" size="+1">THE HONOURABLE BILL GRAHAM,</font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial" size="+1">MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS,</font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial" size="+1">AT THE CANADIAN ARTS SUMMIT</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" size="+1">BANFF, Alberta</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" size="+1">March 22, 2003</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">What an extraordinary privilege it is to be here in Banff, meeting with the representatives of Canada's leading
arts organizations, after a week of such intense political activity in Ottawa. I can only hope that I may convey to
you today my belief that the work that you are doing here is every bit as important, if not of such immediate
impact to the long-term polity of our world, as the debates and action around the crisis involving Iraq. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">The promotion of Canadian culture abroad is something I consider an important dimension in my current
portfolio of responsibilities. In that respect, I should thank you all of you here for your leadership in fostering the
outstanding Canadian arts scene we have today. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">It is particularly suitable to be addressing you this year, in light of the ongoing public consultations of the
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) called A Dialogue on Foreign Policy, which you
have invited me to discuss. So I propose to talk to you today about the Dialogue, and to share with you some
broader issues concerning the place of what we call the third pillar in Canada's international affairs. I also very
much look forward to learning from the perspectives that all of you bring to these matters, which I do know
something about, thanks to your brief. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">It might strike you, as it has me in recent months, that these are rather busy and complicated times in which to
be launching public consultations on long-term directions in foreign policy. I can assure you that when we were
planning these consultations, we did not anticipate conducting them in the midst of the Iraq crisis now playing
out. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">But this very crisis brings to the fore many of the kind of broad questions that need thinking about from a long-term perspective: our commitment to multilateral institutions and processes; our relationship with the United
States; the shape and purpose of our military; the new challenges posed in ensuring global security; and the
application of Canadian values in a global context, to name just a few. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Certainly, the Iraq crisis and other pressing matters around the globe require us to think both about events
outside our borders and about the form that our response to them should take. Many are new in nature and call
for innovative approaches and solutions. And within our borders, we also know that the face of Canada itself is
changing, and we need to ensure that our foreign policy reflects the new realities of our population and its
preoccupations.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">One of my responsibilities as Minister of Foreign Affairs, then, is to ensure that Canada's foreign policy
responds to present day requirements, that it reflects our values, and that it serves our interests in a changing
world. To do this well we must consult with Canadians, in order to draw on the best resources our society has to
offer. That priority was laid out in the Speech from the Throne last fall, which included an explicit
recommendation that the government engage Canadians in discussion about the role that Canada will play in
the world.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Accordingly, in January, we launched the public consultation process that we're calling A Dialogue on Foreign
Policy. Through these consultations, I'm seeking input from as wide a spectrum of Canadians as possible,
through town hall meetings led by myself and other members of Parliament, through expert round tables, and
through individual submissions in writing and on our dialogue Web site. I'm asking to receive all contributions by
May 1, and will report to Canadians in June on what I've heard.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">As a way of eliciting citizens' views, I've released a dialogue paper laying out an overview of recent global
changes and current challenges within major areas of our foreign policy. I'm delighted that the organizers of this
conference included a copy of the Dialogue booklet in the conference materials distributed to you. As you may
have seen, the paper invites answers to 12 illustrative questions about choices and priorities confronting us in
coming years. Very thoughtful, and needless to say, diverse responses have been coming in, and I encourage
all of you here to contribute your own individual views.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Since I am speaking to you as members of this organization, however, I am pleased to note that your group's
Foreign Affairs Committee has already composed a report to be contributed to the Dialogue on Foreign Policy. I
have read the report with great interest. I must say that I agree with a large part of it, including the criticisms. It
lucidly discusses the importance of the third pillar of our foreign policy; it describes current programs in arts
promotion administered by DFAIT; and it touches on the issue of funding, which it notes, is crucial but presently
inadequate.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Since the report does such a splendid job of laying out the fundamental issues, I would like to take the
opportunity today to talk in a bit more detail about what the third pillar of Canada's foreign policy is about, and
how your organization might help to strengthen it. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">I'd like to begin by noting that the basic structure of Canada's present foreign policy was laid in 1994, when
Parliament conducted a wide-ranging review for the government. The result of that study was our 1995
government statement called "Canada in the World," which addressed our foreign policy goals within three
themes, or pillars: first, protecting our security; second, promoting our prosperity; and third, projecting Canadian
values and culture. These three pillars remain the foundation of our approach today, since they permit us to
keep Canada's core values and interests clearly in mind as we engage with a changing world. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">For most of the audiences I address, the third pillar needs considerably more explanation and often justification
than the other two. It isn't difficult to understand why we want to ensure the security of Canada, or why we want
to promote our country's prosperity. Generally, Canadians see that our own security and prosperity are closely
linked to each other and to the conditions of the world outside our borders. But when it comes to the third pillar
of promoting our culture and values abroad, the links are harder to convey. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">The most direct way of making these links is to explain that promoting Canadian values abroad fosters a more
just and secure world for ourselves and others. When we champion abroad values such as respect for diversity,
good governance, gender equality and human rights, we are not just advancing values and social models we
happen to like, but we are also fostering conditions that lead to peaceful, prosperous and stable societies that
are good members of the global community. And in doing this, we improve long-term prospects for the security
and prosperity of Canadians. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">At its most elementary and practical level, the place of culture in Canada's foreign policy can also be explained
in simple and instrumental terms: by promoting Canadian arts abroad, we create a market for our cultural
industries that directly contributes to Canadian economic prosperity, and indirectly creates an attractive
Canadian "brand" for other commercial fields as well.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">While all of this is true, in fact the importance of the third pillar cannot be fully captured in such terms alone. A
more nuanced account is well worth delivering to the present audience. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Since the end of the Cold War, it has become increasingly apparent that countries' power to influence others is
exercised not just through military and economic might, but also through the attractiveness of their culture, their
ideas and the example they set. The former category of military and economic might, sometimes called hard
power, uses inducements or threats to get other countries to change their position. But as Joseph Nye has
argued in his excellent book <em>The Paradox of American Power</em>, a country may also obtain the outcomes it wants
by making other countries want to follow it through the power of its ideas--in other words, its cultural influence.
This is the idea of soft power, and it is a part of the rationale for the third pillar of Canada's foreign policy. By
showing what our country stands for and what we value, we can hope to draw others to those things--qualities
such as an appreciation for cultural diversity, openness and tolerance, and an internationalist outlook. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">This means of influence is particularly important for Canada as a middle power. By comparison with other major
developed nations in the G8, our relatively small population means that we are not in a position to wield
imposing military or economic might. But we can and do have the capacity to exert influence through other
elements in our domestic and foreign policies. In addition to our creative arts, these include our educational
systems and Canadian Studies programs abroad, and the sharing of our experience and expertise in areas
such as human rights, gender equality, constitutionalism and conflict resolution. We seek to expand and protect
that influence through our participation in multilateral efforts, such as the development of an international
agreement that will affirm the preservation and promotion of distinct cultures as a recognized value within the
global trading system. All of these factors give us a profile and influence around the world that far exceeds our
military and economic position. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">For your organization, the most salient question is probably the distinctive role of what we call cultural
diplomacy, or the promotion of arts and culture abroad. We might address this issue somewhat provocatively by
quoting George Orwell's assertion that "all art is propaganda." This sounds rather sinister; but if we take the
term propaganda in a broader and more benign sense, it captures the reason why we consider cultural
diplomacy central to the third pillar of our foreign policy. I do not imagine that anyone here wants to ascribe
simplistic or programmatic messages to the works that our artists produce. Yet nonetheless, in the questions
that Canadian artists raise and in the reflections they provoke, they do convey the sophisticated and culturally
diverse society we are; and they do so in a way that is proving compelling and attractive to audiences around
the world. The promotion of Canadian creative work is a potent way of presenting our experience as a country
that values democracy, freedom of expression, bilingualism, tolerance, respect for human rights and diversity. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">The cultural diplomacy component of our third pillar therefore goes well beyond the directly economic benefits it
may produce in strengthening our domestic cultural industries, or branding our country as a site for commerce
and investment. More broadly, it creates a receptive audience for the international goals we try to achieve. The
influences here aren't easy to pinpoint tangibly, but they certainly do exist, and they do us enormous good in
extending our foreign policy influence and agenda on the world stage. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">In that context, I'd like to shift to a broader set of reflections about the place of the third pillar within Canada's
foreign policy, and the increasing importance it may come to have at this point in our country's history. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">In thinking about our foreign policy, it might be said that the third pillar is the raison d'etre of the other two
pillars, since its components define who we are and what we consider most important in the international arena.
As I pointed out earlier, the values we stand for internationally are ones that, by and large, characterize who we
as Canadians are: a society committed to tolerance, openness, respect for diversity, human rights and an
internationalist perspective. And it is in our cultural expression that these values find articulation. By expressing
who we are and what we hold important as individuals, our values and culture provide a fundamental part of the
reason for what we as a country find it important to do and to be internationally. In other words, they give us a
vivid sense of why a distinctively Canadian approach to issues of security and prosperity are worth having at all.
In this sense, therefore, the third pillar has an important place in shaping our foreign policy, for it defines what
kind of security and what kind of prosperity we want for ourselves, and how we think these can best be
achieved.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">It would certainly make my own job as Minister of Foreign Affairs much simpler if this distinctively Canadian
outlook on the first and second pillars were not an issue. After all, there's a neighbour to the south of us to
whom we are linked by geography, trade and other ties. It has strong views of its own, and it might not object if
we tagged onto its coattails a bit more in defining our priorities for security and prosperity. In fact, my job is
made vastly complicated, as well as rewarding, by precisely the need to shape a foreign policy informed by our
own distinctively Canadian values and culture. And these, in turn, inform our understanding on how best to
pursue Canadian security and prosperity. In light of factors such as our diverse population with ties to all
regions of the globe and our consequent internationalist perspective, we tend to understand our own security
and our own prosperity as being inextricably bound up with that of countries around the world.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Because of these interconnections, it is important for the sake of forging a sound foreign policy that we
continually test and articulate our sense of who we as Canadians are and what we stand for here at home.
Especially in this acutely tense period of concern for national and global security, we must ensure that the
societal values we affirm remain strongly held. For this reason, I have been encouraging ethnic and religious
communities in Canada to engage in dialogue about the values of tolerance and respect for diversity that make
our society one worth protecting and one worth offering as an example to others. The work of Canadian artists
may also have a distinctive role to play in engaging citizens to think about such matters in the weeks and
months to come. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">A final reflection I'd like to share with you has to do with my own sense that this may be a time when the third
pillar of our foreign policy becomes particularly important for Canadians. In many ways, this is a particularly
strong moment in terms of the resources we have to draw on. Recent years have seen remarkable international
recognition for Canadian writers, musicians and filmmakers, which is drawing attention to the whole spectrum of
our cultural riches. And we are fortunate at the moment to have a Governor General who is deeply committed
to promoting Canadian culture abroad and whose international trips are notable for the exposure they give to
our artists, scholars and ethnic community leaders. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">In terms of current events as well, these are times in which third pillar issues are coming to the fore. The Iraq
crisis has generated a national debate on what our country stands for in its relations with the UN, the United
States and other countries. In the course of travelling around Canada holding town hall meetings for the
Dialogue on Foreign Policy, I have been struck by the number of people who have insisted that Canadian
values must come first in defining how we approach questions of security and prosperity. Notwithstanding the
economic sway of our neighbour to the south, Canadians are saying that it is time to take a stand on what we
believe about the best ways of conducting global affairs. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">While no particular assertions about Canadian identity or standards can be taken simply at face value in
deciding our course of action, I do believe that what I have heard in town hall meetings and elsewhere shows a
real need for reflection on who we are as a country and how we want to conduct ourselves in the world. With
the help of groups such as yours, this is a time when such discussions might take place on a national scale and
truly have an impact on helping us all to define and elaborate Canada's distinctive international role in the
months and years ahead. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Before I conclude, I should touch on a more concrete issue that many of you may be hoping to hear about. I
propose to raise this issue by reciting a poem, which is not something I often get to do in my current official
capacity. This is a poem called "Plaint," by the American writer Langston Hughes, and it goes as follows: </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Money and art</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Are far apart.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Would that this were so. Earlier I alluded to the report written by your Foreign Affairs Committee, which ends by
urging the government "to make a recommitment to cultural diplomacy as a unique and important tool of foreign
policy." However, a merely rhetorical commitment is not what the report has in mind; its rousing cry of "show us
the money" makes that point clearly enough. </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">I wish I could respond concretely on the spot to this request, but these are times in which DFAIT is having to
juggle many competing priorities. On the other hand, I would like to emphasize that this Dialogue on Foreign
Policy we are conducting is, among other things, designed to inform decision makers in Ottawa as to the views
of Canadian individuals and groups such as yours. Your report makes an important contribution to our planning,
as we consider directions and priorities for our country's foreign policy in the years ahead. I hope that you will
follow it up through your contacts--which are many and powerful--to reach others in the government (Mr.
Manley comes to mind) so that we can have the resources we need to translate our ideas into action.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">But more immediately, a group such as this will undoubtedly have very interesting and substantive contributions
to make right now through your reactions to the ideas I've presented. It's been a privilege to speak with you
here today and I look forward to hearing your comments and working with you as we seek the concrete
realization of the principles I've raised with you today.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Thank you.</font></p>
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