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<html> <head> <meta name="Generator" content="Corel WordPerfect 8"> <title>MR. GRAHAM - ADDRESS AT THE CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES CENTRE CONFERENCE ON "CITIES, STATES, CULTURES: CANADIAN AND GERMAN PERSPECTIVES" - BERLIN, GERMANY</title> </head> <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0"> CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE BILL GRAHAM, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, AT THE CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES CENTRE CONFERENCE ON "CITIES, STATES, CULTURES: CANADIAN AND GERMAN PERSPECTIVES" BERLIN, Germany May 26, 2003 I am very pleased to have this opportunity to be here in Berlin during Canada Week and to be able to join with you to discuss your conference topic of "Cities, States and Cultures." This theme may not cover the entirety of humanity's modern experience--I suppose you could set up a parallel conference titled "Land, Ecosystems and Nature"-- but it seems to me that your chosen topics do encompass much of what shapes the lives of both Canadians and Germans. That my own academic home, the University of Toronto, has joined with the University of Quebec at Montreal to address these themes in one of the world's great, and defining urban centres, makes it all the more of a pleasure to address you here today. It has become something of a cliché for visitors to Berlin to remark on its rapid transformation. Yet as I saw for myself this morning, Canada is not just an observer to this process; we are part of the rebuilding of this city. Through our new embassy building taking shape on Leipziger Platz, Canadians are materially addressing the three themes of this conference: contributing to rebuilding the historic heart of the city; giving physical embodiment to our own open and inclusive state; and making a space where dialogue and exchange among cultures can flourish. Your keynote speaker of this morning (and my longtime friend), John Ralston Saul, has often drawn on similar architectural analogies in describing Canada as an intellectually created, deliberately built polity. And in this kind of construct, he too has been more than an observer. In a position paper he wrote for the Canadian government's foreign policy review in 1995, he laid the foundation for what we call the third pillar of our foreign policy, which consists of the projection of Canadian values and culture abroad. Alongside the other two pillars of security and prosperity, this third pillar is a key guiding principle of our government's work abroad. In my view, these are times in which this third pillar of Canada's foreign policy is particularly relevant, and for reasons bound up with the themes of cities, states and cultures. For all the talk of globalization and communications technology bringing about the "global village," we know that this new world is nothing like the village of the past, a village whose inhabitants were united by a close-knit web of shared background and beliefs. In fact, our globalized world is more akin to a modern cosmopolitan city, united by common structural elements but nonetheless made up of peoples from around the world much divided in their cultures, histories and beliefs. One of the greatest challenges of our age is to figure out how to make a viable community out of this diverse global city, in which conflicts between different peoples are increasingly being felt not just at the local and regional levels but globally as well. And in many cases, and this is certainly true of Canada, conflicts that may be far away geographically come to have a local significance as immigrant populations bring with them the concerns and even hostilities that afflict their place of origin. Like citizens of other nations, Canadians are aware of just how intimately our own security and prosperity, and that of the larger world, are bound up with the global challenge of managing ethnic and religious coexistence. Recent events in the Middle East and elsewhere make it all too apparent just how much inter-group conflict can affect countries half a world away; and in a different sense, it is also apparent how much the credibility of the United Nations and other international institutions is dependent on their capacity to deal with the terrible ethnic conflicts of our day. Much of each country's foreign policy goals, with respect to security and prosperity, therefore, is now bound up with the collective challenge of managing diversity and coexistence around the world and within its nation states. This line of thought indeed suggests that the promotion of diversity and peaceful coexistence should be added to the list of what have recently been described as "global public goods"--things that all people have an interest in securing, and that cannot be secured through the efforts of individuals, private enterprise or national governments alone. A clean environment, public health and stable financial markets are all examples of such goods. Fifty or one hundred years ago it might have been the exclusive responsibility of national governments to provide them. Because of the rapidly increasing interdependence of our world, however, no state can now deliver these goods on its own; only through international cooperation can they be secured. And in an age in which ethnic conflicts increasingly have disastrous effects felt around the world, the prevention of deadly conflict might well also be considered a global public good to be pursued through international cooperation. If we think of what international cooperation toward conflict prevention might consist of, some dimensions of it are already underway in the form of development assistance and post-conflict reconstruction efforts. We know that certain basic features characterize societies in which serious disagreements are likely to be settled by means short of a resort to force. As the 1997 report of the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict put it, the resort to violence is minimized in states with representative government, the rule of law, robust civil societies and open economies with social safety nets. Such states do well in providing their citizens with the fundamental societal goods of security, well-being and justice, and hence with incentives to settle disputes peacefully. Yet while security, well-being and justice may be indispensable for peaceful coexistence among different peoples, another facet of securing this global public good also consists in focused societal efforts to build public attitudes, institutions and practices supportive of pluralism. This is where I believe that Canada has something special to offer the world: our experience in working and living together in a vast multicultural country, and in so doing, promoting respect for, understanding of and tolerance for one another. Last year a major Canadian newspaper conducted an interview with the Aga Khan, who had this to say about my country's potential status as a contributor to the global public good of pluralism: "Canada is today the most successful pluralist society on the face of our globe, without any doubt in my mind....That is something unique to Canada. It is an amazing global human asset." I do not quote these remarks in order to boast of our own perfections; Canadian pluralism is very much a work in progress, and our societal aspirations do not wholly match the realities experienced by our First Nation communities and some recent immigrant groups. Nonetheless, I can honestly say that our highly multicultural cities are, by and large, very successful experiments in making diversity work. My own constituency in Toronto is a demonstration of this fact. In an area I represent there is a community called St. Jamestown, a housing complex that is one of the densest in North America and where some 12,000 people speak 57 languages. We would not have relative peace, harmony, social justice and cooperation with one another in that area if we did not have a sense of respect for one another, a willingness to work together, and a mutual recognition of each other as equal fellow Canadians. I was really struck by that one day last year at the opening of our centre in that area for young francophone immigrants from Central Africa. It was shortly after the tragic events of September 11 in New York, and that experience was very fresh in the consciousness of everyone there. I was with the French actress Jeanne Moreau, and both of us were struck by the attitudes of the young people there from extraordinarily diverse backgrounds and their forceful articulation of the need to ensure that the hatred and disregard for the life of the other that inspired such acts could never take root in our community. What success we are experiencing is not merely an accident of history; nor is it simply a by-product of national success in providing the basic goods of security, prosperity and justice for our citizens. To be sure, these conditions do help. By accident of history and geography we are a spacious and relatively new country with a flexible, constantly evolving notion of what it means to be Canadian. Moreover, our socio-economic policies aim to ensure that all Canadians, including immigrants, enjoy access to the full range of societal resources and opportunities. But beyond this, Canada deliberately strives to realize a commitment to pluralism in our political, legal and social institutions. Our experience in building a bilingual, bicultural nation, in recognizing the claims of our First Nation peoples, and now in adapting to new waves of immigrants from all corners of the world--all of these have constantly provoked us to try new ways of making diversity work. These social experiments give Canada a distinctive potential for contributing to the development of social structures beyond our borders. A year ago I was in Israel, and had the privilege of spending a few hours with Chief Justice Barak, one of the world's great and courageous jurists. On his desk the Chief Justice had reports of Supreme Court of Canada decisions relating to our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and these decisions, he told me, inform much of Israel's jurisprudence and, indeed, of many other common law countries as diverse as India and South Africa. In his view, Canada's Charter significantly contributes to the development of legal systems of common law countries whereby collective and individual rights are balanced so as to enhance both the individual human potential as well as social stability. On the local, provincial and federal levels in Canada, there are ongoing experiments in promoting peaceful and diverse coexistence. I am delighted to be able to report that these efforts will be both encouraged and spread beyond our borders by the opening of a unique centre for the study and practice of human pluralism, which the Aga Khan Development Network has chosen to locate in Canada. In partnership with the Government of Canada, the Network is working out plans for an academic and professional centre designed to foster pluralist societies worldwide, particularly in developing countries. While this centre will be a global source of knowledge to help societies engender pluralism in their institutions, laws and policies, it is being located in Canada specifically to draw on the strengths of the Canadian experience. This centre has the potential to be enormously beneficial as an international resource for promoting the global public goods associated with conflict prevention and peaceful coexistence, and we hope soon to add its experience to the third pillar of Canada's foreign policy. Our country stands to benefit as much as any other from the application of focused international attention to the study and promotion of social pluralism. Not only do we intimately feel the repercussions here at home of cultural conflicts beyond our borders, but we constantly face new domestic challenges as immigrants change the face of our population. Like Germany and other European countries, Canada's demographic makeup has been notably affected in recent years by the arrival of immigrants from non-European countries, particularly from Asia and the Middle East. The 2001 Canadian census shows that the number of Canadian Muslims increased by 129 percent over the previous 10 years, making Islam Canada's fastest-growing religion. Even though Muslims still make up only 2 percent of our population, this will likely bring far-reaching changes to our society. As Germany, France, England and other countries are trying to do, Canada is trying to ensure that this kind of change strengthens our national fabric, benefiting new and native-born Canadians alike. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, I have been particularly attuned to this phenomenon with respect to its bearing on Canada's foreign policy during these times of conflict and tension in the Middle East and elsewhere in the Muslim world. Before and during the war in Iraq I was making efforts in print and in person to emphasize to all Canadians that conflicts abroad must not be allowed to undermine tolerance and respect for diversity in our own society. While tensions certainly do exist, both within and between some cultural communities, moderation and civility do generally prevail. I believe the situation can only be strengthened by further explicit attention being paid to these matters, and for that reason it is welcome to see initiatives such as the decision by our House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade to undertake a study on "Canada's Relations with the Countries of the Muslim World." Over the past four months the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade has undertaken public consultations on foreign policy; here too the promotion of pluralism and coexistence is at the core of Canadians' preoccupations. Since January I have been travelling across Canada doing consultations designed to help us update our foreign policy in light of new global realities abroad and a changing population at home. This exercise was conducted not just through public meetings but through extensive on-line and written consultations as well, and we made a special effort to ensure that Canadians from all cultural backgrounds could make their voices and concerns heard. What I've heard through these consultations reaffirms the fact that Canadians as a whole think that the successful management of diversity is a significant national strength, and one that should be a central part of Canada's approach to world affairs. This certainly supports the findings of a recent survey of 44 countries that found that over three quarters of Canadians believe immigrants are a good influence on the country, a response that was by far the most positive view on diversity of any nation in the survey. And while some Canadians reminded us to work on realizing our societal aspirations more fully at home, many more urged us to find ways of sharing our successes in democratic pluralism with other countries in need of models of democratic pluralism and ideas on this issue. We are still analyzing the results of these consultations and preparing a final report on what we heard; but I can already say that strengthening Canada's contribution to global resources for fostering diversity and peaceful coexistence will be high on our list of action priorities for the future. Mention of these themes brings me to one last topic, namely the broader approach to world affairs endorsed by countries that are preoccupied, as are both Canada and Germany, with the challenges of managing diversity well. Conducted as they were against the background of the UN Security Council debates and then the war in Iraq and its aftermath, our national consultations on foreign policy were strongly marked by an insistence among Canadians that our national values must come first in defining how we approach questions of security and prosperity. More than any other event in recent decades, the Iraq crisis generated passionate debate over the values Canada stands for, particularly the maintenance of a strong UN system and good bilateral relations with the United States and Europe. The majority of voices I heard said that it is time to take a stand on what we believe about the best ways of conducting global affairs. In that debate, our relationship with our neighbour to the south, a neighbour to whom we are linked by geography, by a shared concern for the security of North America, by extensive trade and economic ties and by a vast network of personal and institutional relationships, naturally formed an important preoccupation. And our neighbour is not shy about indicating why it believes that we should look to its lead in defining our priorities for security and prosperity. That said, Canadians also expect their government to shape foreign policy that is based on our own distinctively Canadian experience and values. These arise from various factors, including our diverse populations with ties to all regions of the globe, our consequent internationalist perspective, and an acute awareness of interdependence that comes with one of the most open economies in the world. In light of all this, Canadians tend to understand our own security and prosperity as being inextricably bound up with that of other peoples and nations around the world; and we tend to regard international cooperation and multilateralism as the best ways of making progress toward the global public goods we want for ourselves and others. These latter considerations led Canada to decide against joining the coalition of countries that went to war in Iraq. This was not an easy decision. It was one that we made after careful reflection on all the possible consequences of reacting either one way or the other. It represents a perspective that we share with many friends in Germany and elsewhere. I am proud to tell our American friends that it makes us better friends and allies: friends who bring their independent perspective to relations are always more valuable than those whose motive for following is solely based on preserving the relationship. Now in the aftermath of the war, we are taking a pragmatic approach, driven by the basic human security needs of the Iraqi people and the imperative of ensuring a long-term stable future for Iraq. We also believe that the international legitimacy conferred by significant UN participation will go a long way to establishing the conditions for a post-war Iraq that is peaceful, just, prosperous and ready to rejoin the community of nations. We believe that Resolution 1483, adopted by the Security Council last week, provides a workable UN framework for that reconstruction, and we hope to be able to make a real contribution to that important process. Looking to the longer term, one of the challenges that both Canada and Germany are well aware of in the post-war in Iraq world is the urgency of reforming our multilateral institutions, such as the UN, in order to make them more legitimate and effective tools of international cooperation. In the Security Council, the Commission on Human Rights and elsewhere, reform is essential for making these bodies capable of playing their necessary central role in coordinating the pursuit of the global public goods we all need. Even as I've been saying that Canadian pluralism represents a global human asset our country is trying to share with the world, I'm very much aware that this element of our foreign policy can succeed only against the broader global context of societies well on their way to providing basic security, well-being and justice for their citizens. And for this to happen, our multilateral institutions are more than ever necessary in this new post-war in Iraq world we are trying to reconstruct. In their own way, events such as this conference today are vital to the larger effort of working toward a better world. Small forums such as this permit two countries with many shared values and aspirations to learn from our different experiences and exchange ideas for working on shared problems domestically and in the global arena. Canadians and Germans alike realize that the diversity of modern cities is only going to grow in importance as both a metaphor for our global condition and as a very concrete set of challenges for states to manage individually and collectively. Your conference theme could not be more appropriate to the challenges facing us today. Thank you for allowing me to share these thoughts with you here, and I wish you a very fruitful conference over the next few days. </body> </html>

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Last Updated: 2006-10-30	Top of Page	Important Notices