Canada
in the Americas
Notes for an address by the Honourable David
Kilgour, Secretary of State (Latin America
& Africa)
to the Colloquium on Canada within the Continentalization
of the Americas: Balances and Perspectives
Université du Québec à
Montréal,
Montréal, Quebec, October 16, 1997
Good afternoon:
To begin,
I would like to congratulate the Chaire
Téléglobe, Raould Dandurand,
en études stratégiques et
diplomatiques, for organizing this colloquium
on "La continentalisation des Amériques:
la place du Canada?" My remarks will
focus on the growing Canadian engagement
within the hemisphere and the main challenges
I see arising from it.
I came back
recently from my first visit to Chile as
Secretary of State for Latin America. This
was an opportunity for me to see a country
that is turning the corner and is now receiving
major investor interest. I witnessed impoverished
people who now have some tools to try to
improve their lives, from microcredit to
the new government pension funds for all.
Chile is
already a major bilateral trading partner
for Canada, and part of our four-way alliance
of the "four amigos." What struck
me in Santiago, where I attended the opening
of the GasAndes project, headed by Nova
Corporation, was the fit between a very
good business deal and an important environmental
breakthrough for the residents of that city,
who are choking on urban smog. The week
before we arrived, Luciano Pavarotti had
called off a concert because the air was
too polluted for him to perform. When I
viewed the city from a local vantage point,
the heavy choking inversion was visible
and the health authorities were talking
about the long-term impact on citizens,
particularly the elderly and children. Canadian
technology, Canadian management and Canadian
governmental support made the GasAndes project
happen. It is something to be proud of,
and it will forge a friendship that reaches
well beyond those directly involved in the
consortium.
Chile is
but one illustration of how much the region
has changed, as has Canada's own place in
the Western Hemisphere.
Until recently,
it is fair to say that relations among the
countries of the Americas, including Canada,
were characterized by a lack of coherence
and sustainability. It is true that Canada's
relations with the Caribbean date from the
17th century, and that the United States
has always loomed large in our collective
consciousness — and indeed in our development
as a nation. Nevertheless, our traditional
links with Europe tended for many years
to obscure the determining role played by
geography and increasingly by history in
Canada's position vis à vis its own
hemisphere. Canada's engagement in the region
was sporadic, frequently conceived as a
complement or a counterbalance to U.S. policies,
and coloured to a substantial degree by
our reluctance to wade more deeply into
an area often characterized by political
turmoil and economic volatility.
As the decade
of the 1980s ended, it became increasingly
clear that a fundamental and possibly irreversible
transformation was taking place in Latin
America. Economic reform based on macro-economic
stability and market-oriented measures was
adopted by practically all the countries
in the region. Democratically elected governments
became the rule. Internal armed conflict,
which had marked most of Latin America after
1960, gave way to peace processes, often,
as in the case of Central America, with
international -- including Canadian -- participation.
As military governments disappeared, gross
and systematic violations of human rights
also became less of a defining feature.
Civilian governments became more sensitive
toward deficiencies in their human rights
record.
Globalization
was becoming a fact, and the introduction
of reforms by our hemispheric neighbours
reflected the consciousness that they needed
to adapt their societies. Canada, as the
second-largest economy in the region, with
a long and deeply ingrained democratic tradition,
also became aware that it possessed many
of the tools, much of the expertise and
a high level of credibility which could
be used to assist our region in effecting
this transformation.
This decade
has witnessed unprecedented progress in
Canadian involvement with the Americas.
In 1990 we joined the Organization of American
States [OAS], a clear signal of our desire
to play a more active role in hemispheric
issues and to contribute towards the revitalization
of regional inter-governmental institutions.
In the early
1990s, Canada negotiated the North American
Free Trade Agreement with the United States
and Mexico, the first regional trade agreement
in the world involving developing and developed
countries. During the same period, we extended
our resident diplomatic representation to
practically all the countries of the region.
In 1994, Prime Minister Chrétien
participated in the Miami Summit of the
Americas, where leaders of 34 democratically
elected countries agreed on a partnership
for development and prosperity, founded
on a commitment to democratic practices,
economic integration and social justice.
This represented an unprecedented commitment
to working together on these fundamental
issues.
In 1995,
the Canadian government in its Foreign Policy
Statement identified Latin America as one
region where our geographic location gives
us an important advantage. This year, Canada
and Chile concluded a free trade agreement.
Last month, the Quebec National Assembly,
with the support of the Parliament and Government
of Canada, hosted a first-ever Parliamentary
Conference of the Americas, which addressed
the process of economic integration and
recognized the essential role of parliamentarians
in it.
At that conference,
Prime Minister Chrétien announced
the January 1998 visit of Team Canada to
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. In
April, the Prime Minister will participate
in the Second Summit of the Americas in
Santiago, where leaders are expected to
launch negotiations for a Free Trade Area
of the Americas [FTAA]. In 1999, the Pan
American Games will be held in Winnipeg.
And in 2000, to celebrate the 10th anniversary
of our membership, Canada will host the
OAS General Assembly.
Canadian
involvement in the hemisphere goes well
beyond participation in conferences and
events. Over the past four years, Canadian
exports to the region increased from $2.6
billion to $5 billion; this is more than
our exports to France and Germany combined.
Exports to Brazil are four times those to
India. Canadian investment in the region
has also increased, from $6 billion to $15
billion. A growing number of Quebec companies,
including Alcan, Bombardier, Bell Canada,
SR Telecom, Harris Farinon, Group Saint
Mobile and Les Camions Waltek, to name but
a few, are active in the region. Despite
this -- and the fact that Canada enjoys
comparative advantages in sectors such as
resource exploitation, information technology
and infrastructure development -- our share
of the market remains at less than 3 per
cent. We have just scratched the surface.
Our economic
ties have been aided by the growing number
of Canadians, now in the hundreds of thousands,
originating from every country in Latin
America and the Caribbean. Their presence
has enriched our own culture, forged unbreakable
bonds and sensitized our country to the
promise and the richness of the Americas.
Canada is
well respected in the region. We have capitalized
on our reservoir of political goodwill to
obtain solid Latin American and Caribbean
support on such initiatives as the banning
of anti-personnel landmines, the extension
of the UN mandate in Haiti, opposition to
legislation with extraterritorial application,
such as the Helms-Burton law, and adoption
of a multilateral anti-drug strategy. We
have been able to play an active role as
a bridge-builder in the process to launch
negotiations for an FTAA.
Our development
assistance programs contribute $800 million
yearly to the region and aim at fostering
political, economic, social and environmental
sustainability. Our programs place particular
importance on traditionally marginalized
groups, such as women and Indigenous peoples,
in recognition that their integration into
the full economic life of a country is an
important prerequisite for development and
preservation of democracy and security.
In short,
Canada has built a multifaceted and influential
presence in the hemisphere in recent years,
which we intend to use in shaping the changes
that are taking place so that they reflect
our values. This will entail, in my view,
three major challenges:
1) ensuring
that economic integration leads to prosperity
with equity, thus aiding in the enhancement
and preservation of democracy;
2) strengthening
democratic institutions and practices and
enshrining the concept of sustainable development
in the region; and
3) promoting
human security, particularly for the most
vulnerable groups of society, as a key concept
in policy-making in the hemisphere.
Let's examine
how Canada is addressing these challenges.
Prosperity
with Equity
As the theme
of this conference clearly illustrates,
economic integration is a predominant trend
in the region, buttressed by growing evidence
of its beneficial net impact on job creation
and income levels. As a government, we are
firm believers in establishing rules-based
trade regimes to foster an open and predictable
free-trading environment as a crucial element
in enhancing prosperity, including our own.
It is the reason why Canada is a strong
supporter of an FTAA.
The evidence
is less conclusive on whether integration
necessarily leads to the narrowing of income
disparities. This is a particularly serious
issue in most of this hemisphere, where
incomes are one of the most unequally distributed
in the world. This in turn is a most formidable
challenge to the very existence of democratic
governments in the region for the foreseeable
future. As a firm believer in the need to
ensure that the benefits of prosperity are
widely shared, Canada continues to advocate
poverty reduction as a key component of
international cooperation activities in
the region, and to share our expertise in
socially oriented governance, thus contributing
to building a hemisphere that shares some
of our most fundamental values. In doing
so, we will also help in the preservation
of democracy.
Democracy
and Sustainable Development
One of the
first initiatives that Canada advanced on
joining the OAS was a proposal to create
a Unit for the Promotion of Democracy [UPD],
a unique mechanism for the enhancement of
democratic culture and practices across
the hemisphere. The universal acceptance
that the UPD enjoys today among all OAS
member states, proves that democracy in
the hemisphere is now considered as more
than an exclusively domestic issue. This
point was reinforced by the OAS in 1991,
when member states passed resolution 1080,
which recognized that the interruption of
the democratic order in a country was a
matter of regional concern that could lead
to international action. Canada has also
encouraged the development of a democratic
culture and a pluralist civil society in
its bilateral relations. Our Canadian International
Development Agency [CIDA] funds a wide range
of projects, such as peace and reconciliation
initiatives, legal aid, human rights education,
the strengthening of parliamentary institutions,
and the establishment of legal and institutional
frameworks for human rights (encompassing
the rights of women, children and Indigenous
peoples).
Canada's
support for democracy has been particularly
evident in the cases of Guatemala and Haiti,
as well as Cuba. In Guatemala, we are assisting
civil society to take an active role in
shaping the future of their country. Since
1995, civilian police officers from municipal
forces in Laval, Quebec, and Hamilton, Ontario,
have served with distinction as human rights
monitors in MINUGUA, the United Nations
Mission in Guatemala. Earlier this year
15 Canadian military officers from all parts
of the country took part in MINUGUA's task
of supervising the demobilization of the
Guatemalan guerrillas. Last April, Canada
was the first country to provide financial
support to the start-up of Guatemala's "Truth
Commission." In Haiti, Canada has been
actively involved in training the new police
force as well as providing support for strengthening
the judiciary. Canada also believes that
engagement will produce more progress in
Cuba than will isolation and formal conditionality.
Canada has
also been a leader in advancing the concept
of sustainable development and of integrating
economic, social and environmental objectives.
This Canadian approach was reflected in
the Bolivia Summit on Sustainable Development,
where governments agreed on 65 initiatives
in five areas: health and education; sustainable
agriculture and forests; sustainable cities
and communities; water resources and coastal
areas; and energy and minerals.
Human Security
As my colleague
the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy, our Minister
of Foreign Affairs noted in his recent speech
to the United Nations General Assembly,
the concept of human security means tackling
other severe menaces besides the scourge
of war. Threats such as poverty, human rights
violations, crime and terrorism, and depletion
or pollution of natural resources are far
too common virtually everywhere. Canada
has much intellectual and practical leadership
to offer in addressing, in innovative ways,
issues that cut across traditional boundaries.
Examples include the landmines ban campaign,
identifying and addressing the root causes
of conflict, and improving our ability to
respond to crises when we cannot prevent
them.
One of the
most distressing developments in the region
in recent years has been the explosion of
criminal violence, particularly among urban
populations. This has a deeply destabilizing
effect on democratic governments and leads
to increased violations of human rights
by police forces. Reducing the level of
violence, and the impact of organized crime,
both of which affect the quality of life
of many peoples and threatens democracy
in our hemisphere and elsewhere, will be
another key challenge. Canada has much to
offer in this field in areas such as municipal
government and policing. The negotiation
of a convention to control the illicit international
traffic in firearms, now being undertaken
under OAS auspices, is an interesting illustration
of regional action in the field of human
security. Once again, Canada took the lead
in trying to ensure that the resulting instrument
be effective as well as enforceable.
The new era
of hemispheric cooperation exemplified by
the revitalization of intergovernmental
institutions such as the OAS, and the flourishing
of the Summit of the Americas process, which
is taking place in this decade, provides
Canadians with an unprecedented opportunity
to assist in addressing these three main
challenges, not only bilaterally, but increasingly,
multilaterally.
Canada, a
Country of the Americas
Canada is
a country of the Americas. This is a fact
created by geography and now confirmed by
history. Our place in this hemisphere will
not be that different from that which we
occupy elsewhere in the world: a prosperous,
democratic society; an example of how diversity
and tolerance can be the source of unity,
rather than division; a respected and influential
nation, which leads by example rather than
coercion. But there is a big difference:
because of our rich linguistic and cultural
heritage, our economic importance, and our
geographic proximity, here we have a much
greater possibility to build a common value
system based on a shared vision in our hemisphere.
In doing so, we will also be contributing
to the betterment of our own society.
Thank you.
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