Canada and International Human Rights: The Road Ahead
| Date | 01 December 1990 |
| Author | David Gillies |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934419000800402 |
| Published date | 01 December 1990 |
| Subject Matter | Part A: Article |
Gillies
I
Canada
and
International
Human
Rights
PART A: ARTICLES
CANADA
AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS: THE ROAD
AHEAD
David
Gillies:
"Human rights are a fundamental and integral part of Canada's foreign
policy!'
That
was the message delivered to the government during a major
review of Canada's international relations. This article examines how far
integration has proceeded and assesses the role of a new Canadian Centre
for International Human Rights and Democratic Development.
International human rights issues have slowly gained prominence in
Canada.' But it was not until the publication of Independence and
Internationalism in June 1986,that the issue began to occupya salient place
in debates on Canadian foreign policy. Protecting rights was also a central
theme in For Whose Benefit? (May 1987), a Parliamentary Standing
Committee review of Canada's aid program, and was briefly discussed in
Sharing Our Future (1988), the Canadian International Development
Agency's (CIDA's) blueprint for the 1990s.
There
can be no question that human rights now have a higher profile
than they did at the outset of the foreign policy review
cycle.
Development
NGOs and human rights groups were very effective in persuading
parliament to grasp the nettle of global human rights. Their lobbying led
to imaginative and far-reaching proposals by the parliamentary committees.
And the government responded favourably to a number of the recommen-
dations.
Consider what has
been
achieved: a new parliamentary Subcommittee
on International Human Rights; the training of foreign service and
development aid officialson human rights issues; an agreement toestablish
ahuman rights unit at CIDA; the addition of "the human rights record" to
*Doctoral candidate, Department of Political Science, McGill University, Montreal,
Canada.
1
For
a review of Canadian policy, see RobertMatthews and Cranford Pratt, eds., Human
Rights in
Canadian
Foreign
Policy,
Kingston and Montreal, McGill-Queen's University
Press, 1989; and Irving Brecher, ed., Human
Rights,
Development
and
Foreign
Policy:
Canadian
Perspectives,
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Institute forResearch on Public
Policy,
1990.
361
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