Canada
and the OAS: Engaging Our Neighbours
By Hon. David Kilgour, M.P, Edmonton Southeast
Secretary of State (Latin America &
Africa)
(The following article was published in
One World, the magazine of the Social Studies
Council of the Alberta Teachers' Association,
Vol. XXXVI, Number 2, 1999)
Canada’s
decision in 1990 to join the Organization
of America States (OAS) signaled a major
shift in foreign policy. For most of our
history, we focused our attention on other
parts of the world – Western Europe,
United States, the Commonwealth, etc. –
virtually ignoring some of our closest neighbours.
For years,
the OAS was seen largely as an instrument
of U.S. foreign policy in the hemisphere,
recalling the days when "Uncle Sam"
intervened more directly in the affairs
of his "backyard." Since 1972
Canada has been a permanent observer, but
there was reluctance to join formally.
The OAS’s
predecessor was established in 1890 as the
International Union of American Republics,
and in 1910 it became the Pan American Union.
In 1948, 21 members formed the OAS. This
history makes it the world’s oldest
regional organization.
Canada’s
decision to join the OAS came at a time
of global political change. The winding
down of the Cold War, and a greater shift
to democratically elected governments led
to a new political climate in the Americas.
Internal conflict gave way to peace processes,
and increasingly Canada was called upon
to play a peacekeeping role.
At the same
time, Canadian trade and investment were
reaching out to countries of the hemisphere,
in part as a result of globalization, and
in part because access to some of our traditional
markets was becoming more difficult. A number
of Latin American countries were engaged
in market reforms, including privatization
of state-owned enterprises, deregulation
and lowering of trade barriers. This created
opportunities for Canadian businesses, inevitably
drawing Canada closer to the region.
By 1990,
Canada could no longer afford to be excluded
from the hemisphere’s primary forum
for inter-governmental dialogue. Few international
organizations encompass such a wide range
of economic, political and social issues.
Through our membership in the OAS, we now
engage the countries of the region on issues
of human security, human rights and democratic
development, inter-parliamentary cooperation,
economic integration, and environmental
protection and sustainable development.
In short, our relations with the Americas,
through OAS membership, function at many
levels. Full membership in the OAS has allowed
Canada to deepen its relations with Latin
America and the Caribbean both economically
and politically.
One of the
first initiatives that Canada advanced upon
joining the OAS was a proposal to create
a Unit for the Promotion of Democracy (UPD).
This unique mechanism aims to enhance democratic
culture and practices across the hemisphere.
The universal acceptance that the UPD enjoys
today among OAS member states proves that
democracy in the Americas is now considered
more than an exclusively domestic issue.
The OAS is the only multilateral organization
in the world that proclaims in its charter
that promotion and protection of democracy
are essential purposes of the organization.
A resolution passed by members in 1991 recognizes
that the interruption of the democratic
order in a country was a matter of regional
concern that could lead to international
action.
The Summit
of the Americas process, first launched
with the Miami Summit in 1994, has worked
in tandem with the OAS. Last year’s
second Summit, in Santiago, Chile, gave
further impetus to such economic goals as
the establishment of a Free Trade Area of
the Americas (FTAA) by 2005. Yet it also
reflected the much wider range of issues
engaging OAS members, including improving
education and training, eradicating poverty,
building democratic institutions, involving
civil society, and combating the trade in
illegal drugs.
Canada sees
the drug problem as a threat to human security
of the entire hemisphere. The OAS is an
ideal forum to address this kind of challenge.
Drugs are not simply an enforcement problem
involving national governments. Rather,
the issue crosses international boundaries,
affecting us in a variety of ways: health,
governance, small arms trafficking and economics,
to name just a few. As such it is a quintessential
human security problem: multifaceted and
transnational.
The OAS has
been addressing the drug problem for a number
of years, notably through CICAD, the Drug
Abuse Control Commission, which is the principle
vehicle for anti-drug activities in the
hemisphere. Through this commission, OAS
members monitor the progress of individual
and collective efforts in dealing with the
drug problem. The 1996 OAS Hemispheric Anti-Drug
Strategy set out a balanced approach to
taking the drug problem by looking at both
the supply and demand aspects of the drug
trade.
In recognition
of the broader challenges to human security
posed by the drug threat, Canada proposed
at Santiago the establishment of a Foreign
Ministers’ Dialogue on Drugs in the
Americas. Its purpose was not to duplicate
the work of CICAD, but rather to build on
existing mechanisms, allowing foreign ministers
to give higher political profile to the
international human security aspects of
the problem. This Canadian initiative has
attracted support from OAS member countries,
and was a major issue discussed at the 29th
Annual General Assembly of the OAS in Guatemala
in June 1999.
As part of
this initiative, I travelled earlier this
year to nine Latin American and Caribbean
capitals as an envoy for Foreign Affairs
Minister Lloyd Axworthy to seek support
for the Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue.
The enthusiastic response by officials in
many countries reflected not only support
for the initiative, but a general welcoming
of greater Canadian involvement in hemispheric
affairs. Canada’s broader human security
approach was also seen as refreshing, in
contrast to bilateral approaches stressing
enforcement alone at the expense of other
aspects of the drug problem.
Initiatives
such as these illustrate the greater role
that countries of the Americas are seeking
for the OAS, revitalizing it in the post-Cold
War era. To be responsive to the new inter-American
agenda and to be relevant to the people
of the hemisphere, it will be necessary
to reform OAS structures, modernizing its
administration and procedures. This will
only be possible if member countries honour
their financial obligations to the organization.
Progress must still be achieved in this
area.
When Canada
joined the OAS in 1990, we gave a clear
signal of our desire to play a more active
role in hemispheric issues. This includes
contributing to the revitalization of regional
inter-governmental institutions. The new
era of hemispheric cooperation exemplified
by the renewal of the OAS, and the flourishing
of the Summit of the Americas process, provides
Canadians with an unprecedented opportunity.
We are now addressing bilaterally, but increasingly
multilaterally, such issues as prosperity
with equity, human security, and democracy
and sustainable development.
Prime Minister
Chrétien summed up our evolving relationship
with the hemisphere in his remarks at the
closing of last year’s Summit of the
Americas in Santiago. "It is clear,"
he said, "that we are becoming something
more than amigos. We are becoming una gran
familia."
Canada is
taking this family commitment seriously,
whether by leading a peacekeeping mission
in Haiti, or responding quickly with substantial
disaster relief after Hurricane Mitch struck
Central America.
We are hosting
a number of key hemispheric events. The
Pan American Games, held this summer in
Winnipeg, gave Canadians a chance to welcome
athletes from throughout the hemisphere.
In September, the spouses of heads of state
met in Ottawa, followed by the Americas
Business Forum and the FTAA Trade Ministerial
Meeting in Toronto in November. The University
of Alberta will host the Model General Assembly
of the OAS in March 2000, preparatory to
the 30th General Assembly of the OAS set
for June 2000 in Windsor, Ontario –
coinciding with the 10th anniversary of
Canada’s joining the OAS. The culmination
of all this will be the third Summit of
the Americas in Quebec City in 2001.
In short,
considerable ground has already been covered
through the OAS bringing Canada into closer
cooperation with the states of the Western
Hemisphere. Our goal is to see the relationship
continue to grow and take advantage of new
opportunities as we work for peace, stability
and prosperity in the region.
|
