INTRODUCTION Imagine this. You are talking to a friend. Telling them all of these great things about yourself.

How youre honest and fair. How you love people who care, respect and are kind and faithful. How you would back up your friend in a fight. How youll always be there. These are your social morals. These are what you believe in. But these are little more than words. None of this matters if you cant back up your talk. If you lie, and are bias. If you shut down people who care about you, respect you, kind towards and faithful towards, in favour of someone who lacks these qualities. If you cower, when your friends need you by their side. These are your actions or your affairs. Your actions have to reflect your words. Canada once had a revered foreign policy, as their policy was reflected through their actions on the world stage. Today, because of the hypocrisy, our reputation, the reputation that several political giants such as PM Diefenbaker and Pearson have spent their whole careers developing, is being tarnished. As more ignorant people finally see the light, Canadas curtain of lies is being pulled, revealing the shocking drama to its audience. I am not saying Canada is bad. Believe me, I love Canada, and there are several more good points about it than bad. But the point of the presentation is to show where we as Canadians can improve, to make our country, our home, all it can be. 2nd slide What are Foreign Affairs? In the simplest of terms, foreign affairs are the social relations a country holds with other nations. Foreign policy is little more than words on paper, as the people in power needs to implement them. No country will down right say its policy is bad, the government would be toppled than by its people. 3rd Slide Although Canada gained independence in 1867, its foreign affairs were controlled by Britain. Remember how we got involved in WW1? It was because the empire had gotten involved, and its colonies were inclined to follow. Through its actions in the war, Canada got more independence in its affairs, as shown in the signing of the treaty of Versailles. In 1931, the statute of Westminster was signed, giving Canada, legislative independence. From then on, through the cold war, Canadas reputation greatly improved through the works of leaders such as PM Diefenbaker, PM Pearson and PM Trudeau. 4th Slide However, our reputation has fallen, as todays politicians say one thing to the public, but do something else entirely. This is clearly shown in our affairs in human rights, foreign aid and peacekeeping. 5th slide- Image

6th slide- These are some of the people I will refer to in this chapter; PM Diefenbaker, PM Mulroney and former foreign minister; Lloyd Axworthy. 7th slide Canada has an excellent reputation in human rights. Throughout the cold war, Canada evidently advocated human rights. PM Diefenbaker worked his entire political life, to guarantee basic rights to every Canadian that would be upheld by the law. The result was the Canadian Bill of Rights which was created in 1960, which became the skeleton of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Not only did Diefenbaker make this law, but he also implemented this in international affairs. For example, at the 1961 commonwealth conference, Canada was the only predominantly white nation to push South Africa out of the commonwealth due to the apartheid in the African nation. The Mulroney government imposed economic sanctions against the nations in the late 80s, despite the Thatcher and Reagan governments going against it. The sanctions were lifted in 1994, when all races were allowed to run for office in South Africa. 8th slide Today our policy states, Canadians expect their government to be a leader in the human rights field by reflecting and promoting Canadian values on the international stage. The promotion and protection of human rights is an integral part of Canadian foreign policy. However what we actually do is quiet different. 9th slide Pictures 10th slide The first area that Canada shows disregard for human rights is in the economic sector. Several companies, Canadian based but operating internationally, have been found guilty of human rights violations; such as Griffith Energy International and bribery, and Barrick Gold with sexual assaults. The most recent were and still is, being committed by Goldcorp Inc who has violated the human right to water. Canada, after over a decade of disagreement, finally agreed that water is a human right in 2012. However, the government continues to not notice the human rights violations done by the Vancouver based company. According to a 2012 report done by the Council of Canadians Blue Planet Project, the Marlin gold mine (Goldcorp owned) located in San Marco, Guatemala contaminated the nearby Tzala River, as arsenic, and nitrate have been found. Adding on to that, the individuals have been found to have high arsenic levels in their systems. This caused several health problems in the native people there including skin rashes and blood contamination as well as cancer. International standards for water pollution set the limit at 10 parts per billion. However, tests have shown the Tzala River to have 70 parts per billion.

11th slide Carmen Mejia, who has campaigned against the Marlin mine, received death threats for her actions in 2013. Her friend, Deodora Hernandez was shot in the face for protesting against the mine. In 2012, the Peoples International Health Tribunal brought Goldcorp, its host countries and the Canadian government to trial, finding them guilty of human rights violations, and supporting irresponsible mining investments. Although this was first of its kind, the tribunal was not mistaken in accusing the Canadian government of supporting inappropriate mining practices. 12th slide In 2010, Bill C-300, an act that would make the government accountable for mining activities in developing countries, was brought to the House of Commons. The bill, which was created by Liberal MP John McKay, was defeated. It would have allowed for the government to impose sanctions on companies that did not display corporate social responsibilities. Yes it may need revision, but if that were the case, an MP would have brought it back to parliament. International organizations such as Amnesty were outraged. Here is a quote by them. 13th slide The next display of Canadas disregard of humans rights is through the Afghani torture scandal. . On November 18th 2009, former Canadian Diplomat Richard Colvin informed the committee of National Defence, that in 2006-2007, the military was knowingly handing over Afghani civilians to the National Police for torture. Colvins, stated that most of the detainees Canada collected were not what Afghan intelligence services would call high value targets...just random people in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is a country that ended the death penalty in fear of being too inhuman and possible conviction of the innocent. 14th slide In 2006, Colvins warned several senior ranking officers and government officials on what was going on. But they ignored him. Harpers government denied the accusations, claiming Colvins was a dupe of the Taliban. The House of Commons voted 145-143, demanding that the government release all information regarding scandal The Harper government refused. Amir Attaran; a University of Ottawa Law Professor says that if the allegations are true, then Canada would be involved in war crimes, as it would be a violation of the UN convention of Torture which the country has signed and ratified. However, the government stated that Canadian Forces have conducted themselves with the highest performances of all countries. But this would not be the first time the government had tried to cover up a torture scandal, anyone remember SOMALIA??

Even Red Cross tried to notify them; for three months in 2006, but forces in Kandahar ignored the phone calls. In 2009, Governor General Michaelle Jean prorogued parliament on PM Harpers advice. Many believe this was due to the Liberals and NDP, planning on toppling the government due to these allegations. In 2011, the Conservatives were forced to turnover 4000/40000 censored documents detailing the events in Afghanistan or face contempt of parliament charge. However, the entire truth still hasnt been revealed 15th slide The last display of Canadas disregard for human rights is it apathetic treatment of Israels human rights violations. I am not being anti Semitic here, and most of you know I am not. I just believe that a country with a reputation such as Canada needs to be fair, especially in the whole Palestine- Israel conflict. If a country does something good, it needs to be praised. If it does something bad, actions must be taken. For example, on March 23rd 2008, Canada and Israel signed a public security agreement. The security of each Canadian is so important, it is mandated in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as the right to life, liberty and security of the person. Despite this Canada is working to further ensure this right with a country that is a human right violator. The ministry of foreign affairs states Canadians expect their government to be a leader by reflecting and promoting Canadian values internationally. 16th slide Israel is a self defined as the state for Jewish people. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East states that Israel has preferential treatment of its Jewish citizens Our charter states Every individual is equal before and under the lawwithout discrimination based on race, national orreligion. Why are we working with a country that went as far as to boycott the UN human rights council on January 29th 2013? Israel since 1967 has domiciliated 250 settlements, with about 520,000 residents in the West Bank, which lies in the borders of Palestine. According to the UN, this violates the 4 th Geneva Convention; which prohibits transferring a states population into occupied territory. Imagine if America had moved its citizens to live in Toronto. How would we feel? Despite all of this, in 2007 Canada refused to make Israel a permanent issue on the UN human rights council. How can we still claim the brilliant reputation of a human rights advocate that PM Diefenbaker had created for us? Is this how we remember his hard work and dedication towards the laws that are fundamental, the very corner stones of our democratic society? 17th Slide The next area, where Canada has disregarded, despite its policy, is foreign aid. 18th slide- images

19th slide Canadas reputation is that it is a kind and benevolent country. We are a country that is supposed to be generous, the ones that look out for the little guys. Retiring from politics 1968, former PM. Pearson became chairman of the Commission on International Development, challenged wealthy nations to donate .7% of their gross national income. This became the internationally recognized goal of foreign aid. PM Pierre Elliot Trudeau embodied that goal creating the Canadian International Development Agency in 1968. 20th slide Our policy states that Canada, through CIDA, is leading a global commitment, the Muskoka Initiative, to improve maternal, newborn and child health in developing countries and reduce the number of preventable deaths. 21st slide Pictures 22nd Slide Foreign aid is being intertwined with foreign business endeavours. As sick as that may seem, it is true. The Harper government released the latest donors list in 2012 cutting aid to some of the poorest nations in the world, giving it to middle income countries that house Canadian international business interests such as Ukraine, the Caribbean, Peru and Columbia. The government claims that established need was one of the main factors to be on the donors list. This is hypocritical as eight of the poorest countries in Africa were cut, Foreign aid was cut to or reduced eight of the poorest countries in Africa including Malawi, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Niger, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Mozambique. Julian Fantino; the minister of international co-operation stated this is Canadian money...Canadians are entitled to derive a benefit. What kind of country have we become, where we try to turn a profit on charity? These countries need our help, and we should be altruistic about it.

23rd slide Another example of the Canadas betrayal of its aid policy is that Canada merged its aid department with that of foreign affairs in the 2013 federal budget. This resulted in $377.6 million in budget cuts of the CIDA. Because of the merger, aid programs now have to work with commercial groups. This in turn creates a problem for any aid group, as they have to work with companies are often the cause of poverty (i.e. mining), causing them

not be as effective. Imagine working with your enemy to solve your problem. Its not impossible but just damn hard! 24th slide This is all a business strategy, as charity is being used to promote investments in industries. For instance in 2012, CIDA announced $31 million in partnership deals with Canadian mining companies. You may say, this will always come hand in hand with aid, but look at this. The UKs department for International Development, which many Canadian NGOs admire, is forbidden from using aid to promote business. Sweden and Norway, two countries that have hit the .7 mark, make sure aid comes before commercial interests 25th slide Canada has betrayed its aid policy as it has made cuts without realising the effects it would have. One of the countries that were cut was Malawi. Under PM Martin, a Canadian embassy was built in Lilongwe, Malawi. Canada is the 6 th largest donor as we have contributed $440 million in aid over 45 years. The nation was progressing as they were holding elections. However, the aid stopped under PM Harpers leadership. 75% of Malawians live on less than $1.25/day. Only 55% of the children, who enter grade school, complete their primary education. Yes, Canada is going through tough economic times, but the Malawians are hurting more than Canada. The aid that CIDA had provided was life saving, as the $13 million water supply project allowed people in the village of Njale to have clean drinking water, which prevented death by cholera. 26th Slide Not only did CIDA give aid for health but also education as they provided textbook for more than 1000 kids in the village of Didi, 8 million textbooks in total provided to over 5,000 schools in the country thorough $20 million dollar program. The government of Malawi was shocked and disappointed as the cut was announced with out any warning. This country needs help. They are in the midst of democratic elections. If we truly are a supporter of democracy let alone, foreign aid and saving children, then we should not have abandoned them at such a crucial point.

27th slide The final display of Canadas betrayal of its aid policy is shown through CIDAs lack of new innovative ideas. After former PM Pearson came with the idea of .7%, CIDA has had a lack of bright ideas. For example, in Congo, sexual violence against women is unfortunately very common. To stop this, Canada gave $15 million to create a campaign stopping sexual violence. However, Congolese womens leaders said that the campaign was ineffective, saying the money was wasted on T-shirts and posters. This is not the first time this technique was used, and often times these campaigns can be passed off as

raising awareness. Despite the numerous times this was used by other nations, the tactic was employed by CIDA. Another example of the lack of ideas comes as a result of corruption. CIDA provided $14.5 million directly to Zambia for their health programs However, about $880,000 was stolen by officials in the Zambian health ministry forcing Canada to suspend the aid. 28th Slide Another example is that Canada provided up to $150 million to Ethiopia, only to find out in 2010, that the money was being used to reward government supporters and crush rebels. Its quite understandable that Canada would be angry. I mean, would you donate money to the hobo on the street, if you were to find out they used the money for drugs? No of course not. Instead of stopping aid, find another tactic. With the hobo example, give the homeless person your coat or buy a nice warm meal for them. You could even help them get educated so they wont have to rely on pity. Canada cannot truly be meeting its foreign aid policy when it gives up without trying another approach. Back in the cold war, foreign aid was another one of PM Pearsons peaceful ideas to fight communist influence in poor countries. He knew that communism would appeal to the very poor, as the basis of the idea was to equalize wealth and eliminate classes. Instead of allowing that to happen why not the richer nations just donate? The idea caught on, and prevented the communist regime to spread even quicker. Today, people say this idea wouldnt work, as terrorism is the enemy. But let me ask you this. Would not only the very desperate resort to terrorism? The ones blinded by the false promises terrorism offers, would resort to such horrendous acts. Terrorism finds home in the bottom billion, those who are desperate to get themselves and family into a better situation economically. 29th slide The final display of Canadas disregard to foreign policy is peacekeeping. 30th slide Images 31st Slide Canada is reputed all over the world as a nation of diplomacy over war, peacekeeping not policing. This is because; in the past we have often traveled and fought for peace in the most dangerous and hostile of places. This earned the respect of the nations of the world. Canada is the face of peacekeeping, the ones the UN goes to when it needs help on a mission. It is part of our national identity, like hockey and Tim Hortons. Our involvement in peacekeeping began with the Suez Canal Crisis 1956, where the world was poised for WWIII. With the world watching anxiously, Canadian Foreign Minister Lester Pearson, suggested to the UN that a peacekeeping force be made to stop the

violence while the two sides used diplomacy. Due to that action, Canada became the face of peacekeeping, as they have contributed the most troops to the missions. 32nd slide Our foreign policy states that the country collaborates regularly with international organizations such asthe wider UN system ...to develop and implement conflict prevention, peacemaking and peacekeeping. However what we actually do is completely different. 33rd slide -Pictures 34th slide Canada now ranks 53rd on the UNs list of peacekeeping contributors, with only 32 military personnel and 130 Canadian police, wearing the blue helmet. 2 decades ago, more then 1/3 of Canadian troops wore the blue helmet making up 10% of all of the UN forces. Today however, this is not the case as Canada provides about .7% of the UN troops. Furthermore, 2010 poll done by The Globe and Mail showed that Canadians believed that peacekeeping is a greater military priority then North American security and defending the arctic. Is this not a failure of democracy, when majority of the people support or want something, but the government does something completely different? It is a boasting point for many of the people, and rightfully so. After PM Lester B. Pearson fathered the term peacekeeping, Canada was involved with just about every UN led mission, help resolve conflicts in nations such as Congo and Yemen. 35th Slide In 2010, Canada rejected UN request to command the mission in Congo. Lt. General Andrew Leslie, one of the few 3 star generals Canada has was asked to lead 20,500 peacekeeping forces in Congo, a mission where Canada would only have a few dozen soldiers. Instead he was assigned to be the Chief of Transformation for the Canadian Forces, a position that has not be in the military for several years. 36th Slide Another reason as to how Canada policy is not the same as it is affairs in peacekeeping is that the government increased spending on military equipment. In the 2013, federal budget, the government cut money on foreign aid and increased spending on military equipment. Despite its reputation as a peacekeeper, Canada is the 6 th largest exporter of arms. It has increased the amount of money spent on arms to $ 12 billion, in 2011. However, Canada not only exports military equipment to respectable governments but also those guilty of violence, such as China, and Israel.

37th Slide Out of all the countries we export to, Saudi Arabia is the largest benefactor of Canadian arms (the USA is the largest, but the exact dollar value is not recorded as arms dealers do not require a license to trade). We provided $4 billion worth of equipment to the Middle Eastern kingdom in 2012. Furthermore LAV-3 armoured vehicles were sent to Saudi Arabia. These vehicles were used by our forces in Afghanistan. It is believed that Saudi Arabia used the LAV-3 armoured vehicles, to stop anti government protests in Bahrain in 2011. This resulted in the deaths of 30 people, hundreds injured and 3000 arrests. 38th Slide Our betrayal of peacekeeping policy is further shown in our preference to join US lead or NATO missions over UN. Regardless of our deep rich history with the UN, 90% of Canadian soldiers overseas are part of a US or NATO led missions. To further aid these missions, the government is aiming to open permanent military bases around the world, including one in Germany. Yes, NATO has done several good things, like lead the retaliation against the Gaddafi regime in Libya, which ended up on Gaddafis death. But their peace missions are similar to the definition of war, as they have been known to employ air strikes. Air strikes are used to force the leader out of the country. However it also causes a lot of collateral damage. These campaigns that Canada has participated in have killed innocents. The irony of it is that NATO claims to use these techniques to protect the civilians. 39th slide For example, in the Kosovo- Serbian Crisis in the 90s, the air strikes may have helped to end the horror, but also provided cover up for extreme violence inflicted on to the civilians by there own brethren. Before the bombing, accord was dealt to Milosevic, that included 2 demands, he would never accept. Only when bombing didnt work, was diplomacy used, successful in reaching an agreement. Instead of just bombing any place, Canadians should try diplomacy. We are supposed to be peacekeepers are we not??? 40th slide The final display of our country showing its lack of commitment to peacekeeping is our refusal to join a UN peacekeeping mission. In 2005, the UN adopted the Canadian made doctrine of the responsibility to protect. The doctrine, which was developed by Foreign Affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy, stated that nations are obligated to protect people around the world from genocide from their own governments. This was a result of the atrocities of the Rwandan genocide, and how the entire world sat around and watched people get killed. The UN has accepted the doctrine, but Canada has not backed it up. This was an opportunity to have a great influence internationally. It was already bad

enough that Romeo Dallaire was left alone to deal with the 1994 genocide. Syria is a perfect example of a time when Canada refused to intervene, despite the doctrine. 41st slide The UN estimates 60,000 people are dead, 700,000 have left the nation and 4 million are homeless. But still Canada is on the sidelines. Another example is Canadas refusal to join the UN military mission in Mali, despite the increasing Al-Qaeda influence in the north of the nation. Canada has declared time and time again, that they would fight terrorism, as it the main reason of Afghanistan mission. This was a perfect time to fight it and stay true to its reputation. In December 2012, the UN Security Council supported a proposal to send 3,300 solders into Mali, but they also called for more international help CONCLUSION Our hopes are high. Our faith in the people is great. Our courage is strong. And our dreams for this beautiful country will never die- Pierre Trudeau. As a country, weve come a long way, but as you can see, there is a very long way to go. What started of as the dream of our 36 fathers of the nation, turned out to be something so much bigger, something that everyone in this room can call.... home. But a home is only as good as its inhabitants make it. We can either choose to remember the works of Diefenbaker and Pearson, and carry out their ideologies, and reflect our words with our actions. Or we can become hypocrites, slowly but surely, degrading our country, till were finished. Its our country, and maybe one day it will be true north strong and free once more.