2019 - Canadians Changing the World - Mobilizing for Global Impact - Full Report

28 OCTOBER 2019, TORONTO

CANADIANS CHANGING THE WORLD

MOBILIZING FOR GLOBAL IMPACT

Letter from the co-organizers As we look back on a century of independent action by Canada on the world stage, we see that 2019 is not the first time Canadians have looked out in anxiety at an international environment turning suddenly more divisive, suddenly more hostile to our interests.

In 1919, after the carnage of WWI destroyed the illusion of a peaceful Eurocentric world order, Canada played an independent role in global affairs for the first time, as a signatory of the Treaty of Versailles and a founding member of the League of Nations.

In the 1930s, we watched totalitarian ideologies spread across Europe as the principal guarantee of our international position until then, the British Empire, began to decline. Canadians found the will to commit blood and treasure to the defence of our fellow democracies in the Second World War. And through it we forged a lasting strategic partnership with the United States and our NATO allies that provided a new foundation for our national security.

In the 1960s the world order established after the war came under unprecedented strain, as newlyindependent but poor developing nations fell to coups, civil wars and Cold War intrigue. Having been a central actor in creating that order, Canadians played a critical role in mobilizing the economic power of the Global North for international development, expanding the benefits of the international order and giving development nations a stake in it.

Each time Canada has executed a major shift in strategy, it has been the product of government working with our broader society. Political leaders and civil servants alone cannot muster the depth of commitment required for significant, lasting change in how our nation interacts with the world.

That’s why Global Canada and the CIC brought leading figures in Canadian society together in October 2019, along with grassroots representatives from every region, community and political perspective.

As we took stock of 100 years of Canada’s impact in global affairs, we began the process of mustering the commitment our nation needs for a fresh change. This report outlines how that conversation began and captures some of the directions that participants proposed to go from here.

Robert Greenhill Executive Chairman Global Canada

Ben Rowswell President, Canadian International Council

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Introduction On 28 October 2019, Global Canada and the Canadian International Council (CIC) conducted an unusual experiment.

To commemorate 100 years of the independent role our country has played in international relations, we invited senior figures from across sectors, as well as grassroots activists from different communities, to explore the impact that Canada can have on the world.

150 Canadian leaders gathered atop the Globe and Mail Centre overlooking downtown Toronto to think about how our country has been able to change world events over the past century, and to reflect on how we can do so again in today’s troubled times.

We gave every one of them an opportunity to actively participate – and this is what happened.

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Opening Keynote: Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England A recipient of our Global Leadership award, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, gave the event’s opening keynote speech by video. Mr Carney asked that the details of his speech be off-the-record.

Mr Carney carries the eminently Canadian capacity to identify interests that citizens around the world share and articulate them as a set of common goals. Over the decades, Canada has embodied an approach of “cooperative internationalism” between countries: a recognition of our interconnection and mutual obligations.

That interconnection has grown ever tighter with the rise of globalization. The increase in inequality, with the advent of climate change, new barriers to global trade, and digital technologies driving disruption in human lives, means the time has come for a truly inclusive and sustainable approach.

Citizens around the world want more than an international order based on rules; they want an international order that produces results in their daily lives.

Nobody better represents the influence that individual Canadians can have on the world stage, than a person raised in the NWT now running the central bank of another country and tasked by the UN to lead the global fight against climate change.

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Opening Panel: 100 Years of Canadian Global Engagement A century ago, Canada’s foreign policy was run by the United Kingdom. In 1919, Prime Minister Robert Borden insisted that Canada have its own voice at the Paris Peace Conference. The bitter lesson of WW1 was that international issues were too important to be delegated to others, and in 1928, Borden founded the CIC to keep Canadians engaged on international issues.

Fifty years ago, former Liberal Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson chaired the Partners in Development World Bank report that framed modern international assistance. The authors presented a case for “enlightened and constructive self-interest” whereby if we wish the world to be secure and prosperous, we must show a collective concern for its problems.

At the event’s opening panel, Jennifer Welsh, Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance and Security at McGill University, pointed to the historical role that countries such as Canada have played in confronting deep threats to our global system. We can, and have, complemented the role of principal powers like the U.S. by playing a separate role in support of shared objectives and introducing innovations in advancing them.

John English, Founding Director at the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History, outlined how Sir Robert Borden broke with tradition and fought for recognition on the international stage following the terrible sacrifices our nation had made in the First World War. When many wanted to turn our attention inward, confronting social upheavals such as the Winnipeg Strike of 1919, Prime Minister Borden stayed in Paris to negotiate the peace, arguing that “the problems I am working on here carry far greater consequences for Canada’s long-term interests.”

A century later, Professor English said, Prime Minister Borden’s actions seem vindicated, and Canada remains firmly engaged with the world: a role for Canada that we should cherish.

Canada has faced darker times in world history and has set out to shape a better world.

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Khalil Shariff, CEO at the Aga Khan Foundation of Canada, showed how Lester Pearson devoted his leadership to tackling pressing global challenges. In the year after he stepped down as Prime Minister, Pearson led the World Bank commission that created the blueprint for international development, a report entitled “Partners for Development.”

Mr Shariff described Prime Minister Pearson’s devotion to the ideal of a “common humanity” and drew parallels with the notion of a “world community” that he suggests we should try to cultivate today.

Sustainable, inclusive approaches to solving problems come in large measure from Prime Minister Pearson’s work on development, Mr. Shariff said, and his ability to elucidate the strategic case for a development imperative. Current challenges such as climate change present a clear strategic case for similar action, but there is a “fragility of consensus” in the world threatening this logic.

Mr Shariff noted two key challenges: it can be difficult to persuade other leaders to include Canada; and it is hard to convert a moral impulse into an agenda for practical action. He ended with a call to action, asking us to be inspired by Pearsonian ideas, and an ideal of global consensus.

Historically, Canada has succeeded by strengthening norms and institutions that shape the behaviour of states large and small, in favour of shared interests. Jennifer Welsh pointed out five challenges that Canada faces in today’s world.

First, the U.S. is no longer underpinning the rules-based international order. It seems willing to watch the norms and institutions decline, and now acts with great unpredictability. Second, a resurgence of nationalism has states asserting their own particular interests over shared interests with increasing vigour.

Third, as the U.S. retreats, we face a configuration of power we’ve never seen before. This is not a multilateral system, but something much more chaotic. Fourth, the emerging geopolitical competition is highly unstable. Rising powers are testing their strength through proxy wars, and constraints on the proliferation of weapons – including nuclear weapons – are weakening. Finally, democratic backsliding has undermined the set of values that have traditionally united Canada and other democracies.

The strategy of cooperative internationalism that served Canada well for decades is under severe strain.

How can Canada rebuild a rules-based international order when the world has become so volatile?

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Breakouts: Mobilizing Canada’s Clusters of Capability It is not only government that has a contribution to make. Every sector of Canada’s society and every industry in Canada’s economy represents a national “capability” that can mobilize to project our nation’s influence.

With history as our guide, and the scale of today’s challenges laid out, participants looked into what their respective sectors could do to advance Canada’s impact.

Each participant entered into a discussion with others in their sector, based on the following questions: “Where have Canadians made the greatest difference in your sector? Where can we have the greatest impact in future?”

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Public Policy Pitches: What innovations would best enhance Canada’s global impact?

The Gathering of Global Canadian Leaders invited leading figures to share an initiative they believe could define Canada’s role in the world going forward. The short “pitches” they gave as policy entrepreneurs galvanized participants to take compelling opportunities for global impact.

Some of the most promising initiatives could involve a broad cross-section of Canadian society.

What initiatives could galvanize our full national will, and define our nation’s role in the world of the 2020s and beyond?

Innovations for Climate Leadership was pitched by Steve Cornish, CEO at the David Suzuki Foundation.

Fresh from talking with Greta Thunberg and protesting alongside thousands of people, Mr Cornish mentioned how timely this event is, coming as it has at a moment where people worldwide are demanding change.

Mr Cornish mentioned that we must act within 10 years to prevent irreversible planetary disaster on account of climate change. He called for applying a climate lens on development assistance and global collaboration to provide solutions. He advocated for orienting foreign policy around climate change and having all international finance become climate friendly.

With another $1 billion of investment into green infrastructure and IDRC research on which products are most efficient, Mr Cornish invited participants to join him in confronting this most urgent challenge.

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Indigenous Innovation was pitched by Jocelyn Mackie, Co-CEO, and Sara Wolfe, Director of Indigenous Innovation Initiatives, at Grand Challenges Canada.

Sara Wolfe shared the insight that the decisions of our ancestors, just as our decisions today, will impact future generations. The indigenous concept of “Seven Generations” captures this invitation to consider our actions over the long term.

Jocelyn Mackie showed how this insight allowed indigenous people, still seen as beset by problems in our society, to “flip” that perception and propose solutions to the problems of all. The ownership, innovation and pragmatism that First Nations, Inuit and Metis people show in lifting their communities out of poverty provide a model for the empowerment of marginalized communities in other countries.

Canada can unleash this positive energy by training indigenous entrepreneurs and changemakers and reducing barriers to their entry; breaking the departmental siloes within government; increasing investment in indigenous resources; and providing a platform for supporting indigenous people.

This approach has worked well in an international and humanitarian context, and can mobilize young indigenous people, the youngest and fastest growing segment of the world’s population, especially around issues such as climate change.

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Diasporas for Development was pitched by Tina Sweeney of the CIC Toronto Branch.

Ms Sweeney called for a national strategy to provide the right infrastructure for talented new Canadians to offer their knowledge, networks and abilities to help the government address enduring problems in the countries from which they came.

Ms Sweeney asked us to consider how we can encourage the diaspora to give back to their country of origin. She asked participants to make needs assessment and research on the diaspora a priority in our particular fields or organizations.

Entreating us to work together towards these ends, Ms Sweeney closed her pitch with an African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Shaping a Digital Bretton Woods was pitched by Rohinton Medhora, President, Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and Taylor Owen, Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communications and Associate Professor, Max Bell School of Public Policy, McGill University.

Taylor Owen described how the digital ecosystem is producing a new kind of order in our social, democratic and economic institutions as well as a number of harms. The lack of regulation in this area and the disconnect between the threats at large and our ability to govern them, provides us with an opportunity to build a new international governance architecture.

Rohinton Medhora reminded participants that Canada is a leader within the G20 countries on the ethics of new technology, including in artificial intelligence. He outlined his proposed ideal regulatory framework, which would function in an almost equivalent manner to the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

The larger regulatory regions, the state-centric China bloc, the U.S. bloc, and the GDPR bloc, are in some respects siloed. Canada could serve as the mediator between these blocs, he suggested, and could also be a guiding light for countries striving to form a common language for regulating the digital realm. Just as important, tax policies across countries have to be coordinated to avoid tax arbitrage by the multinational digitial platforms and "races to the bottom" among tax jurisdictions. Ultimately, the aim is to form a global digital compact for the greater good.

Linking Profit with Purpose at Home and Abroad was pitched by Brian Gallant, Chief Sustainability Officer, Global Canada, and former Premier of New Brunswick.

Mr Gallant began by stating that capitalism is not too big a system to fail and urging the business community to step up and provide inclusive and sustainable development for society, since the major problem with capitalism currently is that tends to be too exclusive. Businesses that invest for the social good will do better in the long term.

In practice, Mr Gallant said, Canada could be the country to lead on how to make capitalism work with sustainability. He promised that Global Canada would produce a report on how best to achieve this as well as hold a conference on the subject in 2020.

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Renewing Canada’s Foreign Policy was pitched by the Honourable Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, and a former foreign minister.

Mr Beatty put it to participants that Canada has “never been more alone in the world than we are today.”

He cited the U.S. retreat from internationalism, disruptive technology, the rise of inequalities, and the decline of values on which a liberal democracy is based.

Canada has much to offer in the form of considered judgement on world issues, as a set of “clean hands” with no aspirations to dominate others. We could help build approaches to prevent the scourge of climate change, terrorism and pandemics, and assist in raising countries out of poverty. For this to work, he said, we would first need to rebuild our multi-partisan sensibilities here in Canada and engage internationally to find allies.

Mr Beatty said that if politicians cannot lead in this effort, others have the obligation to forge ahead. “The world won’t wait for us – the stakes are simply too high.”

With this information from the pitches, conference participants joined breakout groups to discuss the ideas further.

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Foreign Ministers: Reflections on Personal Leadership in Advancing Canada’s Role in the World Four individuals in the room that day had played central roles in projecting Canada’s influence on the global stage. The discussion with a panel of the country’s former foreign ministers offered participants a rare opportunity to hear personal reflections from those at the apogee of Canadian leadership during critical moments in contemporary Canada’s foreign affairs.

The panel included the Rt Hon. Joe Clark, former Prime Minister and then Minister of Foreign Affairs under Brian Mulroney; the Hon. Lloyd Axworthy and the Hon. Bill Graham, Ministers of Foreign Affairs under Jean Chrétien; and the Hon. Peter McKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Defence and Justice, under Stephen Harper.

It takes more than inspiring ideas to impact the world. It takes individual leadership.

An effective foreign minister, according to the panellists, possesses an ability to build trust and use discretion, both of which are critical to forming the good relationships necessary for success in the position. Prior foreign policy experience and the ability to maintain a close relationship based on shared goals with the Prime Minister, are also both helpful. Similarly, strong mutual support between a minister and his foreign service department, makes a critical difference to the ease and effectiveness of the tenure.

Since Canada has good standing in the world, the foreign minister must find the courage to stand up for change and build consensus internationally for it, bringing it back to the centre of our international approach and actions.

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Making Change Happen: Examples of Individual Perseverance and Collective Impact Throughout Canada's international history, individual citizens have played a key role in creating and implementing new norms in human rights, including indigenous rights, often over the resistance of state governments. Governments can mobilize siginificant resources and project a nation's power, but the impetus for change often comes from individual Canadians.

What does it take to provide individual leadership in international affairs? What are the lessons for other Canadians looking to shape a better world?

Two paragons of this kind of leadership shared their experiences: the Hon. Louise Arbour, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Grand Chief Wilton Littlechild, Grand Chief of Treaty 6 (Alberta), former Truth & Reconciliation Commission Commissioner, and former Chair of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Moderating the discussion was Valerie Galley-Bellegarde, a strategist and policy advisor on indigenous issues.

The two offered a unique perspective on the UN, in that the public perception of Canada’s role at the UN may be overly romantic. For example, in 2007, Canada voted against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Chief Littlechild mentioned that he had felt totally betrayed by that, having worked on it for 27 years prior, and he felt that those involved had not honoured human rights.

Ms Arbour suggested that it takes courage to walk the talk on human rights. Western countries often excelled at asking others to do hard human rights work, but when it has fallen to Canada to confront difficult issues at home, “we were nowhere to be seen.” We should lead on those difficult issues domestically, she added.

Leaders of Canada’s international presence come from across society, not just government.

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Chief Littlechild agreed and noted that indigenous people seem to need to go abroad to UN institutions to make change happen at home in Canada, whereas it should be possible to do that here. He suggested that to be more effective, indigenous engagement and influence within the “UN club” could be more coordinated, and more involved with NGOs. Positing what she described as a radical idea, Ms Arbour suggested reform for the UN and the International Court of Justice, to include more formal representation of non-state actors such as indigenous people, women, and interest groups, along the lines of a senate model.

Chief Littlechild noted that indigenous people went to the UN with not just problems, but solutions, based on years of collective wisdom and stewardship of the earth – solutions that would provide a great deal of impact in dealing with challenges such as climate change and conflict resolution. He mentioned that this intended contribution was the purpose of going into the international arena in the first place.

Agreeing that we need a multiplicity of voices, Ms Arbour said it was increasingly important to understand the views of indigenous people. The panellists reiterated their commitment to justice and future generations.

On this, both Chief Littlechild and Ms Arbour agreed that much work needed still to be done on reconciliation and repairing damage caused by perceived indifference to missing indigenous girls and women, and also by the residential school system.

In a profound and moving acknowledgement of the suffering felt by indigenous people over these, Chief Littlechild and Ms Arbour agreed that they truthfully constituted genocide under the UN definition of that term, and that much of Canada is in denial about the fact.

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Closing Keynote: Reflections by Michaëlle Jean on Canadian Leadership Her Excellency the Rt Hon. Michaëlle Jean, 27th Governor General of Canada and 3rd Secretary General of the Francophonie, observed that universal values provide the foundation to Canada’s engagement with the world: values that include democracy, the rule of law, good governance, equality and diversity. These values allow Canada to engage and inspire people the world over.

The world matter to Canadians, and Canadians matter to the world, she insisted. Around the world people are looking to Canada for what happens here and paying attention to both civil society organizations and citizens, encouraging connections and opening dialogues, which is important because it offers an opportunity for us to create change.

“We have to reinvent ourselves in an increasingly tumultuous world” the former Governor General explained, and do it with a sense of purpose, direction and commitment to adding real value to people’s lives everywhere. She said that “Canada needs to be exemplary”, not retreat into provincialism, forgo the greater enlightened self-interest for a short-term and narrow-minded focus on national self-interest.

Indeed, Canada is uniquely positioned to forge alliances, given our tendency to seek full partnership based on reciprocity. International governance is too important to leave to governments alone – and that all solutions need to involve civil society. She said, “Citizens will have the last word” and we must listen to them.

The day began with a living example of how deeply embedded Canadians are in the world. It ended with an exemplar of how deeply embedded the world is in Canada.

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Celebratory Dinner and Awards At the October 28 celebratory dinner, Global Canada issued the inaugural Global Leadership awards, bestowed upon Canadians who have made a lifelong contribution to projecting our nation’s influence in solving global challenges.

The recipients of the Global Leadership Award were the Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney, the Honourable Louise Arbour; Lyse Doucet, BBC International Correspondent; Grand Chief Wilton Littlechild; John and Marcy McCall MacBain, Co-Founders of the McCall MacBain Foundation; the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, 18th Prime Minister of Canada; and Steven Pinker, Cognitive Scientist, Experimental Psychologist, Professor at Harvard University.

Welcoming guests to the celebratory dinner and awards was the Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, who described the conference as a day of dialogue about Canadian identity, and what kind of a nation we could and should be.

As we think about the obligations and opportunities in the broader world, said Ms Dowdeswell, we should focus on sustainability and resilience, while not forgetting home and the potential for loss of a traditional way of life and a shared identity. People are searching for leadership and this conference has generated many compelling insights on that front, as well as a declaration of collective responsibility.

“We are a country that leads by example, with generosity of spirit, and an uncommon commitment to social justice and an enduring peace.”

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Understanding and Improving the World In a panel discussion, BBC Correspondent Lyse Doucet, Harvard Professor Steven Pinker and philanthropist John McCall MacBain, touched on their observations as Canadians, about the connections that Canadians have forged internationally, and how they use them to impact lives at home and abroad.

As a part of her panel introduction, Lyse Doucet noted the small town provenance of the panellists and suggested that it had perhaps given them valuable skills for representing Canada on the world stage, based on traditions of treating people in an open, friendly and equal manner.

Ms Doucet observed that journalistic institutions are now under attack and ergo, so are other democratic institutions. To enthusiastic applause, Ms Doucet implored the audience to value journalists as a vital part of the fabric of society and to never take them for granted.

Despite the perceived change in the political discourse recently, she asked, did the panellists still see greatness in Canada?

Mr Pinker believes problems are inevitable but the data shows that contemporary life is actually better than it was historically.

Canada’s numbers also show that many facets of life here are indeed better than they are in other industrialized nations, and we should be proud of that. Alluding to the measure for “happiness”, he said Canada resides at a very respectable number 9 out of 193 countries. He took an equally optimistic view about the future, saying he didn’t believe Canada would succumb to the authoritarian populism currently on the rise globally.

Canada is not labouring under aspirations of greatness, added Mr Pinker, but is striving to make people’s lives better and is at the vanguard of progress.

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The discussion later noted that the most significant contributing factor in a population’s quality of life, along with its country’s level of stability and growth, is education. Recognizing this, the McCall MacBain Foundation, founded by John and Marcy McCall MacBain, has donated tens of millions of dollars to scholarships and educational resources globally.

A former Rhodes scholar and Director of the Rhodes Trust, Mr McCall MacBain said he strives to increase the opportunities available for young people who demonstrate the potential to improve lives and represent their countries at the highest levels of leadership.

The most difference is made by investing in human capital, he said, describing how he and Ms McCall MacBain felt called to support educational causes. They wished to focus not only on the brightest students already at prestigious universities, but also those who might otherwise fall under the radar here in Canada – by offering a scholarship to attend McGill University.

Mr McCall MacBain said he hoped that the scholarships his Foundation provides will shape the leadership capabilities of future generations, and he pointed to the fact that Canadians are in prestigious leadership positions everywhere, running academic and other institutions.

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Lessons in Global Leadership In the capstone of the evening, Lisa Laflamme, Chief Anchor and Senior Editor of CTV News, interviewed Canada’s 18th Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney.

Quoting former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Mr Mulroney said that “leadership is the capacity to look around the corner of history, just a little bit.” He explained that his leadership had tried to do this, and saw globalization coming in force.

Currently, leadership is crippled by the focus on popularity, he said, rather than on achieving results. He noted that taking hard decisions and producing results are not commensurate with popularity, especially in Canada, since he believes that Canadians are particularly resistant to change. In this way, leadership is not about deciding whether a decision is good for popularity, but whether it’s good for Canada.

Regarding the notion of declining respectability in public discourse, the cult of personality, and new divisions in society, Mr. Mulroney took an optimistic view, suggesting that these were not really new phenomena but that it would require good leadership to surmount current problems. He noted that the current political leadership has greater challenges related to international relations, especially with the U.S. administration, than he himself did.

Mr Mulroney described Brexit as a calamity, and said he felt that a false notion of sovereignty and outright deception has blinded people to the peacekeeping and leadership role that countries within stable unions can take. He noted that Canada excels in peacekeeping historically, for example in the former Yugoslavia, and should reinvigorate its role in peacekeeping missions internationally.

In response to a question about whether Canada has lost its way in some respects, Mr Mulroney mentioned that we should be contributing more to international assistance and to international institutions, such as NATO and the UN. He cautioned against assuming that “the world needs more Canada” and suggested that the statement would become true when Canada lives up to its leadership responsibilities.

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In closing, Ben Rowswell thanked the participants from all 16 chapters of the Canadian International Council from coast to coast, who joined the proceedings in Toronto.

Together, the Canadians assembled represent a community of citizens committed to a more ambitious role for our country on the world stage. This community has an opportunity to come together to mobilize itself and other Canadians to start building our nation’s impact on the world.

Robert Greenhill closed by asking participants to consider future generations and make a long-term commitment to international development:

“Not only is better possible, it’s what we’ve done before – and it’s time for us to rediscover that.”

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Thank you Global Canada and the Canadian International Council would like to thank the following organizations for their support:

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