The United Nations and Canada:
What Canada has done
and should be doing at the UN
Canada's Self‐Interest and the United Nations
Carolyn McAskie
If one of a government's primary responsibilities is to protect its interests in the world,
the current Canadian Government's shunning of international institutions, particularly the
United Nations, is difficult to understand. In a globalized world of economic risk, political
and security uncertainties, interlinked environmental and health effects along with
emerging humanitarian crises and pressing development needs, it has become virtually
impossible for any one government to "go it alone." Canada's international reputation
(now shattered) was built on being a sound partner keeping its eye on the big picture and
seeking solutions for the greatest good of the greatest number. By recognizing that the
global good was good in its own right and good for Canada, we were able to ensure that
our own interests were understood and protected. Now Canadian representatives in
international institutions receive instructions to protect only the narrowest definition of
purely Canadian interests, while ignoring our wider interests and responsibilities as a UN
member state.
The United Nations is a multi‐faceted, hydra headed entity, which performs a variety of
functions through its various parts, whether regulatory, humanitarian, developmental,
human rights or the most high profile, political and security functions. In all cases,
whether the UN Security Council, or the UN Development Programme, it is member states
which run the show and pay the piper. The UN is not an entity unto itself engaging or not
engaging in unilateral action. When "the UN" can't agree on a course of action, it is
because UN member states cannot or will not agree. The out‐dated Security Council veto
compounds the problem but it is member states which have been unable to amend the
formula.
It is in the field of Peace and Security where the greatest confusion arises, both in the
minds of the public and in the deliberate posturing of the Harper Government. While
Canada hummed and hawed over sending one transport plane to support the French in
Mali, most Canadian media ignored the UN Secretariat's negotiations with all parties in the
conflict, with regional bodies, potential troop contributors, while preparing for elections
and other civilian tasks in anticipation of a peace operation. It is in the various UN bodies
‐ political, security, environmental, development, and humanitarian ‐ that the
international community can best develop the interventions required to address the
complex tinderbox of poverty, famine, drought and environmental degradation, poor
governance, neglect and terrorist infiltration in the Sahel region of Africa.
In peacekeeping, Canada, still living with memories of Bosnia, refuses to recognize the
turn‐around in places such as Timor Leste, Kosovo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire,
Burundi and Somalia under UN missions, or the efforts required to manage ongoing
conflicts in Sudan and DRC (which had fewer than 20,000 troops when Afghanistan had
140,000). The UN Secretariat which oversees all of this has a budget smaller than the City
of Ottawa. It is starved for cash and personnel and depends on governments to provide
guidance, a role Canada now refuses to play.
Alexis de Tocqueville wrote in 1835 about “self‐interest properly understood.” The
Canadian Government preaches self‐interest in a narrow “what's good for Canada” sense,
but self‐interest “properly understood” means appreciating that the self‐interest of
others, i.e. the global good, is in fact a precondition for one's own ultimate well‐being.
This is not necessarily an idealistic view, but a mark of pragmatism. It is in Canada's
interest, dependent as we are on trade and international mobility, to help create a
peaceful, democratic, more equitable and sustainable world. The Harper Government's
“principled foreign policy” which focuses narrowly on short term and mainly commercial
or domestic political issues, actually works against Canada's longer term self‐interest.
Looking to organizations such as the G20 or NATO can be effective, but this does not mean
that Canada can absolve itself of its responsibilities as a member of the United Nations.
Otherwise we not only abandon our allies, leaving them to carry the burden, but we lose
the opportunity to influence world events in a way that will advance our own interests.
Carolyn McAskie is a Senior Fellow in the Graduate School of Public and International
Affairs of the University of Ottawa. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada and
currently the vice‐chair of the Board of the Pearson Centre. Ms McAskie has had a career
in the Canadian International Development Agency, as Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM)
for Multilateral Affairs, and ADM for African Programmes, followed by almost a decade in
the United Nations, as Assistant Secretary General Humanitarian Affairs, as SRSG of the
UN Mission in Burundi and ASG Peacebuilding (launching the UN’s new Peacebuilding
Commission). She has served abroad in Kenya; with the Commonwealth Secretariat in
London, UK; and as Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka as well as in Burundi with
the UN. She has travelled and worked extensively in Africa.
Carolyn McAskie has played a prominent role in political, developmental and financial
negotiations: as a Canadian delegate to the UN Funds and Programmes and the
International Financial Institutions; as a member of the Facilitation Team of the Burundi
Peace Process in Arusha under the late Julius Nyerere, the former President of Tanzania;
as Envoy of the UN Secretary General for the humanitarian crisis in Cote d'Ivoire; and as
a senior official of the Canadian Government and in the United Nations.
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responsibility of the authors. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Unported License. To
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