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CANADA'S NASTY BEHAVIOUR AT UN MEETINGS
Canadians have no idea how nasty and vicious
their representatives are at UN meetings. Our delegates push
their anti-life/family agenda down the throats of delegates
from the developing world by way of intimidation and ridicule.
As a result, Canada has acquired a reputation
for vicious intolerance of anyone holding differing views
at these meetings. Consequently, whenever delegates happen
to stumble across a Canadian pro-life/family NGO at UN conferences,
they are absolutely astonished that there are, in fact, Canadians
in existence who hold such presumably "un-Canadian"
views.
This astonishment has been expressed by delegates
from the developing world time and again to REAL Women at
UN conferences - most recently at the UN Commission on Human
Rights held in Geneva in April (see article "Homosexual
Amendment Withdrawn at Geneva Commission", p. 2)
which was attended by two REAL Women members, Kim and Ginger
Malacko from Lethbridge, Alberta. This astonishment also arose
at the World Congress of Families III in Mexico City, when
several UN Ambassadors from the developing world heard REAL
Women Vice President, Gwen Landolt's speech addressing the
problems at the UN. The delegates literally couldn't believe
their ears! Their reaction was a natural one, since previously
they have only had extremely unpleasant experiences with Canadian
delegates at UN conferences.
REAL Women itself had a taste of Canada's
nastiness when the Department of Foreign Affairs held a briefing
in Ottawa on February 2-4, 2004, for Canadian NGOs in order
to familiarize them with the issues expected to arise at the
forthcoming UN Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva.
Although REAL Women was invited to the briefing (only because
we had consultative status with the Economic and Social Council
of the United Nations, which meant that Foreign Affairs could
not rationally exclude us), we were obviously not welcome.
If "looks could kill", REAL Women would have evaporated
on the spot, judging by the hard looks we received, especially
from some of the female Foreign Affairs officers present.
At this briefing were representatives from the homosexual
lobby group EGALE, the lesbian-headed Action Canada for Population
and Development (ACPD), the Native Women's Association of
Canada (headed by a feminist and a former NAC President),
ARC International (another homosexual-led organization), as
well as many Foreign Affairs officers who were prominent at
the Commission meetings in Geneva a month or so later.
During this briefing, Foreign Affairs Minister,
Bill Graham, a well-known bisexual, stated that there is a
movement to push back the gains on women's rights obtained
in the 1980s, which Canada will resist. He also said that
Canada, although not a member of the Commission this year,
would be working behind the scenes lobbying for the sexual
orientation [resolution] presented by Brazil, which Canada
has co-sponsored.
Interestingly, he stated:
The single most difficult matter we have
to deal with is how to ensure the best relations with the
U.S. The PM's agenda is a multilateral approach.
Our values … women's rights and
sexual orientation [we will] not surrender them to the U.S.
… Martin has made it clear to Mr. Bush, I've made it
clear … (we're] not going to give it up.
It is noted that Mr. Graham was a member of
the delegation when Prime Minister Paul Martin met President
Bush in Washington at the end of April.
The Deputy Director, Human Rights and Economic
Law Division, Sabine Nolke, stated, "… the use of
the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to push the envelope
on sexual orientation [is] incremental, [we will] do our best
in Geneva to advance this issue". She acknowledged later
on in the briefing, that the sexual orientation resolution
would not be passed in the foreseeable future and that Canada
was well ahead of other countries on this issue.
Canada's forceful actions in pushing abortion,
homosexual and other anti-family policies at the UN include
the following:
- At the Preparatory Committee meeting for
the Beijing Conference of Women held in New York in February
1995, Canada was the first country in the world to introduce
sexual orientation into a UN document. (Fortunately, its
efforts failed.)
- Canada vehemently supported abortion in
New York in June 2001 when our representative, Andras Vamos-Goldman,
for the first time at a UN conference, explicitly stated
that the euphemism "reproductive health services"
meant abortion. His frankness shocked UN delegates more
used to diplomatic phraseology.
- In New York on March 22, 2004, Canada's
Ambassador, Gilbert Laurin, delivered a speech at the opening
of the Conference on Population and Development that startled
our pro-life lobbyists at the UN by its pro-abortion stridency.
Mr. Laurin's speech called for a full range of "sexual
and reproductive services" for all, including adolescents.
In this speech, Mr. Laurin instructed all countries to improve
access to abortion. "If we are to improve the lives
of our populations, there is a need for more countries to
meet the ICPD Programme of Action (UN 1994 Conference on
Population and Development) by improving access for everyone
to the means to improve their reproductive health through
accessible, quality programmes and services."
- At the April 2004 Geneva Human Rights
Commission, Canadian Henri-Paul Normandin (Foreign Affairs
Director, Human Rights, Humanitarian Assistance and International
Women's Equality Division), backed the highly controversial
report of Special Rapporteur Paul Hunt, in which he recommended
a full recognition of the need for abortion services and
the acceptance of homosexuality.
Mr. Normandin stated:
Canada welcomed the emphasis placed on
the important linkage between sexual and reproductive health
and the right to health. How would this issue be moved forward
in the coming year? The comments on sexual orientation by
Pakistan were not the view of Canada.
This Committee meeting was supposed to be
focused on issues of conflict and terrorism, but Canada
was the most active lobbying delegation - handing out papers,
getting signatures and making deals on its favourite issues
of women's rights, sexual orientation and sexual and reproductive
rights (abortion and birth control). It even held little
meetings on the floor during the plenary session. Whenever
Canada chaired a session such as the draft resolution on
Violence Against Women, it used delaying tactics and bullying
to get its way.
At this meeting in Geneva, Canada also gave
a shocking display of anti-Americanism. This was carried
out by Canadian negotiator, John von Kaufmann (also present
at the February Foreign Affairs' briefings). The U.S. was
not in the room at the time of his outspoken remarks, so
that the drafting session had quickly become a strategy
meeting on how to block U.S. and the Islam countries from
influencing the document. The Swedish chair kept insisting
that the Committee find a way to reach consensus. It was
then that Mr. Von Kaufman shed his diplomatic façade
and began to angrily accuse the U.S. of "making a mess"
of the resolution and accused the U.S. of resorting to blackmail.
He stated emphatically that Canada should block all U.S.
proposals "on principle." He repeatedly urged
all the other countries not to concede to the U.S. He left
every delegate with no doubt of his personal feelings toward
the U.S. This was highly unprofessional of him - especially
for a representative of the Canadian government whose current
priority is to repair damaged relations with its "friend
and ally" - the U.S.
Paul Hunt's Visit to Ottawa
Mr. Hunt's alarming report in which he pushed
sexual orientation and abortion rights (see article ("Homosexual
Amendment Withdrawn at Geneva Commission", p. 2) was
undoubtedly encouraged by his visit to Ottawa in October 2003
at the invitation of the Canadian Society for International
Health (CSIH) and Action Canada for Population and Development
(ACPD), headed by lesbian Katherine McDonald (who was a prominent
spokesperson at the February Foreign Affairs briefings). She
is the former head of the Nova Scotia Status of Women, from
which she had been fired several years ago. She is also a
former President of Planned Parenthood of Canada.
While visiting Canada, Mr. Hunt also held
a series of informal meetings with the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA), the Department of Justice, the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Health Canada. The policy
advisor on child rights at CIDA, by the way, is Lisa Lachance,
a board member of the homosexual lobby group, Equality for
Gays and Lesbians everywhere (EGALE) (Capital Xtra, April
8, 2004). Meetings with these Canadian government departments
could only have encouraged Mr. Hunt to make his unprecedented
assertions and demands in support of abortion and homosexuality
at the Geneva Conference.
Conclusion
Canada needs a new government for many reasons,
not the least of which is to present the world with a less
ugly face at international conferences. We need a broom to
sweep out the Departments of Justice, Foreign Affairs, Health
and CIDA, and all the individuals who are using their positions
as public servants within Canada, and on our delegations at
international conferences to force an agenda unbeknown to
Canadians, which will only destroy society and its families.
It will be a big job to rid ourselves of these obnoxious,
unpleasant and narrow-minded individuals, but we must.
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