Ottawa, October 18 2018:  The United Nations Association in Canada (UNA-Canada) is pleased to announce that Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada has kindly accepted the request that she serve as UNA-Canada’s Honourary Patron.

Kathryn White, President and CEO of UNA-Canada, notes that “we are pleased that Her Excellency has continued this meaningful tradition of previous Governors-General for over 60 years. It speaks to the recognition of and support for the work of a historic, national charitable organization providing a leading policy voice on multilateralism, innovative programming focused on the Sustainable Development Goals and engagement of the next generation of youth in Canada and internationally.  Our mission is to educate and engage Canadians in the work of the UN and the critical international issues that affect us all”.

“We believe that a strong and effective United Nations is essential if we are to secure a future based on equality, dignity and justice for all. Our mandate is to promote full and constructive Canadian participation in the United Nations system and to grow global citizens in Canada who embrace the principles of the UN Charter

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Marta Santos Pais provided the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture, hosted by the UBC Faculty of Education and the Janusz Korczak Association of Canada on September 13, 2018, in the Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, Jack Poole Hall. Her lecture is available below.

BIOGRAPHY

Marta was appointed as the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children in 2009. As a high-level global independent advocate, Marta promotes the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against children in Justice setting, in the home, in institutional care, in schools in the workplace and in the community. She acts as a bridge builder in all regions and across all sectors and settings where violence against children may occur.

Since her appointment, she has been strongly committed to mobilizing action and political support to maintain momentum around this agenda to achieve steady progress across the world. Marta has more than 30 years of experience on human rights issues, engagement in United Nations and intergovernmental processes.

She is the author of a large number of publications on human rights and children’s rights. She has served the UNICEF as Director of Evaluation, Policy and Planning. She was a member of the UN drafting group of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.

RECAP OF DEAN’S DISTINGUISHED LECTURE

“The concept of children first and above legal, political, social and economic differences was forever captured in the ground-breaking provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted almost 30 years ago. Since then, children’s rights have moved from the periphery of the debate to the hearts of the international and national agenda.

In line with the vision of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Ms. Pais highlighted how the achievement of sustainable development for all must start by placing children first, starting with an investment in early years and ensuring all children grow up in a safe, loving environment. By investing in children, we create the conditions for every child to grow up free from want, from fear and from violence. In turn, by safeguarding children’s safety and protection, we enhance the chances to reach all the sustainable goals and targets.”

Ms. Pais went on to speak about the progress achieved in terms of data, legislation, and policy and programme development but told us that available figures remain astounding and the voices of children continue to remind us of the need to act now, across all sectors of society. We must not spare any effort to translate the provisions of the Conventions into reality for all children everywhere and at all times.

Next year is a significant opportunity to stand up for the world’s one billion children who are affected by violence each year. 2019 marks the 30^th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Also in 2019, the High-Level Political Forum in July will review Goal 16 and the UN General Assembly will host its first overall review of the implementation of the entire 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development, including 16.3 on ending all forms of violence against children. This is a unique milestone that the international community cannot afford to miss.

Patsy George, a Past President and current Honorary Director of the Vancouver Branch of the United Nations Association in Canada who attended the lecture, encourages everyone to contact their members of parliament to eliminate section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada which allows corporal punishment of children.

Her hope is that when Canada reports back to the United Nations at the 30^th anniversary of adopting the Convention of the Rights of the Child, the best interests of the children in Canada will be seen as a priority for the government of Canada.

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UNAC-V acknowledges with sadness the death on Saturday 18th of August after a short illness, of the seventh UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. He was 80 years old.

Born in Ghana in 1938, Kofi Annan was educated in that country and in the US. He joined the United Nations, working in the New York mailroom, in the mid-sixties.

Kofi Annan served two 5-year terms as UN Secretary-General from January 1st, 1997 to December 31st, 2006. He was the UN’s first African Secretary-General and the first, and so far only, Secretary-General who rose through the ranks of the organization.

In a BBC interview on his 80th birthday in April 2018  Kofi Annan said that for him, his greatest success was the setting up of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, which for the first time set development targets, as well as evaluating and quantifying the development progress (or lack of it) of each of the UN’s 153 Member States.

For those of us who had the honour to serve in the UN under Secretary-General Annan, one of his greatest successes was in 2003 when a hopelessly divided Security Council was wrestling with the decision to endorse, or not, the American and British governments’ plans to invade Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. After days of acrimonious public debate and behind the scenes diplomacy Kofi Annan ensured that the United Nations would not lend its diplomatic and moral support to what many people judged to be an illegal invasion.  The governments of George W Bush and Tony Blair invaded Iraq anyway but without UN diplomatic cover, and they never forgave Annan who continued to serve as UN S-G for another four years.

Kofi Annan was a realist who realized that the UN had very human faults. While acknowledging the failings of the organization – including some poor decisions taken by himself, he would always add that if the UN did not exist, the world would need to create something else like it.

For more information about Kofi Annan, visit the website of the Kofi Annan Foundation and the UN website. Kofi Annan’s autobiography, “Interventions,” was published in 2013.

George Somerwill

UNAC-V-Vancouver Board Member

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UNAC-V is pleased to announce that UNAC-V-V Past President and current Honorary Director of the branch, Ms. Patsy George, has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws (LL.D) by the University of British Columbia.

Patsy George is an internationally recognized former social worker and ongoing activist who has devoted her long career to fighting for social justice both within Canada and internationally. She is a recipient of the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia.

Please read and be inspired by Patsy’s acceptance speech, below.

Thank you to the Chancellor, President and Vice Chancellor, other distinguished guests on stage, Faculty, students, parents and friends. Let me express my deep appreciation to the original peoples of this land to have welcomed us all to their unceded territories.

Congratulations to each and every one of you graduating today and to your families and friends who are proud of you. I accept this honour with a great deal of emotion and gratitude and want to thank not only UBC but also Canada.

I arrived in Canada as an international student 58 years ago after a brief period in the US where I experienced a traumatic incident because of my colour. I am eternally grateful to the then president of that university in Texas who advised me to give Canada a chance, instead of packing my bags and returning to India which was my home at that time. She had a PhD from a Canadian University and convinced me that I would find like minded people in Canada who are progressive and who truly believe in equality and human rights .So today I thank her as well, a woman who had the wisdom to counsel a young 20 year old in tears, to move to Canada.

It is a Canada that embraced me and gave me opportunities to finish University, work as a public servant both at the Provincial and Federal levels, take on leading roles in the nongovernmental sector and contribute as a volunteer locally, nationally and globally. Canada gave me opportunities to build on the already existing good will in our communities in different parts of this great country. It offered me room to grow and fit in and offer my talents to bring people and resources together to work for an even better Canada where diversity is respected and celebrated. Where else would a young foreign student with average interest in music and reading become so passionately involved in listening to Western classical music and opera and later on get doors opened to serve as a Trustee of one of the largest public libraries in Canada! Cultural minorities and people in the margins of society are guaranteed rights in our Human Rights Codes, and in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, unlike the early 1960’s USA I left behind.

Canada gave me opportunities to represent her overseas at various UN conferences, Peace and Social Development Forums organized by the women’s community and my own profession of Social Work. I was able to share with the world the nature of Canadian Multiculturalism with pride and confidence. My colleagues and I, at the provincial government level were able to develop racism free structures in our bureaucracies and support community based anti racism programmes. I shall remain grateful to the Government of Canada for giving me the job as a Commissioner representing Canada to determine eligibility of refugee claimants and welcoming them from many parts of the world to this country. One can count on Canada to provide opportunities for such experiences whether you were born here or chose Canada as your home as I did.

Even though we  in Canada have reasons to feel proud of our Human Rights legislations, the Charter and various UN treaties we have adopted , we still have a lot of work to do to live up to the  expectations of the UN Declaration of Human Rights , which a Canadian helped to write, as we are proud to note. As yet we are a long way from the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples recommended to us by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

While Canada does provide opportunities and the environment, in which we have the potential to achieve the said goals, we need to remain committed to furthering the goals as stated in those declarations.  The idea of Canada can only sustain itself through a symbiosis between people and purpose, through resonance and resolve of its pluralistic fabric that continue to evolve through its respect for the rights of the indigenous peoples and the rest of us settlers from around the world . It is a challenge for this graduating class, together with our families, neighbours and friends. We must continue to work together for equality, peace and justice in Canada and around the world.

As human beings, we need to experience a sense of belonging which I have felt in this country and among my colleagues and friends working together to eliminate poverty, racism, sexism, violence against women and children and all other prejudices and ill conceived notions of gender , about people with varying abilities and about the aging populations in our communities. We are interdependent locally and globally. Let us prove to the world that Kipling was mistaken when he expressed the sentiments that “East is East and West is West and never the Twain shall meet”. We can and we have brought the world closer and smaller in Canada by bringing diverse people and a diversity of ideas together.

Let me emphasize. Seeking to be part of change –social change – means one must become that change. Social activism is not what others do. It gives you meaning in life .Belonging and valuing others, serving something beyond yourself helps you to connect to a higher reality. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi “be the change you want to see in this world”

Whether you spend your future choosing a career in business, take on public service, become a politician or diplomat, create art and music or serve your fellow citizens as a teacher, a nurse, a social worker or a technician or working with others to keep the planet alive for the future generations, the key to feeling fulfilled is to recognize the urgent and persistent question in life. What are you doing for others? In other words recognize our common humanity and work towards strengthening those bonds. That is the ideal Canada is built on.

If it were possible for the president of my former US University to be here today, she would smile and remind me that it is a good idea to listen to your elders and teachers, at least sometimes, while you are seeking your own truths and finding your own way in this complicated world.

May each of you be blessed with opportunities to fulfill your life’s potential, seek the truth; and contribute to the betterment of humanity, no matter where or how you pursue your career goals. Follow the advice of Ferdinand Magellan, one of the Portuguese explorers, “the sea is dangerous, and its storms terrible but these obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore”.

All of you who are graduating today must thank this institution, the University of British Columbia for providing the tools, role models, inspiration and values to go out into the world and fulfill your dreams. It is my prayer that you will find yourselves as global citizens, dedicated to creating peaceful and just communities and toward creating ONE WORLD.

Martin Luther King told us the following: “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way”. Let that message ring in your ears whenever you are called upon to take on responsibilities. Congratulations to each and every one of you.

Patsy George, May 24, 2018

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The Vancouver Branch of the UN Association in Canada (UNAC-V-V) welcomes all members of the local branch to attend the Annual General Meeting taking place Monday, April 9th from 7pm until 8pm with refreshments at 7pm. The meeting will convene at the Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSBC) building located at 2610 Victoria Drive in Vancouver near the Broadway Skytrain Station.

We believe that the work of UNAC-V-V is very important: ensuring Canadians understand and support the goals and ideals of the United Nations. Please continue to support our work in sharing UN goals and achievements with Canadians of all ages.

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Liu Institute at 5:30 pm on March 15th

David Piachaud  taught at the London School of Economics from 1970 to 2016 and was Professor of Social Policy 1988 to 2016. He is now Emeritus Professor of Social Policy and an Associate of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion and of the Indian Observatory. He was Social Policy Adviser in the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit (1974-79) and has been Consultant to the European Commission, the ILO, the OECD and the Chinese Government. He has lectured in 20 countries. He has written papers and books on children, poverty, social security, social exclusion and social policy.  Publications include: Causes of Poverty, HMSO, 1978 (with Richard Layard and Mark Stewart); Understanding Social Exclusion. Oxford University Press, 2002, (editor with John Hills and Julian LeGrand); Poverty in Britain: The Impact of Government Policy since 1997, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2003 (with Holly Sutherland and Tom Sefton); One Hundred Years of Poverty and Policy. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2004 (with Howard Glennerster, John Hills and Jo Webb)’ Making Social Policy Work Policy Press, 2007 (editor with John Hills and Julian Le Grand); Colonialism and Welfare, Edward Elgar, 2011, and Social Protection, Economic Growth and Social Change: Goals, Issues and Trajectories in China, India, Brazil and South Africa, Edward Elgar, 2013, (editor with James Midgley).

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