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Lack Of Leadership In Canada

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Lack Of Leadership In Canada
Canada’s Lack of Leadership in United Nations World Affairs Canada is known to be the “nice guys” of the world, but we have shady patches in our history that could easily strip us of our “nice guys” title, especially when it comes to foreign affairs. During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, the Canadian government ignored many reports of the intense violence going on in Rwanda. Canada voted against Palestinian statehood and has been showing our disagreement on this issue, but continues to talk without taking action. Canada is known to opt out of environmental resolutions, including the Kyoto Protocol and more recently, the UN’s Anti-Drought Convention. Canada often does not take a leadership role when it comes to UN foreign affairs. Canada …show more content…
The fax reports showed that the UN missions had proof that there were militia training camps and that weapons were passed out to Tutsis- an obvious move of preparation of a massacre. Major Brent Beardsley a military aide to Romeo Dallaire during the genocide said, “Ottawa knew something was going on. . . everyone was sitting back and waiting for some else to take a lead,”(Black). Canada had reports foreshadowing a civil war and we chose to ignore them. Beardsley’s statement shows that Canada did not take a leadership role and just sat back and waited for someone else to take it. We should have taken action and proposed a plan to stop the genocide as soon as we were getting these gruesome reports. Beardsley also says that the government did not have Rwanda has a priority and because of this, they chose to ignore the reports (Black). This shows Canada’s ignorance of the situation. Canada had an attitude of “it’s not our problem” and because it doesn 't affect Canada in a major way, they decided to ignore the situation. Even our then foreign affairs minister, Andre Ouellet, acknowledged our …show more content…
"Genocide in Rwanda." United Human Rights Council. United Human Rights Council, 26 May 2009. Web. 08 May 2013.
Hampson, Sarah. "Romeo Dallaire Rages against Canada." The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc., 3 Nov. 2010. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.
Black, Debra. "Why Did Ottawa Ignore Warnings of Rwandan Genocide?" Thestar.com. Toronto Star Newspaper Ltd., 22 May 2010. Web. 24 Apr. 2013.

News, CBC. "GG Apologizes for Rwandan Genocide Inaction." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 21 Apr. 2010. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.

Humphreys, Adrian. "Canada One of Only Nine Countries to Vote against ‘symbolic’ Palestinian statehood." National Post. Postmedia Network Inc., 29 Nov. 2012. Web. 06 May 2013.

Parry, Tom. "Baird Going to UN to Oppose Palestinian Statehood Bid." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 28 Nov. 2012. Web. 05 May 2013.

Suzuki, David. "Canada and the Kyoto Protocol." David Suzuki Foundation. David Suzuki Foundation, n.d. Web. 04 May 2013.

Curry, Bill, and McCarthy, Shawn. "Canada Formally Abandons Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change." The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail Inc., 12 Dec. 2011. Web. 05 May 2013.

News, CBC. "Canada Pulls out of Kyoto Protocol." CBC Mews. CBC/Radio Canada, 13 Dec. 2011. Web. 08 May
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