Major global challenges call for a Canadian foreign policy up to the task – help us get there

 

Dear Rideau Institute supporter:

Our message of global equality has never been more timely

Warmest greetings. This is our first official fundraising effort since the onset of the March 2020 pandemic “lockdown” and the move from our historic Spark Street premises to home offices, a step we made permanent when our lease came up for renewal on 1 August 2020.

In addition to our significant cost-cutting measures, the tremendous generosity of our monthly and periodic Ceasefire.ca donors, and our receipt of a couple of timely legacy donations (bequests) have made it possible for us to continue, and even accelerate, our policy advocacy work, without making further financial demands of our supporters during a very, very difficult and trying time.

We are seeking financial support from those in a position to help us now.

While we are not out of the pandemic yet, and some parts of Canada are still really struggling, we believe, and hope you agree, that the time is right to formally seek financial support from those of you who might be in a position to provide it now.

The pandemic has put human security back on the global agenda

While the pandemic has engendered incredible suffering, it has also shone a bright light on inequalities in our economic, social and democratic structures, both within Canada and globally – that have received insufficient mainstream attention in the past.

Global solutions for global problems.

A key part of this inequality that we need to urgently address is the mis-match between the extraordinary amounts spent on endlessly beefing up military capacity (which, in turn contributes to a vicious cycle of insecurity through arms racing and demonization of the other) and the funds needed for what the UN Secretary-General calls the three global threats to our very survival- climate catastrophe, the destruction of nature and nuclear annihilation.

Despite the untold billions being spent on defence, there is simply no military solution to these three urgent, over-riding global challenges.

They can only be addressed through global cooperation.

A feminist foreign policy is more than a head count

We at the Rideau Institute believe that the pandemic has propelled to the forefront a vision of the world based on the equal right to human security of all states and their peoples.

It is imperative that this message not be swept away as the pandemic wanes and we strive to return to a more “normal” life. That normalcy must not include a return to pre-pandemic social and economic injustice at home and hypocritical double standards in the promotion of human rights and international law globally.

The Rideau Institute has long been at the forefront of this struggle for global peace and security, working tirelessly for:

• better adherence by Canada to global arms trade standards
• leadership by Canada, at the UN and within NATO, to lower nuclear risks and reduce reliance on nuclear weapons, as vital steps towards nuclear disarmament
• continued rejection by Canada of participation in America’s destabilizing and ruinously expensive ballistic missile defence system;
• a Made-in-Canada Asia Pacific Policy and
• strengthening Canadian diplomatic peacebuilding capacity, including through the establishment of an expert Foreign Policy Commission.

With brand new Ministers of Foreign Affairs and National Defence, our input is more important than ever. Help us to deepen Canada’s “feminist foreign policy” beyond the effort to increase women’s participation in peace and security building, as important as that is, to the embodiment of a human security agenda that is at the heart of true equality for all.

Human security is at the heart of global peace and security

To help us put peace and international cooperation high on the minority Parliament’s agenda, could you please make a donation today?

Donate Now

 

Or join our Peacekeepers Monthly Donor Club. With a monthly pledge of $12 or more, you can choose to receive a complimentary copy of Gar Pardy’s China in a Changing World – a $20.00 value.

This will be our only financial request for 2021. Please give generously!

In peace and solidarity,

President/ Présidente,
L’Institut Rideau Institute

** We depend on your donations as we accept no funding from government or industry to protect our independence. Thank you for your support….

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