The gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly later in September offers an unprecedented opportunity for Prime Minister Trudeau to demonstrate how Canada will contribute to a new global diplomatic effort to reduce nuclear dangers.
Canada can demonstrate its commitment to strengthening the UN’s conflict prevention and crisis response capacity by supporting and advocating for a United Nations Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS).
We need a foreign policy that spells out how Canada intends to work tirelessly to strengthen international law, to champion the UN’s diplomatic, peacekeeping and humanitarian work and to help stop a burgeoning nuclear arms race.
Who is responsible for the chasm between what Canada promised to deliver on UN peacekeeping and what actually materialized? The answer suggests a failure of leadership on several fronts.