Climate action has to become the cornerstone of not only Canada's domestic policy but also of Ottawa's foreign policy, says Dominique Souris, co-founder and executive director of Youth Climate Lab. "As far as I'm concerned, foreign policy is climate policy," Souris says. "We're talking about a global climate problem, a global climate emergency." She also calls on the federal government to incorporate traditional Indigenous knowledge in its policy and recognize the role Indigenous people...

Canada needs a “revolution” in its foreign policy thinking to deal with the tectonic geopolitical changes going on in the world, says Leonard Edwards, a former Canadian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. “The issue is how do we manage within an international frame where there is tension between the United States and China and where we will be caught in the middle on some issues?” Edwards told Diplomatic Dispatch during an interview in Ottawa at the sidelines of the Summit on Canada’s...

Canada has plenty of opportunities to show leadership on the international stage, says Peggy Mason, president of the Rideau Institute, an independent foreign policy and defence think tank. These include taking on a greater role – and not necessarily a military one – in UN peacekeeping operations, working on defending and strengthening international law, leading an international campaign to ban weapons in space and killer robots. But first, Ottawa needs to conduct a root-and-branch...

Canada needs to think very seriously about 'greening' its foreign and development policy, says Stephen Cornish, CEO of the David Suzuki Foundation, a leading Canadian environmental group. He spoke to Diplomatic Dispatch about the challenges facing Canada's foreign policy in the age of climate crisis at the Summit on Canada's Global Leadership in Ottawa on Nov. 28, 2019. Duration 15 minutes 22 seconds ListenEN_Interview_3-20200120-WIE30

The event was organized by the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC), the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID), the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health (CanWaCH) and the Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI). There I met with Robert Greenhill, executive chair of Global Canada and former president of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Greenhill says the minority Liberal government of Prime Minister...

I met with Allan Rock at the Summit on Canada’s Global Leadership in late November of 2019. He is a former Liberal cabinet minister and also served as Canada's ambassador to the United Nations after leaving federal politics, as well as president and vice-chancellor of the University of Ottawa. He says the possible re-election of President Donald Trump for another term in 2020 would present the greatest challenge for Canadian foreign policy. "The decision that is going to have the...

In June of 2017, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled its feminist foreign and development policy. But what is at the core of that policy? And has Canada put its money where its mouth is when it comes to upholding the principles unveiled in that policy? Does that policy need to change and if yes, how? What should be Canada's international development priorities? These are all questions that I’m hoping to ask and try to answer in this podcast series. And my...

Does Canada need its own foreign intelligence service? The world is undergoing fundamental change and Canada cannot rest on its laurels at a time of rising global threats, including the increasingly isolationist United States, dysfunctional Western allies and the emergence of China and Russia, cyber threats and terrorism, says Richard Fadden, former national security adviser to both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his predecessor, Stephen Harper. I spoke with him at the Summit on...

My search for the answers began in Ottawa, at the Summit on Canada's Global Leadership in late November of 2019. The event was organized by the Canadian Council for International Co-operation (CCIC), the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID), the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health (CanWaCH) and the Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI). There I met with one of the principal organizers of the summit, Nicolas Moyer, president and CEO...