On August 26, 2010 Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC), and the United Nations and Commonwealth Affairs Division at Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) hosted Permanent Representatives to the UN and their delegates for a two-day symposium entitled “Emerging Threats to Security and Development.”
The gathering was a follow-up to the Muskoka G8 meeting for delegates from Caribbean, Latin American and African countries to further their discussions with Canada on international peace and security.
At a half-day session held at the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat in Ottawa, Keith Christie, Assistant Deputy Minister, Global Issues Branch at the Department of Foreign Affairs, hosted a lively discussion with panellists David Malone, President, International Development Research Centre; Colin Keating, Executive Director, Security Council Report; and Andy Mack, Director, Human Security Report Project at Simon Fraser University.
The discussion focused on responses to various security threats, with a special emphasis on drugs and terrorism, and Canada’s role in addressing some of the issues of largest concern – a theme echoed by the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, in his closing remarks.
“It is increasingly evident that new solutions are needed,” he said. “Conflict, crime, terrorism, and trafficking not only undermine state authority, but also seep across borders to destabilize whole region.” Addressing the UN delegates, he added “your work is critical to an increasingly important aspect of international relations that is also a central theme of Canada’s foreign policy.”
