Foreword
Ambassador Bob Rae
In my role as Canada’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, it is my distinct honour to congratulate you on the production of this Anthology. With 2023 marking the 75th anniversary of peacekeeping, and the 35th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to United Nations Peacekeepers, I can think of no better time for its publication.
The experience of the United Nations with peacekeeping is absolutely foundational to what we do here at the UN, and why the UN was created. You will all be familiar with the famous words at the beginning of the charter, where it talks about saving future generations from the scourge of war, and that is exactly how UN peacekeeping was, in effect, invented and created.
The UN was created in order to stop aggression. It was created in order to stop war and to stop conflict, and it was also created to prevent war and conflict. I think these are critical steps that were taken, and they are perhaps more necessary today than ever before. This is a chance for me as your ambassador, to thank all of the men and women for the great courage and the great commitment that they have shown to making peacekeeping an integral part of Canada’s defence policy and Canada’s efforts at responding to world crises.
There are dozens of missions that have taken place since 1948. Canada has been involved in so many of them and played a creative role in urging the UN to take action. Canada has been an integral part of all of the work that the United Nations has been doing in this critical area. It is an honour for me to thank you for your work, sacrifice, efforts that you have made in person and that our country has made to prevent war and to end conflicts.
We still live in a dangerous world. We still live in a world where this kind of sacrifice, this kind of commitment and courage and effort is required, and we still live in a world where Canada stands for the right things, for bringing an end to conflict, for finding the peace, and then keeping the peace and maintaining the peace.
That is something that we can all be very, very proud of as Canadians. I commend the military, police, corrections and civilian personnel for your service to peacekeeping, past and present. I commend the association. I commend all of you for the tremendous work that you are doing. It is an important moment for all of us to recognize the significance of these dates, these anniversaries. They should be emblazoned in all of our hearts and our memories as we realize the incredible sacrifice, effort, work, courage and comradeship that has marked Canada’s experience in peacekeeping.
Bob Rae is the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York. He served as Premier of Ontario from 1990–1995, interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2011–2013 and was appointed as Canada’s Special Envoy to Myanmar (2017) and Canada’s Special Envoy on Humanitarian and Refugee Issues (2020). From 1996 to 2008, he was a partner at Goodmans LLP and wrote government reports on the Air India bombing and higher education in Ontario. He also served as Chair of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Institute for Research in Public Policy and the Forum of Federations. Mr. Rae taught law and public policy at the University of Toronto and in the VicOne programme at Victoria College, and was a partner and senior counsel to the law firm OKT LLP from 2014 to 2020, specializing in indigenous law and constitutional issues. Bob Rae is a Privy Councillor, a Companion of the Order of Canada, and a member of the Order of Ontario.