By Kyle Acierno
Illustration By Ben Buckley
Canada, once known around the world as a peaceful nation that advocated strongly to protect the world’s citizens from harm, is unfortunately no more. The new face of Canada, masked by the Harper government, is one that acts for the benefit of the few at a great risk to us all. The Harper government’s recent approach to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT ) negotiations is testimony to this fact.
In the past Canada has been widely praised for its political courage and advocacy in the implementation of weapon treaties. In 1997, under Jean Chretien’s Liberal government, Canada’s foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy shocked the international diplomatic community with his global challenge to sign an international treaty banning anti-personnel land-mines within a year. The result was the unorthodox, historic, and unprecedented Ottawa Process. It led to the signing of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Mine Ban Treaty that is currently in the process of removing destructive mines all over the world.
At the preliminary ATT negotiations in 2012, The Harper Gover nment took Canadian foreign policy in a disturbing direction. Diplomats were instructed to “play a low-key, minimal role.” One of these diplomats was Steve Torino, the president of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.
Early last year, Torino cochaired a gover nment-appointed advisor y panel that recommended making it easier to obtain and own handguns and assault rifles in Canada.
Canada showed up to negotiate an ATT with the president of one of the largest gun-owner lobbyists in the country.
Since the 1990s, organizations have worked alongside governments at arms trade talks; it is not uncommon for UN member state delegations to be composed of “experts” from civil society. However, generally organizations and lobbyists from both sides of the table sit with a delegation to help inform the debate and give balanced advice to a nation, but Canada has decided they will only use taxpayers’ money to invite pro-gun lobbyists to the negotiations.
Canadian diplomats ended their two-page statement at the opening of the UN ATT in 2012 with a small paragraph that summed up what it felt was the most important issue for Canadians: “Canada stresses . . . that the ATT should recognize the legitimacy of lawful ownership of firearms by responsible citizens for their personal and recreational use, including sports shooting, hunting, and collecting. ”
Although almost all international trade in goods is regulated, there are no globally agreed upon standards that exist for the trading of arms. The result can be the misuse and diversion of arms into illegal markets, where they end up in the hands of criminals, gangs, warlords, and terrorists.
Arms control campaigners say one person every minute dies worldwide as a result of armed violence. According to the UN, repairing the damage caused by crime, gang violence, or piracy vastly exceeds the initial financial profits of selling weapons. United Nations Peacekeeping alone costs the world $7 billion per year, and the global annual burden of armed violence stands at $400 billion.
Suffice to say, the ATT is extremely important, especially for the poorest nations. Canadian delegates used the ATT as a platform to bemoan the hassles of gun registration. I know it is quite a burden for those poor hunters to have to register their guns, but to see Canada taking this ridiculous Conservative platform policy to an international stage is embarrassing.
I used to be able to trek around the planet as a proud citizen, but with these drastic changes in Canada’s foreign policy and the embarrassing invitation of the king of firearms to an ATT, I can only hang my head in shame.
