UN ambassador preaches global unity against backdrop of Trump

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While the message “might is right” grows louder in the United States, Canada must lean into global unity and international law, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations said at a stop in Winnipeg Wednesday.

Bob Rae kicked off the University of Manitoba’s 40th annual J.W. Dafoe Political Studies Students’ Conference with a public lecture. This year, the two-day conference focuses on the United Nations.

Rae took attendees through the UN’s 80-year history before remarking on the world body’s current state. He later answered questions from Lloyd Axworthy, Canada’s former foreign affairs minister, and the audience.

Rae pointed to the recent election of United States President Donald Trump: Trump has taken to economic force and spheres of influence, Rae said. The American leader has enacted a 90-day pause on foreign development assistance and has ordered the administration to review programs.

Recently, Trump unveiled a two-stage tariff plan against Canadian goods. It follows his threats of a sweeping 25 per cent tariff.

“We built a relationship with the United States that was supposed to be based on the rule of law and not the rule of force,” Rae told a crowd at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. “We both recognized…that it was in our mutual interest to do so.

“That’s the same basis on which we have built all of the fragile structures that bring together the rule of law and bring together our ability to say we are responding to a difficult world.”

Amid the global climate — Rae cited Trump and President Vladimir Putin in Russia — Canada must say it won’t take the global powers’ spheres of influence, Rae said.

“We believe in a world where the rule of law means something, where the institutions we have built are worth saving.”

The United Nations is not perfect, but it’s worth believing in, Rae underscored. It was built on a system of inequality; five of the world’s most powerful countries have veto powers over the security council.

The UN must respond to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo more effectively, among other things, Rae noted.

However, Canada can both support the United Nations and ask it to do better, he said. His speech was delivered as leaders anticipate a reduced United Nations budget, should the United States pull its funding.

Rae shared his concern that a fixation on Canada’s relationship with the United States will divert attention from other issues such as climate change and the world’s ability to fight the next pandemic.

He urged Canada not to go “quietly in the night,” but to join in the fight against oppression.

A Congolese audience member questioned Rae about the dissatisfactory response from the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rae shared that by responding with fellow UN members, the international organization is learning how to do things differently and committing to change. It’s a reason to continue supporting the UN, Rae said.

Axworthy noted countries have substantially reduced their budgets for diplomacy and non-governmental organization civil activity. It has contributed to a leaching of human rights capacity, he said.

Axworthy is slated to participate in a question-and-answer conference event Thursday afternoon. Peacekeeping and the United Nations’ future are among scheduled panel discussions.

Last year, the university’s annual conference highlighted the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In 2023, former Iqaluit mayor Madeleine Redfern visited Winnipeg to discuss northern issues.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com