I hope Les Campbell isn’t proposing some kind of “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach to gay rights when it comes to Canada’s foreign policy. His comments about my book’s approach to this issue as being “[Thomas] Paine on steroids” could certainly lend themselves to such an interpretation.
What could Canada do? What does “engagement” mean? It means being who we are in the world without being afraid to tell it like it is. Countries that incarcerate, torture and kill gay people or encourage continuing discrimination should be named, criticized and embarrassed. If the argument goes that this challenges established thinking in a number of places, our entire experience tells us that this kind of thinking changes. And I predict that it will change more quickly in the face of savvy and consistent leadership than through an approach that cowers in the corners for fear of offending a patriarchal clerisy.
We should do the same about the rights of women, religious and ethnic minorities, and the disabled, which doesn’t imply our own perfection, but rather expresses a deep willingness to share and compare our own experiences. An annual report that documented systematically the barriers and discrimination that people face in the world, including Canada, with a Canadian coat of arms on the front, would be a good first step. Other countries already do it. Consistent leadership at the United Nations, working with like-minded countries—these are all aspects of our diplomacy that need to be stronger and more explicit.
WikiLeaks should have taught us the clear lesson that saying out loud what we say in private is actually a good idea.
It doesn’t mean, except in certain circumstances such as Iran and Burma, that we stop trading, tourism and other important exchanges. We walk and chew gum at the same time. A little of Paine, a little of Burke. And all of Canada.
Les Campbell says that a “better edited book” could have been a more comprehensive guide to Canadian foreign policy. I’ll let my editors at McClelland and Stewart defend themselves, but the book Campbell appears to want written is not the book I wanted to write—which is about how human rights, the rule of law and democracy are constantly evolving, and some lessons I have come to draw from my own experiences. Did I leave some things out? Of course, but that only means more books in the future.
