A Minister from Manitoba

In the fall of 1996, officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade warned Lloyd Axworthy that negotiations on a treaty banning the use of anti-personnel land mines were deadlocked. For some time already, Canada had been pushing hard to outlaw this category of weapon, which continues to kill or maim long after a conflict ends. To break the stalemate, Axworthy’s colleagues proposed a bold move: form a new partnership outside of the United Nations with supportive governments and non-governmental organizations. The idea was to launch a public campaign, build momentum, and shame the treaty’s opponents into getting on board. It was a risky bet; Axworthy hesitated.

In his candid and heartfelt memoir, Axworthy writes about the dilemma he faced. It would be “cheeky for a middle power like Canada” to bypass the UN process and launch “an arms treaty initiative on a class of weapons held in most of the world’s military arsenals.” For Axworthy, the...