By Jeff Sallot
Prime Minister Paul Martin is welcoming Kofi Annan to Canada with donations totalling $25-million for the UN Secretary-General's special projects.
Mr. Martin praised Mr. Annan as a champion for the poor and oppressed of the world. "You are blessed with the ability to listen to the voiceless and to understand their soundless cries. You have the ability to speak forcefully on their behalf, using the language of leadership and example," he said in a toast at a gala dinner.
For his part, Mr. Annan praised Canada's contribution to the United Nations over the years, saying that the role of Canadian peacekeepers is "legendary." He singled out retired general Roméo Dallaire, as a courageous officer who commanded outnumbered UN forces during the Rwandan tragedy 10 years ago this spring.
"Your ability as Canadians to look at the needs of others, to feel compassion for their suffering as part of your own, speaks to the best of you as a people," he said.
Mr. Annan began a two-day official visit to the capital Monday with airport arrival ceremonies and the dinner hosted by Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson. The Martin government's announcement of an additional $25-million for UN special programs is on top of Canada's annual UN dues of $53-million and the $103-million Ottawa expects to spend this year as Canada's assessment for UN peacekeeping.
Most of the new money is earmarked for health programs in poor countries, including $13-million to try to eradicate polio, a crippling childhood disease that has all but disappeared in Canada and other developed countries because of routine vaccinations. (Mr. Martin suffered from polio as a child.)
About $5-million will go to UN programs to try to prevent AIDS and to treat victims of the disease, which has afflicted millions of Africans. Programs for the treatment of diseases in Africa and other poor regions are particularly close to Mr. Annan's heart. A native of Ghana, he began his UN career with the World Health Organization 42 years ago.
International Co-operation Minister Aileen Carroll said the $25-million contribution will also include more than $4-million for the UN University for Peace, $2-million for a local community development program for the rural poor and $1-million for the Millennium Development program intended to reduce poverty and to improve health and education in the world's poorest nations.
Mr. Annan has suggested that Canada, once a major troop contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, should be able to provide substantial numbers of peacekeepers again. This is likely to be a subtext in a speech he is scheduled to make Tuesday morning to a special joint sitting of the Commons and the Senate.
This will be only the third time a secretary-general has addresses the Canadian Parliament since the creation of the UN almost 60 years ago.
Mr. Annan's trip to Canada is also the first state visit by an international dignitary since Paul Martin became Prime Minister in December. The crisis in Haiti, where Canada is dispatching more than 400 soldiers under a UN mandate, and the reconstruction of Iraq are expected to be major topics of discussions in meetings with Mr. Martin and other senior ministers.
Mr. Martin and Mr. Annan are far from strangers. Mr. Annan tapped Mr. Martin last year to co-chair a special UN commission on private sector support for development assistance. Mr. Martin met Mr. Annan less than two weeks ago in New York to present the commission's final report.
Mr. Annan has made something of a habit of picking high-profile Canadians for UN assignments. Former foreign-affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy is his special peace envoy for Ethiopia and Eritrea. His deputy secretary-general is Louise Fréchette, a former senior public servant in Ottawa. Stephen Lewis, the former leader of the Ontario New Democrats, is the UN special envoy for AIDS in Africa. Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour is to become the UN High Commissioner for Refugees this summer.
Mr. Annan, 65, is scheduled to receive honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University for his service to the UN. Trained as an economist in the United States and Switzerland, he has worked at various UN agencies since 1962. He became secretary-general in 1997 and is scheduled to complete his second term at the end of 2006.
His official activities today include a working lunch with Mr. Martin, a joint news conference and memorial ceremonies at monuments to Canadian peacekeepers and aid workers.
