Canada

Present in Lucens.

Non-supportive during SSD consultations in Geneva, repeatedly raising IHL-related concerns. Meetings in capital (Diya, May 2015) indicated support from child protection, education and humanitarian policy experts, but resistance from other sections of MFA and Defense >> still undecided. Outreach to MP Kirsty Duncan (Diya, June 2015) encouraging her to raise question on SSD/Guidelines to Parliament. Letter sent to new FM in Dec 2015 encouraging endorsement. Kenneth Roth raised the SSD with Justin Trudeau in Davos (Jan 2016): preliminary feedback was positive but needs to consult MoD. Meeting with MFA and MoD advisors in Ottawa early March to brief them about the initiative. GCPEA received a letter from FM a few weeks later stating that Canada’s position remains unchanged. Norway FM conducted a visit to Canada in May and may have raised the SSD, but no confirmation.

February 2016: Diya and Jo Becker (HRW) met with the Canadian MFA and MoD (policy advisers to the Ministers + other staff) in Ottawa on March 1, to renew dialogue on the SSD following positive signs given by PM Trudeau. Staff had just taken up their posts so this was an introductory briefing, but generally the initiative was well received. Follow-up will be done at high-level by HRW in March. Zama also met with Gen. Roméo Dallaire, who is willing to raise the SSD with the Canadian MoD and possibly with Uganda and Rwanda. He is also willing to raise the issue with NATO.

March 2016: I had already reported on this in my last email update but adding them here again as it was in March): Diya and Jo Becker (HRW) met with the Canadian MFA and MoD (policy advisers to the Ministers + other staff) in Ottawa on March 1, to renew dialogue on the SSD following positive signs given by PM Trudeau. Staff had just taken up their posts so this was an introductory briefing, but generally the initiative was well received. Follow-up will be done at high-level by HRW in March. Zama also met with Gen. Roméo Dallaire, who is willing to raise the SSD with the Canadian MoD and possibly with Uganda and Rwanda. He is also willing to raise the issue with NATO.

April 2016: in a surprising turn of events, despite initial positive signals from the new government, a series of letters and advocacy meetings in Ottawa early March, the Canadian foreign minister Stephane Dion wrote a letter to GCPEA stating that Canada has no intention to endorse the Declaration, reiterating all the arguments and concerns that the previous government had already put forward. The content of this letter has not yet been made public. One of the reasons for this, is that the Norwegian foreign minister will conduct a visit to Canada mid-May and will try to discuss the Safe Schools Declaration with the new government from a neutral basis (i.e. ignoring the letter).

August 2016: CAAC Open Debate: “the prevalence of attacks on and the use of schools and hospitals for military purposes remains deeply worrying. The Group of Friends calls on all parties to protect schools and hospitals by upholding the provisions of international humanitarian law and international human rights law”. 28/08/2016 Bede spoke with Unicef Canada. They mentioned that Unicef Canada has recently met with Snobo Sneiderman, Policy Advisor to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs at Global Affairs Canada, who independently brought up the issue of the Safe Schools Declaration, including Ken’s communications with the government. He gave the impression to Unicef Canada that the government is indeed moveable on this issue, and communicated that they were open to hearing more from Unicef on this issue. He shared the ministry’s current concerns, which apparently boiled down to their lawyers being concerned about the legal implications of joining, and their view that the declaration goes beyond current IHL. They asked Unicef Canada for their position and further briefing. But he also mentioned the MFA’s support of MSF’s campaign about hospitals not being a target, and requested similar information about attacks on schools. Unicef Canada reiterated to Bede that in addition to focusing on Trudeau, we should also put pressure on Dion, who, as former leader of the party and leader of the opposition has his own concerns about his profile, as well as the Development minister?, and the Defense Minister (who recently visited DRC).

January 2017: A new Minister of Foreign Affairs has been appointed, Chrystia Freeland, and apparently she is a rather dynamic force. HRW Canada have had recent discussions with MoD officials and Global Affairs. All info from those two calls indicates that the Safe Schools Declaration will be signed this month. They want to make a special announcement about the signing. General Dallaire has been carrying out advocacy towards the Canadian government.

January 2017: Advocacy meeting with GVA mission. Typical reassurances as we’ve received before, but did seem to indicate there might still be concerns regarding implementation from the armed forces or MoD (or possibly was referring to old talking points), and said that the fact that they have a new minister means that the review “might be slightly longer.”

February 2017: HRW issued a letter to Canada prior to the Paris conference urging them to endorse the Declaration.Minister Bibeau announced Canada’s endorsement at the Paris Principles conference. Canada hosted a Group of Friends of CAAC briefing in New York, at which GCPEA provided an update on the conference and implementation of the Declaration.

March 2017: Attended Buenos Aires Conference on Safe Schools. Provided a moderator for a panel discussion.

April 2017: Attended post-conference briefing for missions in New York. HRW and other orgs wrote a congratulatory letter to Canada for endorsing.

May 2017: The website of Canada’s Global Affairs Ministry mentions the Declaration, and has links to the Declaration and Guidelines as well as the press release that the Ministry issued on their endorsement. Canada has pledged to carry out peer advocacy to a prioritized list of non-endorsing states. September 2017 UNSC: GCPEA sent a letter to ask to raise the issue of attacks and military use and draw attention to the Declaration and the Guidelines. and congratulate them on endorsing the since the last debate during the Open Debate on children and armed conflict. October 2017: Canada – together with Argentina, Norway, Human Rights Watch, GCPEA, and IIE – hosted a side event on Education under Fire, followed by a reception. Speakers were the Ambassadors of Norway and Argentina, Joy Bishara and Lydia Pogu (two of the 276 female students kidnapped from their school by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria), Ann Makome (DPKO), Sharon Riggle, (O/SRSG CAAC), and GCPEA (Zama). GCPEA (Diya) met with Canada and requested them to continue their peer advocacy for endorsement, with a specific focus on the Open Debate, to refer to the Declaration in their statements at the Open Debate and the Vancouver peacekeeping conference, and to consider the possibility of including a discussion of the Declaration as an agenda item or side event during the annual ministerial meeting of the MFAs of La Francophonie on 25-26 November in Lomé.

November 2017: According to STC Canada, Canada is able and willing to push other countries to endorse the SSD. STC Canada had provided a list of our priority countries previously to Minister Freeland’s office (Foreign Minister) and re-iterated with with Bibeau’s advisors, and received good reception on both occasions. I have asked if they could inquire on their approach towards the UK? Asking the same to Shelly. Canada asked to receive background information on the what the reservations are for endorsing the SSD for those countries that have yet to sign on within our priority list. STC Canada raised the idea of Canada hosting the next Safe Schools conference and did not receive a yes or no but a request for more information as to what this would entail, including timing, objective, and format. It was flagged that Canada is already hosting the G7 in 2018 and so would need to be strategic in what other major global forums it tried to host. Not expressed but already known is that Canada is also hosting Women Deliver in June 2019 plus their support to the Vancouver Principles. They are asking for information that was provided to Argentina in the lead up to the conference to get them on board as a hosting country. I have shared the Leadership concept note with STC Canada and planning to share the Buenos Aires report once launched. I guess that there is no specific concept note that was shared that has more detail than the overview of the Leaders’ or the conference report, right? Vero told STC Canada that UNICEF was interested to engage on this as well.

January 2018: GCPEA provided background information to Save the Children UK who is briefing Save the Children Canada on advocacy towards a priority list of 10 countries for Canada to carry out bilateral advocacy.

January 2018: Save the Children UK encourage partners in Canada (Dallaire Initiative) to ensure that at the Vancouver Defence Ministerial, General Vance, the Canadian Armed Forces’ Chief of Defence Staff, raised the Declaration with his UK counterpart.

March 2018: Following advocacy by GCPEA, support was expressed by Canada, to references to the Declaration in operative and preambular paragraphs of the Resolution A/HRC/37/L.33.

July 2018: Save Canada lobbying for the Govt to advocate for the Government of Iraq to sign up to Safe Schools.

July 2018: Joined Argentina’s joint statement to the UN SC during the open debate on children and armed conflict.
Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018).Mentioned and welcomed the Safe Schools Declaration during the statement to the SC on behalf of the GoF of children in armed conflict.

October 2018: Canada highlighted the need to focus on empowerment of girls and women, not just to focus on their vulnerabilities as victims during GCPEA briefing for GoF WPS. Canada also linked the issue to the 2030 Agenda. Canada has appointed a dedicated global ambassador for Women, Peace and Security and is thinking of asking Member States and individuals to make a Gender Pledge.

November 2018: Gisela prepared talking points for the mission for a Commonwealth event on 26.11.2018. The talking points include examples of implementation by Commonwealth members such as Canada, Nigeria, UK, New Zealand, Cameroon, Zambia, CAR.

February 2019: The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, issued a statement on the International Day Against the Use of Child Soldiers highlighting Canada’s endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration.

March 2019: attended GCPEA side-event on “Better Protecting Women and Girls from Attacks on Education” in Geneva. Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva: joined Norway’s joint statement on the Safe Schools Declaration.

October 2019: GCPEA and Save the Children UN Advocacy Office met with the CAAC and WPS experts, who were both new to the portfolio. The CAAC expert (she started in August) was taking careful notes about the progress on implementation of the Declaration but did not ask any questions during our meeting. Canada is the chair of the Group of Friends (GoF) on WPS, and GoF on CAAC. I shared the findings from the research in Nigeria and the DRC and how the Declaration can be a tool for protecting girls from attacks on education, including against sexual violence at school. We also discussed in details how the UN Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Arrangements (MARA) on conflict-related sexual violence, and the MRM on the six grave violations do not include information whether the violence occurred at, or on route to and from education institutions, and how this impedes the development of prevention and response measures. They welcomed our key advocacy messages for the UN SC WPS debate and promised to propose the inclusion of this language in the statement on behalf of the Group of Friends on WPS.
Follow-up: Letter for Foreign Minister, including key advocacy messages, gender recommendations, and factsheet on the implementation of the Declaration.

January 2020: GCPEA shared with the Geneva mission the report “It is Very Painful to Talk About”: The Impact of Attacks on Education on Women and Girls” and highlighted the key recommendations which align well with Canada’s focus on girls’ education.

March 2020: Human Rights Watch made a submission in advance of the 87th pre-session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child relating to Canada’s compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The submission encourages the Committee to congratulate Canada for endorsing the Safe Schools Declaration, and to encourage the government to share any good practices with other countries, including any recipients of humanitarian aid, development assistance, or military training. GCPEA shared the submission with the Permanent Mission in Geneva.

Oct 2020: GCPEA met the WPS expert.GCPEA also had a follow-up conversation with the CAAC expert and briefed him on the Norway’s implementation network and encouraged Canada to implement the Guidelines. The expert said that he had already reached out to the Norwegian Mission to discuss the network and the synergies between implementation of SSD and the Vancouver Principles. The CAAC expert also invited GCPEA to join the Group of Friends on CAAC.

October 2021: cosponsored UNSRC2601.

December 2021: positive statement on behalf of the GoF CAAC at arria formula meeting on protection of education during armed conflict citing SSD. “Education is under attack in far too many conflict settings”; “We are dismayed with such widespread attacks on schools and educational facilities, particularly amidst the covid-19 pandemic”; Emphasized girls’ disproportionate vulnerability, highlighting sexual violence; “The Group of Friends calls on all parties to conflict to fully comply with their obligations under IHL, IHRL, and IRL” ; “Additionally, we note that a growing number of Member States have endorsed key instruments aimed at strengthening the protection of education and children in armed conflict. We encourage all member states to strengthen the protection of children, including by, acceding to the Optional Protocols on CAAC, and by considering endorsing and implementing practical protection tools, notably the Paris Principles and the Safe Schools Declaration and the Vancouver Principles”

July 2022: At the UNSC CAAC debate : on behalf of the Group of Friends of Children and Armed Conflict
– “We are dismayed by the widespread attacks against schools and hospitals as described in the report, particularly amid the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic, which is causing the largest disruption to children’s education in history “
– “We encourage all States Members of the United Nations to accede to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict and to consider endorsing and implementing practical child-protection instruments, such as the Safe Schools Declaration”

September 2022: Endorsed the Call to Action on Education in crisis situations (refers to EuA22 data) at the Transforming Education Summit

November 2022: Endorsed the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA) on 18 November during an International Conference hosted by Ireland, the leader and penholder behind the Declaration.

December 2022: 21 December, Apolline met with Ms. Myuri Komaragiri, Senior Policy Analyst, Education, Global Affairs Canada (Petra from the EiE Hub put us in touch as Canada is a member of the Hub and through this contact I was able to find out about Canada’s efforts to implement the SSD by incorporating the Guidelines in its military policies). We discussed GCPEA’s work and upcoming activities, as part of the state-led implementation network. She was particularly interested in the LAC workshop, explaining that LAC is a priority region for Canada (they might like to attend or support). We also discused the NATO workshop as perhaps an opportunity for Canada to share their good practice. She put me in touch with her colleague in Canada to make sure that they re-join the core group (there had been a lot of recent staff changes so we had lost contact with the geneva mission). They are interested in supporting peer-to-peer advocacy efforts. She will follow-up with her colleagues from Defense to share a copy of the armed forces Operations Orders that references the SSD. She also asked to be kept updated on the LAC and NATO workshop.

February 2024: On 2 February, Apolline met with Amanda Oeggerli, humanitarian expert at the Canadian mission in Geneva. We discussed GCPEA’s priorities for 2024 and 2025 as well as Canada’s role in the core group. In particular, she was interested in supporting peer-to-peer advocacy and was keen on having her ambassador host a lunch with key non-endorsing countries (similar to what we have done with Norway and Spain in previous years). We also discussed the possibility of Canada presenting its good practice at the NATO workshop (chief of defense staff directive on implementing the SSD adopted in 2017).