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Question 4: SecurityIn promoting the security of Canadians, where should our priorities lie? Should
Canada give a higher priority to military combat operations? To sectors such
as intelligence gathering and analysis? Or should we focus on broader security
measures, such as combatting environmental degradation and the spread of infectious
disease? What should be our distinctive role in promoting global security? |
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| Contributor: | CCIC |
| Date: |
2003-05-01 21:12:51 |
| Answer: |
"Security for a few is insecurity for all." Nelson Mandela
CCIC has consistently urged the federal government to adopt a common security agenda which would invest in peace-making and peace-building as both a moral and global security imperative.
Common security means going beyond “alliance security” arrangements and the military security considerations of a particular nation state. The dangers and needs we face are global. They must be addressed with reference to a common global reality. Common security also calls for the democratization of security decision-making. Moreover, approaching security through a common security lens emphasizes the importance of human security.
Human security and peace must be defined in much broader terms than the absence of violence and war. Security includes meeting the goals of equality, health, education, employment and democracy. The cornerstone of security is inextricably linked to meeting the social, political and economic needs of people and their environment.
Canada’s priorities with respect to security clearly lie in accepting that global poverty can be eliminated and that Canadian foreign policy should treat its elimination as a priority. Canada’s foreign policy mandate should also accord priority to dealing with environmental degradation and infectious diseases by recognizing that these problems need to be addressed at their source and not compromised by the wording of trade or commercial agreements.
CCIC’s response to question 5 notes that Canada should focus on peace-building and peacekeeping rather than combat missions. Rather than adopting a reflexive response to external threats which is combative and holds the potential to infringe on civil liberties, a common security agenda, as proposed by Canadian NGOs, stresses global collaboration between peoples, equity within and between societies, and the resolution of the underlying causes of poverty and conflict. As noted in the response to questions 1 and 2, many of the threats to global security emerge from poverty and its related symptoms. Curtailment of civil liberties and freedoms through the passage of anti-terrorism legislation (for example, Bills C-17 and C-36), does nothing to eliminate these causes.
Recommendations in response to Question 4
1. Accord priority to dealing with environmental degradation and infectious diseases by recognizing that these problems need to be addressed at their source and not compromised by trade or commercial agreements.
2. Adopt a common security agenda which has as its starting point, global collaboration between peoples, equity within and between societies, and the resolution of the underlying causes of poverty and conflict. |
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