We had the pleasure of hosting the 25th anniversary of the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines on Monday, December 5th, 2022 at Carleton University. The event included a screening of a new film by Richard Fitoussi entitled “The Treaty”, which chronicles the bold diplomatic gamble that brought together governments, multilateral organizations and civil society in a global movement to end the scourge of landmines.
We were thrilled to host the Hon. Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as Lloyd Axworthy, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yuliya Kovaliv, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada, Carleton President Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Jill Sinclair a Foreign Service Officer who led the Ottawa Treaty Process, and Gniep Smoeun, who lost a leg to landmine when she was 10 and is an ambassador for Humanité Inclusion/Handicap International, who were also present for this event.
Twenty-five years ago, the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs was involved in the Ottawa Process (as it was called) through a research project that was conducted while the Ottawa Treaty was being negotiated. Bob Lawson, a government official who was a NPSIA alum, reached out to some of the School’s faculty with a view to creating a record of the historic events that were unfolding at the time. Through a series of seminar discussions, academic analysis joined with NGO activism and public policymaking in a dynamic combination that was unique for all concerned. The book, To Walk Without Fear, coedited by Lawson with NPSIA faculty at the time, Brian Tomlin and Max Cameron, is a thought-provoking summation of those conversations and a testament to the innovative and ground-breaking work that realized this key advance in human security
Watch the video of the evening:
Music Credit: Strawberry – Prod. By Rose