FAIT Committee Report

            At the same time, the Summit also clearly highlighted a number of key issues, including the need to strike a balance between trade and other priorities and to increase transparency and the engagement of civil society which must be addressed by the Government of Canada, both in the ongoing process of integration in the Americas and in Canadian foreign policy more generally. It also underlined the need to balance legitimate security concerns with the right of peaceful protest.

            Everyone accepts the goal of increasing integration in the Americas as a means of strengthening democracy, creating prosperity and realizing human potential. In the months before the Summit, however, many opinion leaders had expressed concern that, in this and similar processes, the promotion of trade as a means to generate prosperity must be carefully balanced with priorities such as the protection of the environment, labour standards and human rights. Thousands of Canadians made clear in Quebec that they agree with these concerns. During public hearings before the Committee, both in 1999 during its study of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and in the weeks before the Summit, a wide range of groups explained their perspectives on these issues and made recommendations for addressing them.

            In general, these recommendations involved specific provisions they believed must eventually be included in any final FTAA text to ensure appropriate balance. On human rights, for example, the Honourable Warren Allmand of the organization Rights and Democracy argued that,

Similarly, on the environment, the Committee was told by the Honourable Pierre Marc Johnson that,

            On the other hand, certain groups such as Transparency International Canada, came with specific requests, in this instance that the Summit emphasise the importance of the issue of corruption, and the need to ratify, implement and enforce the Organization of American States (OAS) Inter-American Convention Against Corruption. As Mr. P.K. Pal of Transparency International Canada pointed out,

In this case, the importance of the OAS Convention was noted in the Summit’s Plan of Action.

            Because the FTAA negotiations will not be completed for some four years, however, in the context of the Summit these groups who appeared before the Committee essentially asked for three things:

            Two of these demands were answered in Quebec. Recognition of the importance of these and related issues came with the adoption of a political Declaration of Quebec City by leaders, and mechanisms to ensure they are addressed came in a detailed 44-page Plan of Action. The third demand remains addressed to governments and parliamentarians, and can only be answered through sustained attention over the coming years. Building on the Committee’s 1999 report on the FTAA, this report represents an interim statement on these issues.

            The Declaration of Quebec City adopted by the leaders at the Summit satisfied the need to publicly recognize the importance of the many issues raised during the Committee’s hearings. The Declaration placed particular emphasis on democracy as a sine qua non of hemispheric cooperation. As paragraph 5 stated:

            At the same time, recognition was made in the Declaration of the need to protect the environment and pursue sustainable development, protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, promote core labour standards and ensure the pursuit of prosperity through trade and its equitable distribution.

            Although the Declaration recognized the importance of these issues and the need to balance them with the pursuit of trade as a means to generate prosperity, an important question remains unanswered: how can we best move from political commitment to practical enforcement? In the case of the Democracy Clause, leaders have agreed that they will consult to find a suitable response in the case of a disruption of the democratic system in a nation of the hemisphere. On the broader question of how to balance commitments to items such as the environment and human rights with the pursuit of trade, it remains to be seen whether the states of the hemisphere will agree to include such commitments in the FTAA agreement itself. Even if they do so, it remains unclear how a violation of these commitments could best be answered in practice.

            The recognition in the Declaration of the importance of addressing these issues was an important development, yet insufficient in itself. Particular attention was also paid to strengthening mechanisms to ensure these initiatives are carried out, because, as Prime Minister Chretien’s Personal Representative for the Summit of the Americas, Mr. Marc Lortie, told the Committee following the Summit, the test of its success will be in the extent to which the Plan of Action is implemented. Although governments will have the primary responsibility for following up the Plan of Action, the Organization of American States and other multilateral institutions will play a role as well.

            In terms of human rights, the Plan of Action contains specific initiatives designed to strengthen the inter-American human rights system. Although Canada can play an important role in this process, it must also ensure that its actions match its ideals. As the honourable Warren Allmand noted before the Committee, the Government of Canada has long argued that seven objections prevented it from ratifying the American Convention on Human Rights. According to the honourable Warren Allmand, recent developments have now reduced the number of serious objections to two, and it seems likely that Canada could address even these through the mechanisms of a Memorandum of Understanding and one reservation. He added, "…by the way, those are not to undermine the treaty. Most human rights groups oppose reservations. But in this case we support them, because they go in the direction of favouring the general human rights set out in the treaty."

            Beyond substantive questions related to the links between trade and other areas in the hemispheric cooperation agenda, the Summit process raised key questions concerning communication, transparency and the engagement of civil society. In terms of communication, the media’s almost total focus on the FTAA, the unavailability of the draft text and possible protests in the weeks leading up to Quebec indicate that, despite its efforts, the Government of Canada was unable to place in the public’s mind the role of the Summit within the broader context of hemispheric integration. Many may have felt that the FTAA was genuinely the most important element of the Summit, but many too were clearly unaware of the broader context. Canada’s relatively recent engagement in the hemisphere may partly explain this, but, in any event, the government and the Department of Foreign Affairs must increase its emphasis on providing, and, more importantly, promoting, Web-based and other communication.

            Many of the groups that came before the Committee demanded the release of the draft FTAA text. The decision of the other participants in the Summit to finally accept Canada’s recommendation and release the text was a welcome one, and the Committee believes that this precedent must be followed whenever possible. The unavailability of the text before the Summit, the requirement for agreement among the 34 states to release it and, indeed, the length of time needed by the Secretariat to translate into all necessary languages before it could be released, became a symbol for many of a lack of transparency in the process.

            This was unfortunate in that it diverted attention and energy from debate over substantive issues on the Summit agenda. It also overshadowed real Canadian-led progress in increasing transparency and engagement surrounding the Summit. Examples included the Government of Canada’s decision for the first time to publish the written submissions it submitted to the FTAA negotiating groups. (While many called for the release of positions the Government had not yet submitted, this is the beginning of a long FTAA negotiating process, and there will be opportunity for debate on these and all other positions in the future). Other examples of increased transparency and engagement include meeting with civil society representatives on many occasions and institutionalizing civil society input into the Summit process through the OAS; contributing to the funding of the alternative Peoples Summit; and, organizing a unique and highly successful exchange between government representatives and civil society at the Summit itself.

            Finally, although the Committee supports the release of such texts in future, it remains to be seen to what extent draft texts will enhance substantive debate. As former senior Canadian trade negotiator Professor Michael Hart argued before the Committee,

            In any event, increased transparency is an important goal in its own right, and any resulting confusion simply demands a higher standard of communication and debate between governments and civil society.

            The Committee’s October 1999 report The Free Trade Area of the Americas: Towards a Hemispheric Agreement in the Canadian Interest had already provided parliamentary input to the development of the Canadian government’s position on the FTAA. In the weeks preceding the Summit, further Committee hearings played a role in: increasing the information from various perspectives available to Canadians regarding the Summit; placing the Summit within the broader context of hemispheric cooperation; and highlighting areas of concern that the Government of Canada and its partners must address as they continue this process. The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade facilitated transparency and clarification by providing a forum where government ministers and officials, Parliamentarians from all parties and civil society engaged in substantive debate in public and on the record.

            In addition, a key element in the success of the roundtable between civil society and governments at the Summit was that in many respects it paralleled both the substance and the process followed by the Committee’s meetings on these issues. The debate over the best way to increase the input of citizens into this and similar processes will continue. Given that they are elected by and accountable to society, members of the Committee strongly believe that Parliamentarians can play a key role in bridging the gap between citizens and governments, both through the vehicle of Standing Committees such as this one and, increasingly, through inter-parliamentary vehicles such as the new Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the Americas (FIPA), founded in Ottawa in March 2001 as a result of a Resolution of the Organization of American States.

            Overall, the Quebec Summit has resulted in specific achievements in the process of hemispheric integration, although many important issues remain to be pursued and debated in future. To this end, the Committee will hold regular meetings with government ministers and a range of other individuals and groups on the progress of FTAA negotiations and related issues over the years leading up to the fourth Summit of the Americas and the target date for the completion of a Free Trade Area of the Americas. This approach will serve to make information available to Canadians on this and similar issues and encourage increased dialogue and engagement between the government, Parliamentarians and civil society.