Writing in The Hill Times on August 7, 2026, Jenna Sapiano, John Packer, Marie-Joëlle Zahar and Meredith Preston-McGhie argue that Canada should lead an international effort to reinvest in peacemaking.
Military budgets are skyrocketing. “Yet at precisely the moment when the need for peacemaking is greatest,” the authors write, “the number of negotiated peace agreements is falling. Peace processes are increasingly shaped by actors interested in geopolitical advantage and short-term conflict management rather than sustainable peace. The result is a form of transactional, even extractive diplomacy in the shadow of force. Most importantly, it is not succeeding.”
“The world is expanding its capacity to fight wars while the institutions, expertise and resources needed to resolve armed conflicts—and, better yet, to prevent conflict escalating into full-scale violence in the first place—are neglected and eroding. There is a perilous decline in global leadership, support and funding for peace processes, mediation support and peacemaking organizations, let alone for peace research. We risk losing the skills and know-how developed over the past several decades to end or prevent armed conflict. Once these are hollowed out, they will be difficult to rebuild. Canada can and should step up to address this gap.”
A relatively modest global increase in peacemaking will reduce the necessity of costly military deployments, the authors conclude. The time to act is now.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Group of 78, G78 Chair Ted Jackson was proud to endorse this opinion piece along with other Canadian advocates for peacemaking, including former federal ministers and ambassadors, engaged scholars, and experts in conflict mediation and resolution.
The full paywalled article is found at https://www.hilltimes.com/2026/08/07/canada-needs-to-invest-in-peacemaking-to-strengthen-national-security/513794/