On October 5, the Group of 78 will host a webinar to explore diplomatic approaches to ending the fighting and to addressing the conflicts at the core of the fighting. Guest speaker Ernie Regehr will draw on insights from his decades of work on peacebuilding including his Resolving Conflict: Why peace cannot be won on the battlefield (2015) to explore pathways to a sustainable and just peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Overarching point: the proposed strategic framework is inadequate. – We are delighted the Federal Government has decided to hold consultations in framing a National Climate Adaptation Strategy for Canada. We address the following overarching issues raised by the discussion paper. Overall, our view is that the proposed elements of a draft strategy are inadequate because…
With gratitude and sadness, the Group of 78 acknowledges the passing of Patrick Watson, one of the “original 78” who signed the statement to the Prime Minister on Canadian foreign policy in 1981 that led to the creation of our Organization. Patrick Watson was a pioneering icon of Canadian broadcasting whose creativity and views were an invaluable contribution to Canadian public life over more than 50 years. The Group of 78 is grateful that the vision he shared with others 40 years ago is still strong and active today. We offer our condolences to his family.
The Group of 78 is proud to announce its annual conference for 2022, Transforming International Finance: toward Economic, Social and Planetary Justice. The global context for this conference is shifting profoundly. The weaknesses of the international financial order have not been resolved since they were exposed in the crisis of 2007-08. Debt distress is afflicting a growing number of countries in the Global South as well as households and businesses everywhere. Such problems will be exacerbated by the post-pandemic wave of stagflation, or more accurately, the evident policy response in the form of sharply higher interest rates. Global trade is being upended as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war. Moreover, failure to address the existential threat posed by the climate crisis make all other international problems, save the threat of nuclear war, seem trivial in comparison. In this larger context, transforming international finance will be necessary, if not sufficient, to secure economic, social and planetary justice.
Last week, the federal government launched a consultation process to help bring together a national climate adaptation strategy for Canada by November, in time for COP-27, the next global climate conference to be held in Egypt. Building resilience against climate disasters will be high on the agenda.
In 2021, the Group of 78 marked the 40th anniversary of the signing of the original advocacy statement addressed to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau that led to the creation of the Organization. As part of its anniversary activities, G78 wanted to acknowledge with gratitude the 78 signatories to that statement. They were a varied assembly of prominent Canadians who never met together but had many commonalities in their views of Canada’s role on the international stage. Building on a booklet of brief biographies produced at the time of G78’s 25th anniversary to commemorate those who had passed on by 2006, we have added the rest of the “Originals” to acknowledge them as well. Find all 78 here.
April 5, 2022, G78 calls on Government of Canada to do what is necessary to support a peaceful resolution of the conflict, including the potential provision of security guarantees if agreed and to undertake a responsible and balanced approach to ensure stability returns to the region, while recognizing Ukraine’s rights as a sovereign and independent state.
Russia and Ukraine are on the brink of hostilities. The NATO powers led by the USA are poised to retaliate with draconian sanctions on the Russian leadership and economy This paper by John Foster illuminates the course of events and (thus far) failed diplomacy that brought us to this point, where NATO’s eastward expansion over the past two decades has clashed with Russia’s security interests
The report emanates from the Group of 78’s 2021 annual policy conference, which brought together experts on infrastructure, health, food and agriculture, municipal planning, and finance. They discussed how communities and households could bolster their adaptation to a world in which temperatures in some regions could rise considerably more than 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Such actions must be taken alongside measures to mitigate, or slow down, rising temperatures. However, the reality is that both in Canada and most of the world, adaptation has been critically neglected in contrast to mitigation.
The G78 Board and members are grateful and honoured to have had Clyde Sanger as colleague, friend and an anchor for our work. While sharing our condolences to his sons and their families, we salute Clyde’s remarkable life and the richness he brought to others in this post; which includes a personal, heartfelt tribute to Clyde by the Honorable Douglas Roche, O.C.