Writing in the Toronto Star on May 23, 2026, former federal cabinet ministers Lloyd Axworthy and Allan Rock make the case that Canada needs a peace agenda. “Security cannot be measured only in ships, missiles, drones and fighter aircraft. It must also be measured in wars prevented, civilians protected, famine averted and peace processes sustained. That is why Canada needs a renewed human security foreign policy alongside military renewal,” they write. The conflict in Sudan shows that the world has forgotten the lesson that the protection of states requires the protection of peoples. Working with others, Canada could play an animating role in reasserting the responsibility to protect. Canada “can help build and support an African-led, Sudanese-owned peace effort. That means appointing a senior envoy, making Sudan a diplomatic priority at the United Nations, supporting women mediators and civil society, pressing for humanitarian access, and demanding accountability for atrocities.” Read a condensed version of their opinion piece below.
