Journal Article

History doesn't go in a straight line - it has ups and downs and ups again

2023

Overview

A hot war was ending - the Second World War - and a Cold War was starting, almost simultaneously. [...]where there was a sense, I think, particularly from the (U.S. president Harry) Truman administration, but from others, that there needed to be a stronger way of expressing support for human rights. [...]that's a longer story, that's a longer process - getting to the Human Rights Council, getting to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and so on. [...]you would have had people like Mr. (Louis) St. Laurent (prime minister by November 1948) on perhaps one side of the conversation and Mr. (Lester B.) Pearson (external affairs minister by September 1948) on the other side of the conversation, just at a moment when Mr. St. Laurent was taking over from Mr. (Mackenzie) King, and Mr. King himself was not enthusiastic about treaties or foreign involvement. Dana Wilgress was one of the drafters, one of the leaders of creating the new economic structures, the discussions going on with the IMF, and the creation of the World Bank and any number of ways in which we were building the building blocks of multilateralism. How well do you think this country has lived up to the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

• Publisher: Association of Canadian Studies
• Subject: Diplomatic & consular services / Human rights / Jurisdiction / Native North Americans / Rae, Bob / War