Broadbent evening explains how politicians can change the world

Mary-Ellen Wayne

An Evening with Ed Broadbent, held on Nov. 5, 2007 in University of Winnipeg’s Eckhardt-Grammaté Hall featured Broadbent, the former leader of the federal New Democratic Party, in one of his first public speaking engagements in Winnipeg since he announced his departure from the Canadian political scene in 2005.

The event, hosted by the United Nations Association in Canada chapter (UNAC) at the University of Winnipeg, was intended to raise awareness in Winnipeg on issues of democracy and social justice.

“Winnipeg has quite an interesting history of having an international perspective,” said Muriel Smith, former president of the UNAC and longtime board member of the UNAC Winnipeg chapter. “[Broadbent] brings a national and international perspective. From the [United Nations’] point of view, I think he brings a very important first hand message of how government officials can be involved. He played such a strong role in the human rights conference that I think it’s a good message for Winnipeggers to hear.”

Ron Lo, a second-year faculty of management student, said he was pleased that Broadbent had decided to speak in Winnipeg.

“I think he has done a lot of remarkable work on human rights issues and nearly all of us can learn something from him. He has a very positive message.”

Broadbent, who was the director of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development in Montreal (now known as Rights and Democracy) from 1989 to 1996, is considered by many to be an expert on the subject of human rights and democratic development due to his extensive experience in the field.

Over the course of the evening, Broadbent made nine recommendations to the governments of the world that he believes must be followed in order to achieve universal human rights.

Among these recommendations were that the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights should be made international law, that all international trade agreements should stipulate that member countries must allow independent unions for their employees, that the former Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien was right not to support the war in Iraq, and that there should be an inquiry into why the war actually happened.

Additional recommendations were that there should be more collaboration between governments and non-government organizations in developing countries and that Canadian financial help for non-government organizations in developing countries should be a priority.

“No nation has all the answers. We must learn from others’ mistakes and suggestions,” he concluded.

Broadbent led the NDP party for 15 years before stepping down in 1985.