REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY MCALEESE, AT LUNCH WITH THE RT. HON. JEAN CHRÉTIEN
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT OF IRELAND, MARY MCALEESE, AT LUNCH WITH THE RT. HON. JEAN CHRÉTIEN, PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA
Mr. Prime Minister, I am delighted to be here today as the first Irish President to make a State Visit to Canada. I arrived in Canada three days ago and I am already deeply impressed by the beauty of your country, with its dazzling autumn colours, and, more importantly, by the warm welcome I have received from the Canadian people I have encountered. I am looking forward to seeing more of your country, in the coming week, when my visit will include the beautiful cities of Montreal and Toronto, the remote Fortress of Louisbourg in Cape Breton - and the tragic island of Grosse Ile, which has so many special associations for Irish people.
I am only the most recent in a long line of Irish people who received a warm welcome in this country, and one of the purposes of this State Visit to Canada is to express gratitude on behalf of the many Irish people who have sought and found shelter here in the past 250 years. I am proud to say that whether they came as small farmers to Ontario or Prince Edward Island - as fishers to Newfoundland or Cape Breton - as famine refugees to Montreal - as labourers on the Rideau Canal - as gold prospectors in the Yukon - as missionaries to British Columbia - or as office workers to Toronto - almost all succeeded in making a place for themselves and in making a distinctive and mainly positive contribution to their adopted home. It is a tribute both to their courage and to Canada’s accommodating generosity. I want to make sure that the people of Ireland remain aware of the strength and the number of ties between Ireland and Canada and that the people of Canada know how much we still value and cherish those ties.
Ireland and Canada do not merely share historical bonds. We are also bound by our common views on many of today’s global issues - although sadly these are usually the issues on which one part of the globe takes decisions while the other part must endure the consequences. When the late Seán MacBride, a former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ireland, and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, visited Canada in 1978, he referred to Henry Kissinger’s saying that throughout history men have sought peace but have suffered war. He said that “All too often deliberate decisions or miscalculations have brought violence and destruction to a world yearning for peace and tranquillity..”. Mr. MacBride went on to say that “...Canada is probably one of the few nations in the world that can take an initiative in this matter, and give a lead to the rest of the world. Canada has never hesitated to take a lead in matters relating to the protection of human rights, to humanitarian law..”
Mr. MacBride’s words are as true today as they were twenty years ago, and have a new immediacy as we prepare to enter the 21st century. Canada has indeed led the way with its humanitarian initiative in proposing a Global Ban on Landmines. Ireland was proud to stand with Canada throughout the process that culminated last December with the signing of the Ottawa Treaty. Together with Canada we are heartened that in less than one year a sufficient number of ratifications of the treaty have been achieved to enable the Ottawa Treaty to become part of international law.
I had the honour this morning of laying a wreath on behalf of the people of Ireland at the Peacekeeping Monument in Ottawa, in honour of those brave men and women who have lost their lives - and those who are willing to risk their lives - in the cause of peace. Canada and Ireland have a longstanding commitment to peacekeeping and we can be proud of our peacekeepers who have served with distinction in the many troubled regions of today’s world, whether in Lebanon, Cyprus, Bosnia or Haiti.
Closer to home, we in Ireland have first hand knowledge of Canada’s practical contribution to peace building. You have been unstinting in your support for the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Your generous secondment of General John De Chastelain, first to become one of the three Chairmen of the Peace talks, and now to oversee the delicate decommissioning process, has been a critical factor in the Peace Process.
Your personal support, Mr. Prime Minister, has been a source of great encouragement to us. You have been there to congratulate us on successes such as the outcome of the referenda on the Belfast Agreement in May and to send us your sympathy and condolences as we struggled to come to terms with the savage cruelty of the Omagh bombing in August. We thank you for your steadfast friendship throughout the difficult times of the last four years, and we look forward to building on that friendship as we begin the task of implementing the Good Friday Agreement.
This is my first visit to Ottawa, your capital city, which has the dubious distinction of being the second coldest capital city in the world. Although administrative capitals often tend to be overlooked or even slighted by the citizens of the country it administers, I am full of admiration for your magnificent public buildings - from your House of Parliament to your wonderful National Gallery, and for the very human scale of this clean and friendly city. It is a small city, but it is a city with a heart and character.
I believe Mr. Prime Minister that you have plans to visit in the near future another city - larger and noisier - but also with character and heart. It is also a city of rivers and canals, and a city of friendly rivalry between those living on either side of the river. Our climate will never permit you the opportunity to skate on our canals, and perhaps we should be thankful for that, but I hope that when you do visit Dublin that you will receive as kind a welcome as I have received here and I will look forward to returning your generous hospitality.
Thank you.