Canada and peacebuilding: human security in practice?

Canada has embarked on a new approach to security in the post-Cold War era. Through its Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lloyd Axworthy, Canada has championed the concept of human security. This paper analyses Canada's successes and failures with regard to each of the seven components of human security. The opening chapter of this paper analyses human security from the Canadian perspective. The chapter outlines the traditional definition of security that Canada followed during the Cold War and the redefinition that occurred in the post-Cold War era. The chapter then describes how the theory of human security is being put into practice by Canada through peacebuilding initiatives. The second chapter provides a checklist of the seven components that make up human security and Canada's efforts in relation to each component. The seven components of human security that are analysed are economic, food, health, environmental, personal, community, and political. Canada has made positive progress on some of the components of human security. However, for the most part Canada's human security efforts suffer from a severe lack of funding. Canada does not contribute nearly as many financial resources as other like-minded nations and is in serious danger of losing its good international reputation if it continues to shrink its commitments financially.