Jeremy recently emailed Maxime Bernier, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, asking him and his government to take a more active role to end the conflict in Darfur. Here is the email he received back. Please check it out, and the website he gives below. We'd love to hear your comments too. :)
"Dear Mr. Frimer:
The Office of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister, has forwarded to me on December 6, 2007, your email concerning the situation in Sudan.
I share your concerns regarding the situation in Sudan, particularly the ongoing violations of human rights in Darfur, including sexual and gender based violence, the deterioration in the humanitarian situation, as well as the fragile peace in the south. Sudan remains a matter of great concern to the Government of Canada. To that end, since 2006, Canada has provided important humanitarian, peacebuilding, peacekeeping and reconstruction assistance to help promote long-term peace and stability throughout Sudan, totalling $149 million.
Canada's response to the crises in Sudan is three-pronged: providing humanitarian aid to meet the needs of those affected by the violence, using Canada's diplomatic channels to promote a sustainable resolution to the conflicts, and providing assistance to the United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) peacekeeping missions in Sudan.
Canada has welcomed the UN Security Council's landmark decision of July 31, 2007, to establish a hybrid AU-UN peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) and is pressing for its rapid implementation. Following the decision of the UN Security Council, Canada announced an additional $48 million to support the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) during the transition to UNAMID.
Canada is the fourth largest donor to AMIS. As a principal donor to AMIS, Canada provides essential airlift and ground transportation, as well as targeted expert deployments of civilian police and up to 50 Canadian Forces personnel to both the AU and UN peacekeeping operations in Sudan.
Canada also continues to play an active role to promote a political settlement to the Darfur conflict. Canada continues to call on all parties to the conflict to participate in the renewed peace talks, which began on October 27, 2007. Canada attended the ministerial meeting of the enlarged Contact Group on Darfur, in Paris, on June 25, 2007, where international partners discussed the need to more effectively coordinate efforts and define how best to support the AU-UN-led effort to seek a political solution to the conflict in Darfur. At the June 2007 G8 Summit, held in Heiligendamm, Germany, Canada and other nations jointly endorsed a G8 statement of concern over the ongoing violence in Darfur.
Canada actively continues to use all diplomatic channels, including with the UN and the AU, the G8 and other partners to urge appropriate action in Darfur. Canada has stated that an effective and strengthened ceasefire will contribute to a positive atmosphere for successful peace talks. As a member of the UN, Canada has implemented targeted sanctions as outlined in UN Security Council resolutions on Darfur, particularly travel bans and asset freezes. Canada has urged all parties to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1591 and cease conducting offensive military flights over Darfur. Canada was a strong advocate of the UN Security Council referral of the Darfur situation to the International Criminal Court. Canada has made a $500,000 voluntary contribution to assist with the International Criminal Court's Darfur investigation. Canada continues to raise the situation in Darfur and Sudan in general during regular sessions of the UN Human Rights Council and in other multilateral forums.
In southern Sudan, Canada is part of the international effort working to ensure the full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that was signed in January 2005. Canada's support for reconstruction efforts in southern Sudan is provided through a Multi-Donor Trust Fund managed by the World Bank. Reconstruction efforts are yielding tangible results, such as in the education and health sectors. For example, 4.6 million textbooks have been provided to primary schools, 2 million school kits were distributed in 2006, and 14,000 primary and secondary teachers have been recruited. Furthermore, the distribution of mosquito nets has increased significantly, and over 1.2 million children have been vaccinated against measles and 2 million children have been vaccinated against polio. There have also been significant achievements with the upgrading and repair of hospitals, support to primary health care centres and units, and rehabilitation of water supply systems.
Canada also provides important funding for community-based capacity building initiatives in the south, in areas such as federal governance, human rights, and the reform of the legal and judicial sectors, as well as support for important demining work to ensure the security of the people both living and returning to the region. Canadian support to the United Nations Mine Action Service has helped to demine 857 kilometres of roads for safe transportation between Khartoum and the Uganda border, and has also helped demine 4.7 million square metres of land.
For more information on Canada's support for peace operations, peacebuilding, humanitarian assistance, and long-term reconstruction efforts in Sudan, I invite you to visit the Canada-Sudan website of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada at www.canadasudan.gc.ca.
Thank you for taking the time to write and share your concerns.
Sincerely,
Maxime Bernier
Minister of Foreign Affairs"
27 January 2008
Letter from Maxime Bernier
Recap on Meeting with Dr Hedy Fry
On Tuesday the 17th of January, members of UBC's STAND had a meeting with MP Dr Hedy Fry.
We spoke of China's relationship with Sudan, the Conservative approach (or, more accurately, lack of approach) to resolving the conflict in Darfur, ways to raise awareness about Darfur (petitions, rallies, and letters are key), and peace negotiations and methods, among other things.
Dr Fry gave us some good ideas about how to force MPs, Canada, and China to pay attention to Darfur. Out of this meeting came the ideas for the Ski and Bike Relay for Darfur (more about this to be posted soon), and petitioning and letter-writing campaigns (to be started [possibly] on the 4th and 5th of Febraury, at our table in the SUB).
Dry Hedy Fry, Jeremy, and Heather.
Our meeting.
From left: Kat, Dr Fry, Joel, Jeremy, Heather, and I.
23 January 2008
Election Results + Other Updates
Hey everyone!
So yesterday (January the 22nd) we had the STAND Executive elections, annnnd here are the results!:
Co-Presidents: Jacqueline Patterson and Kat Sorfleet
Deputy Rep: Jeremy Frimer
Promotions & Media Coordinator: Aneil Jaswal
Divestment Campaign Chair: Jacqueline Patterson and Kat Sorfleet
Internal Administrator: Cait Murphy
Web Manager: Cait Murphy
Treasurer: Tanzina Alam
Bookings Reps: Aneil Jaswal, and temporarily Jeremy Frimer
We've also changed the meeting days! They will now be held on Thursdays at 12:30, and the next one will be on January 31st. :)
We've been brainstorming some projects for the coming terms. So far, we've thought of the following:
1) Varsity Outdoor Club event — Slide show, and a skiing/biking event to support Dream for Darfur
2) Darfur/Darfur — A traveling exhibit showing photos of Darfur. We have a chance of getting it to come to Vancouver after its trip to Calgary in March. Possible cost: Anywhere from $3,000 to $30,000
3) Beer garden — Probably going to have this at the beginning of next year
4) Craft selling — Thinking of selling crafts made by children in Darfur in order to raise funds for them. Does anyone have any ideas of how to implement this?
There are some tables booked for the 4th and 5th of February in the SUB. Possible things going on at these:
- T-shirt selling (they're pretty awesome)
- A letter campaign
- Petitions
Also, we are going to be working hard at recruiting new members. We would love to see anyone who can make it to meetings, and if you can't make it, email us and we will try to find a job for you that doesn't involve making it to every meeting. :)
See you all next Thursday (the 31st!)
Cait
Dream for Darfur:
http://www.dreamfordarfur.org/
Darfur/Darfur:
http://www.darfurdarfur.org/main/
18 January 2008
Exec elections on January 22--this Tuesday!
POSITIONS:
Campus Rep/President: responsible for coordinating chapter activities and communication with project manager.
Deputy Rep: 2nd in command - advises on policy and focuses on relations between the chapter and other clubs.
Policy/Advocacy Coordinator: keeps chapter updated with news, reports from Darfur; gets current events updates and initiatives in school news (every 2 weeks min.).
Promotions & Media Coordinator: Ensures that ALL campus events are covered by campus media. Also coordinates the making of posters, flyers, etc., as needed.
Divestment Campaign Chair: Coordinates divestment activities with UBC and the Province of BC public sector pension funds.
Internal Administrator: Ensures that all administrative work for chapter is taken care of. (Meeting minutes, maintain contact lists, send club messages, etc).
Web Manager: Keeps our blog, facebook, and AMSlink up to date. Coordinates web design for our page on the AMS site.
Bookings Reps: Two positions. Responsible for assessing room needs for the year, and booking them well in advance of events (min. 1 month recommended). One rep must also be at all "bookings line-ups" (which happen infrequently).
06 December 2007
Darfur 2008 Youth Conference in Vancouver
Have a look at this: http://ubc.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6747563946
03 December 2007
The beauty of Google Reader
Someone just introduced me to Google Reader--it's amazing! It basically encourages me to read up on Darfur more frequently--it can really simplify the task. What Reader does is it lets you select various blogs and news sites that you will receive updates from on a regular basis--without clogging your email inbox. Just do a search for "reader" and you'll find it (and it's by no means the only service of its kind). It should give you some fairly simple set-up instructions.
Anyway, when you start looking for news and blog sites to add to your Reader, here are some suggestions you might find interesting:
http://coalitionfordarfur.
http://platform.blogs.com/
http://darfurdaily.blogspo
http://sudanwatch.blogspot
http://www.sudanreeves.com
***
http://enoughproject.wordp
http://www.crisisgroup.org
http://feeds.feedburner.co
http://www.ssrc.org/blog/f
Now, I don't immerse myself in all of these. In fact, they make it easier to SKIM which is nice.
The last four feeds (under ***) may include non-Darfur topics.
Also, some regular news sites:
Sudan Tribune
AlertNet
ReliefWeb
BBC
Google News, etc etc etc....
Go nuts!
20 November 2007
Film at the Norm
THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK
exposes the tragedy taking place in Darfur as seen through the eyes of an American witness who has since returned to the US to take action to stop it.
**Winner**
Best International documentary, Jury Prize- Brit Docs
Best Documentaty, Nomination, 2007 IFP Gotham Awards
Best Female Filmmakers- San Digeo Film Festival
**Official Selection**
Sundance Film Festival, United Nations Association Film Festival
