I am honored and pleased to be here this morning as Patron for the third AHEAD bazaar.
A lot has happened in the world since we gathered here a year ago. Sadly, perhaps the most epoch-making event was le onze septrmbre. Our world was shaken as never before in my lifetime. The effects of that disastrous crash at the World Trade Center are still being felt as we meet here today.
It not only shook buildings, but people, entire religions, cultures and nations. In Canada, sadly, it has heightened racial stereotyping - particularly against people from the Middle East and people of colour.
But the New York disaster has also been a force for good as well as evil. It forces us to look not back - but AHEAD - AHEAD to the future to see what we can do to make the world a better place.
Yes AHEAD, the association for Higher Education and Development, is a group that brings into focus the needs of people in other places, specifically Ethiopia and Africa, so that we here in Canada may learn and have the opportunity to support those who may not be able to contact Canadians directly to express their needs.
And for that, we thank AHEAD.
Today we celebrate the contributions of people who have fostered, through their hard work and generosity, a sense of awareness for us here in Canada, the needs of people less fortunate. All of the people we recognize, congratulate and thank today, whether through group or individual contributions, have made an impact upon the lives of both of us here today and those continents away.
It is this kind of spirit that is required by Canadians as citizens of the world to help countries such as Ethiopia and Africa as a whole emerge as partners in the new millennium.
This can be achieved through:
The promotion and encouragement of the necessity of higher education such as assistance for students in medical schools in Ethiopia. I cannot help but be reminded of Honorable Senator Keon's gift and contribution of his entire library of medical books.
It can also be achieved through the encouragement of economic growth and development -- one of the goals of New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
And finally through the creation of an awareness of other issues facing the African people such as the considerable problem of HIV/AIDS.
I will focus the rest of my remarks this morning on the ideas surrounding the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development. I will also express my deep concerns about HIV/AIDS.
The vision for NEPAD is the redevelopment of the African continent as is prescribed by its leaders, to address key social, economic and political priorities. Visions such as those described by NEPAD are important because they initialize the action that it will take to bring Africa into the international community.
But there is no point in putting in place new infrastructure to support enhanced economic activity with and for Africa if entire generations of people are dying from AIDS.
In a recent statement by Stephen Lewis, the Secretary-General's UN Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Africa, he states:
"By the year 2020, the number of deaths from AIDS in Africa will approximate the number of deaths, military and civilian combined, in both world wars of the 20th century…a pronounced majority of those deaths will be women and girls."
Lewis also stresses a NEPAD statement that I wholeheartedly agree with: unless something is done about the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the social and economic development of Africa is an impossible dream.
I heard another set of haunting statistics recently while I was listening to the CBC. In a commentary on the AIDS epidemic in Africa, Jim Boothroyd, a freelance writer in Vancouver stated:
"AIDS kills about 8000 people very day. Nearly 50 million people are infected with HIV, the vast majority in developing countries. These figures are almost inconceivable, so it helps us focus…on Botswana, for example. Today nearly half the adults in this southern African country have HIV and the pandemic is gouging out one or more generations from the country's heart."
One or more generations. That would be like losing all of your sisters, brothers, cousins, friends, mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles. And probably including yourself. All to one disease.
It is hard for some Canadians to understand much of this. But we must be sensitized to these haunting statistics. That is why I plan to make a formal inquiry in the Senate of Canada regarding the impact of HIV/AIDS on the people of Africa.
Countries such as Canada can help Africa with the HIV/AIDS crisis through education, the sharing of information and making medical resources available. We also need to create awareness so that the people of Africa can be helped to move into full partnerships with other members of the global village.
It is with great pleasure that I was able to speak with you all this morning on a subject that I feel very strongly about. I am also honored to be able to congratulate those we have gathered here to recognize. Lets all continue to support AHEAD both spiritually and logically. My wife Linda and I have decided we want to support Ethiopian students in medical school in Addis Ababa.