NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS

 

BY

 

THE HONOURABLE DONALD H. OLIVER, Q.C.

Senator

 

 

 

Association for Higher Education and Development (Ahead)

And the Christ Church Cathedral Addis Bazaar

 

 

 

September 8, 2001

 

 

 

Good morning to you all.

 

 

When he was in university, former Prime Minister Trudeau taped a small sign to his dormitory door. The sign said Pierre Trudeau, Citizen of the World.

 

While Mr. Trudeau and I did not always see eye to eye on matters of public policy, on this particular issue we were definitely on the same wave length.

 

I believe we need more citizens of the world, particularly black citizens of the world.

 

Here in Canada we Black people have a tendency to see ourselves in somewhat parochial terms. We are descendants of American slaves, recent immigrants from the Caribbean, refugees from a war in some unfortunate country, and so on.

 

We forget that all of us share a larger, common denominator. We can all trace our roots to a single place.

 

And that place, of course, is Africa.

 

All of us, no matter where we were born, no matter when our ancestors left, are part of the African diaspora.

 

That diaspora is as old as the history of mankind itself.

 

For thousands of years Africans have traveled the globe. Some because they wanted to. Most because they had no choice.

 

Today their descendants can be found in every city and in every nation, in every strata of society and in every occupation.

 

For those who remained – our brothers and sisters of modern Africa-history has not always been kind.

 

Famine, mismanagement, corruption, war and yes, racism and colonialism, have singly and collectively left their mark on the region’s many nations.

 

Many would have us believe the present situation in Africa is beyond hope.

 

White people, especially, like to argue that democracy can never take root there because there’s no established British-type public service.

 

They claim Africans cannot adapt to western concepts of justice and human rights, that the rule of law is anathema to tribal states, that African societies are unable to adjust to free enterprises capital markets.

 

To which I reply – nonsense. Absolute nonsense.

 

Agreed, Africa has its problems.

 

But people, and particularly people of the African diaspora, shouldn’t be asking themselves “ Why don’t Africans do things like the west?”

 

They should instead be asking themselves “ How can we help make Africa a better place?” “How best can we contribute to improving things like health care, social infrastructure and above all, economic development?”

 

A number of years ago, former US President Kennedy said to his people “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask instead what you can do for your country.”

 

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time we of the African diaspora asked ourselves “ What can we do for Africa?”

 

Naysayers are quick to claim “ We don’t have time for such grandiose thoughts.”

 

They say “ We have enough on our plate right here in Canada fighting for equality, freedom and self-respect. We have to win these battles at home first before we can think about Africa.”

 

Well ladies and gentlemen, I don’t disagree that these are very important issues.

 

Indeed they are questions to which I have devoted a good part of my life to resolving.

 

But they are not our only concern.

 

I believe we must broaden our view.

 

We, members of African diaspora, need to become less insular.

 

We have to make greater efforts to become citizens of the world!

 

We are not just black lawyers, black doctors or black teachers. Nor are we simply black Canadian lawyers or black North American doctors.

 

We are part of a far greater thing.

 

We are Africans. We are Afro-Canadians and Afro-Americans.

 

Africa is part of our heritage.

 

It is part of our souls.

 

It is part of the very fibre of who we are.

 

We should be proud of this, and rejoice in it.

 

So I say to you again, “ What can we do for Africa?”

 

The question is not what, but rather where to start.

 

We can begin by educating people to the richness and complexity of African culture, dispelling the white man’s myth that Africa has contributed nothing to the world. Everyone should re read Basil Davidson’s “ Old Africa Discovered”

 

We can help improve African economic conditions by promoting trade, opening new markets, and creating the opportunity for the development of prosperous African urban middle class.

 

Why not, for example, encouraging the prime minister to put together a Team Canada mission to 4 or 5 West African states so that business people from both sides could get to know one another on a personal basis?

 

We can also get more involved in the large international financial institutions like the IMF and the World Bank. Through our involvement we can help those who control them to see things from another perspective. We can show them that Africa is not North America. Nor is it Europe. Africa is Africa. It has different realities, different problems and different aspirations. And these differences need to be reflected and taken into consideration.

 

Another way we can help is by offering our time and skills to the various aid and development agencies working in Africa. The relationships between these agencies and the nations they claim to serve is often difficult for the same reasons the World Bank’s are. We can help by being intermediaries, negotiators and facilitators.

 

On a broader scale, particularly as parliamentarians, we can work to install democracy and democratic rule where none exist or where they are threatened.

 

We can promote closer links between the different diaspora communities and the countries of Africa.

 

We can get involved in the battle to eliminate the disease and poverty which is at the root of so much of African hardship.

 

We can get even engage in politics, and attempt to influence the federal government’s positions and policies regarding Africa.

 

In a word, ladies and gentlemen, the number of things we of the diaspora can do is limited only by our imagination and our determination.

 

What I’m talking about here is not tilting at windmills.

 

I’m talking about finding practical, realistic ways to achieve concrete results.

 

Not rhetoric, but tangible actions.

 

The world knows so little about Africa. And yet it has so much potential.

 

It has millions upon millions of talented, competent and creative people.

 

It has huge reserves of natural resources, from exotic fruits to oil.

 

Africa, ladies and gentlemen, has all of the raw materials to become a significant force in world society.

 

Our challenge is to find the combination which unlocks this potential.

 

I am convinced that part of that combination lies with the members of the African diaspora, and the growing numbers of organizations like AHEAD that works so hard to bring benefit to the lives of Africans everywhere.

 

[ For those of you unfamiliar with AHEAD, it’s a non-profit non-political organization started in Canada in 1999 whose primary goal is to help the development of higher education in Ethiopia.]

 

Together, I believe that we and they can play a major role in helping Africa become a more self-sustaining, autonomous and prosperous region of the world.

 

And why not, some day, a world leader?

 

Every journey, ladies and gentlemen, begins with one small step.

 

Let us all begin our journey to helping Africa today.

 

Thank you.