On shared values, human rights, and collective action.

Some thoughts on the brutality of fascism in Minnesota, the absurdity of the "Board of Peace", and the challenge ahead of us in rebuilding international institutions.

I was asked by members of the Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church to give a sermon for a joint service this past Sunday. God responded with the worst weather Toronto has ever seen.

Kidding aside, the subject of the sermon invitation was a serious one: Canada’s role towards a just peace for Palestine and Israel. Given the absurdity that is the “Board of Peace”, I spoke too about the loss of trust in international institutions and the difficult task of rebuilding them based on shared values, applied consistently.

And I also touched on other human rights catastrophes, from Tehran to Minneapolis.

You can watch or read the full text of my speech below.

Prime Minister Carney’s incredible Davos speech was a useful context as he presented us with the right challenge on the world stage: “building what we claim to believe in.”

After that Davos speech and the strategic China deal, Carney talked Ford down from the ledge over a slice of pizza, he side-stepped another tariff threat (though yet another threat has been made as I write this) and announced a groceries and essentials benefit built on the number one priority ask from Food Banks Canada.

He’s certainly had a good run recently. And there’s more on the way, with a much needed auto strategy coming soon (GM announced major layoffs just today).

For my part, I’m currently working on questions around responsible AI in my federal policy work, and welcome any feedback or experts you think I should engage with.

And we are also actively team-building as we explore what another provincial leadership run could look like. I hope you’ll join us in that effort.

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Speech/sermon at the joint Holy Land service hosted by Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church, together with Bloor St. United Church and Bathurst United Church.

Thank you for hosting me. And thank you for braving the weather.

I was invited to discuss human rights and Canada’s role in a just peace for Israel and Palestine. I wanted to start, though, with the tragedy unfolding closer to home.

In Minnesota, we are witnessing the brutality of fascism in real time. Masked agents, encouraged to enlist to defend homeland and culture, are killing American citizens in the street with no legal justification or excuse, and with no legal consequence. The administration defends the indefensible, telling us to ignore our eyes and ears.

It is horrifying to watch the video evidence of this brutality. And it is horrifying to watch our neighbouring democracy lose itself.

Over the last year, we’ve seen abuse and threats levelled against Canada and other democratic allies abroad. And now we see America trampling on its own democracy and rule of law at home. Acting inconsistently with its own foundational values.

For a Republican party that has traditionally prided itself as grounded in a faith-based political morality, it has so badly lost its way.

Now, I’m not a religious person. The few times I found myself in a beautiful church like this was as a kid was when I tagged along with my good friend Tim. Some of you will know his mom, Norah.

Some of you will also know my mom, Sara. She’s here today. And while ours was not a religious household, it was a household where right and wrong mattered. Where values mattered. Where our treatment of others mattered.

In Parliament over the last decade, I’ve had the good fortune to work alongside faith-based advocates on ending poverty, advancing climate action and reconciliation, and defending human rights. Shared values make for a common cause.

In preparing for this morning, I was asked by members of the church what scripture I’d be relying on. Scripture is not overly familiar, but certain passages do communicate the shared values I want to emphasize this morning.

Micah 6:8: “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly.

Isaiah 1:17: “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” Or as Proverbs 31 puts it: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

These are all verses that speak to universal truths about how we should treat others and the aims we should pursue in our lives. Treat others with dignity and seek justice.

If you’ll bear with me, allow me to read two more passages: “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

Now, that is a different text. That’s the preamble and Article 1 to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an enduring document of 30 Articles in total that offers a foundation of rights and the realization of one’s full potential.

Everyone deserves inherent dignity and inalienable rights.

It is both a self-evident truth and a moral pursuit because that truth is so often unrealized.

Interestingly, the preliminary draft of that document was written by a Canadian, John Peters Humphrey. It’s a fact we should celebrate, as Canadians. An example of moral leadership on the world stage. An idea that many of us take to heart, believing it is not only the right thing to do but also part of who we are, part of our history.

We should celebrate that history without rewriting it, though. When it came to the adoption of the Universal Declaration, Canada was one of only 8 states to initially abstain. In a speech to mark the declaration’s 20th anniversary, Humphrey described embarrassment by Canada’s decision to abstain and his continued disappointment with the government’s lack of commitment to international human rights.

One could well imagine him giving the same speech today.

After all, we are reducing foreign aid overall, today. And while we’ve made important commitments to the reconstruction of Gaza, and certainly to Ukraine, too often vocal commitments to human rights are not matched by real substance.

Now, in fairness, it can feel like chaos in today’s world, with little semblance of any international rules.

A UN rapporteur warns that the Iranian regime may have killed more than 20,000 civilians in its criminal crackdown on protesters. The UN human rights chief says Sudan’s civil war has put people through “horror and hell” - it is a genocide of systematic killings, sexual violence and ethnic cleansing. Russia’s illegal and brutal attack on Ukraine is going on four years now, with hundreds of thousands of casualties.

And then there’s Israel’s indiscriminate destruction of Gaza and the dehumanization of the Palestinian people. Last summer, Israeli human rights organizations B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel concluded that the mass killing, decimation of basic infrastructure, forcible displacement on a huge scale, and official policies and statements led to the “unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip. In other words, Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

In August, I wrote to Minister Anand to emphasize the need for action. I wrote that the world watched the heinous October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on innocent Israeli civilians in horror. And ever since, we’ve watched Israel’s mass and indiscriminate killing of innocent Palestinian civilians, forced displacement, intentional starvation, and wholesale destruction of health, educational, religious, and cultural facilities. All while Israeli leaders dehumanize the Palestinian people.

I emphasized that Canada cannot be complicit in Israel’s crimes and that we must proactively advance peace in every possible way. To recognize steps taken towards an arms embargo and to call for more complete and transparent action. To commend the symbolic recognition of a Palestinian state, and to call for multilateral cooperation to establish a peacekeeping presence that would facilitate the distribution of critical humanitarian aid, secure an overdue ceasefire and release of hostages, and ensure peace and security for any future free and fair elections.

So much, of course, depends on the United States here. As Prime Minister Carney put it recently, “we knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false, that the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient…and…that international law applies with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.”

In a brazen reinforcement of this reality, we’ve watched the United States sanction prosecutors and judges at the International Criminal Court for applying the law, including for issuing an arrest warrant for Netanyahu.

Given the reality of international law, it was always the case that a ceasefire depended on the US acting or a strong enough coalition of like-minded middle powers asserting a more forceful role.

A ceasefire was realized in October because the United States finally acted. But in the interest of truth-telling, let’s not misstate the reality here either.

The United Nations Office for Project Services tells us that critical lifelines have remained closed and that “people continue to be killed, day in, day out.” There have been countless ceasefire violations, hundreds killed, and I received this email earlier this week from an UNRWA representative:

I regret to report that yesterday (January 20) Israeli forces stormed UNRWA’s headquarters and began demolishing our facilities. Recall that this complex has been used by the Agency since before the 1967 War.

Underscoring the political nature of this illegal action, Israeli Minister Ben Gvir and MK Yulia Malinovsky were present at the demolition, arguing over which of them should get the credit for this unprecedented attack against a UN Agency. Jerusalem’s deputy mayor made matters worse saying: “With God’s help, we will destroy, we will eliminate, and annihilate all UNRWA personnel”.

UN Security Council Resolution 2803 offers a very imperfect path towards a more enduring peace. Positively, it guaranteed the freeing of remaining hostages and called for the entry of distribution and aid in the Gaza Strip to proceed without interference. Hamas is to have no future in the governance of Gaza, and the IDF is to withdraw completely as a multilateral “International Stabilization Force” oversees security.

But let me read you a few recent headlines and let’s consider what the prospects are for an enduring peace that respects the self-determination and safety of both Palestinians and Israelis. These are just from the last 24 to 48 hours:

‘Israeli drone strike kills two children collecting firewood in Gaza’

‘Cold and malnutrition claim more victims in Gaza amid winter rains’

‘3 journalists killed in Israeli airstrike on car in central Gaza, health officials say’

‘Trump unveils his vision to rebuild Gaza into a seaside metropolis’

Yes, the so-called Board of Peace is a grotesque absurdity. Participation is based on who can curry favour with Trump or outright buy their way in. Putin is welcome. Carney, not so much. Netanyahu is welcome. Any Palestinians representative, not so much.

As Donald Trump, the self-appointed Chair of the Board for life, put it: “Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do.”

Canada needs to pursue two actions.

First, at home, it’s the same action as ever. Being crystal clear that criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza is not antisemitism and to respect and protect free expression. At the same time, ensure that when voices do intimidate, harass and engage in antisemitism, there are consequences for those actions. We need to make sure we respect and protect rights here at home: free expression and security.

Abroad, Canada will need to work with other like-minded countries and engage directly with the Gaza Executive Committee to restrain the worst excesses of the real estate baron’s dream. And, perhaps, to ensure that the stabilization force functions effectively. We’ll see where that goes.

Carney spoke recently of a rupture:

The multilateral institutions on which middle powers have relied - the WTO, the UN, the COP - the architecture, the very architecture of collective problem solving are under threat.”

What does it mean for middle powers to live the truth? It means naming reality. Stop invoking rules-based international order as if it still functions as advertised… It means acting consistently, applying the same standards to allies and rivals… And it means building what we claim to believe in, rather than waiting for the old order to be restored. It means creating institutions and agreements that function as described.

The absurdity that is the Board of Peace exists because of a failure of existing institutions. But these institutions still matter.

A friend of mine, David Adler - he’s one of the organizers of the PanAmerican Congress and was on the Global Sumud Flotilla - he wrote in the wake of US actions in Venezuela: “We may never have had international law, but you will miss it when it’s gone.”

Or consider the words of John Peters Humphrey who said: “Surely a world that can achieve the atomic bomb but fail in the creation of the United Nations is morally bankrupt. And this moral bankruptcy is the reason for our failure to organize peace.”

The answer to Carney’s challenge, to Adler’s, to Humphrey’s is to rebuild international institutions that function in keeping with our values.

That act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.

That embody our shared values not only in name but in practice, applied consistently.

That carry the ability to not only recognize everyone’s inherent dignity and inalienable rights, but the ability to ensure they are realized.

The Canadian government should lead the way. It did so, once upon a time, in the creation of NATO. Clause 2, the “Canadian clause” respecting non-military cooperation, was a testament to Pearson’s leadership.

But Canadians can act too, even without their government. We know this, again, because of the story of John Peters Humphrey. Despite the Canadian government abstaining on the creation of the Universal declaration of Human rights, he helped to lead the way.