Speakers’ Message

We are honoured to welcome you to the city of Québec, Canada for the 127^th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. This book commemorates the Parliament of Canada’s longstanding and close working relationship with the IPU.

Founded in 1889 by a handful of European parliamentarians, the IPU has a rich history that predates the League of Nations and the United Nations. It now works closely with more than 160 national parliaments from all regions of the world.

The IPU’s mission and vision espouse inclusivity and understanding. Through its activities the Union brings together parliamentarians from the full range of political perspectives to engage in dialogue and debate, with the goal of reaching common positions on matters of shared concern where action is required.

As early as 1900, Canada was sending parliamentarians to IPU meetings. Senator Raoul Dandurand, who served as Speaker of the Senate of Canada from 1905 through 1909, championed Canada’s early IPU involvement. He believed strongly in the value of inter-parliamentary relations, and over the course of 40 years helped to promote and build upon the founding principles of the IPU as an agent of cooperation and a defender of peace.

This year marks the 100^th anniversary of Canada’s admission in 1912 to membership in the IPU. As the IPU has refined its goals and objectives over the years, the important role that Speakers of parliaments play in the sphere of parliamentary diplomacy has come to the fore.

In 2000, the IPU organized the first Conference of Presiding Officers of National Parliaments. Its final declaration expressed strong support for international cooperation and a commitment to work more closely with the UN system and other major international negotiating bodies through the IPU.

Speakers from around the world assembled to take stock of the IPU’s status during both the Second and Third World Conference of Speakers, held in 2005 and 2010 respectively, with a view to reaffirming the lead role parliaments can play to bridge the democracy gap and to secure democratic accountability for the common good.

We commend the IPU for taking the initiative to create tangible contexts through which the global community of presiding officers may assemble. The bi-annual IPU assembly, typically attended by more than 75 Speakers and Deputy Speakers, is a case in point and the 127^th Assembly in the city of Québec provides a unique opportunity to build upon the valued relationships we have with our international counterparts.

The following pages present a compelling history of Canada’s involvement with, and commitment to, the IPU. This account underscores the IPU’s intrinsic value as the world organization of parliaments, a forum where member parliaments may freely debate and interact with their peers to enhance decision-making processes in the fulfillment of their parliamentary duties.

Hon. Noël A. Kinsella
Speaker of the Senate of Canada

Hon. Andrew Scheer
Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada

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Message from the President of the IPU

This year the Inter-Parliamentary Group of Canada celebrates its 100^th anniversary. Canada can be very proud of its long and prestigious history with the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Throughout the past one hundred years, the Canadian IPU Group has made an outstanding contribution to the work of this venerable institution.

Members of the Canadian Parliament have sat on every single body of the organization over the years. Nine members have served on the Executive Committee. Senator Raoul Dandurand became Canada’s first Executive Committee member in 1924 and today the Canadian Group’s President, Senator Donald H. Oliver, occupies a seat on this important IPU body.

In October this year, parliamentarians from around the world are gathering in the city of Québec for the 127^th IPU Assembly. The organization is returning to a city that IPU delegates first visited back in 1925. It was in that year that the United States of America and Canada jointly hosted the 23^rd IPU Conference.

The summary record of that Conference recounts that “This was followed by the charming stages of a rapid journey in Canada. On October 11^thin Hamilton, the 12^th in Toronto, the 13^th in Ottawa, the 14^th in Montreal, the 15^thin Quebec, the delegates were received and feted by the local authorities with indescribable munificence and cordiality.”

The summary record also reveals that the parliamentarians present held a lengthy debate on the problem of national minorities. And that same subject will permeate our Special Debate that will take place in the city of Québec this October under the banner of Citizenship, identity and linguistic and cultural diversity in a globalized world.

Forty-one parliaments, represented by 290 delegates, took part in the Conference in 1925. That must have represented quite an organizational challenge for the hosts in those days. The membership of the IPU has quadrupled since then and this year Canada will be playing host to around 1,500 delegates. I have absolutely no doubt that our hosts will rise to the occasion just as their illustrious predecessors did 87 years ago. Indeed, this is the fourth time in the history of the IPU that Canada has staged this major parliamentary event.

What could be more appropriate for the Canadian IPU Group than to mark its 100^th anniversary by hosting an Assembly that will bring together parliamentarians from around the world and for them to debate issues relating to citizenship, identity and diversity?

After all, cultural diversity is the cornerstone of Canadian society. Canada is a country with a hugely diverse population. Its 32 million inhabitants reflect a cultural, ethnic and linguistic makeup found nowhere else on earth. It has a history of nation building that thrives on diversity while promoting equality, integration and mutually respectful acceptance of others. How fitting, then, that Canada should host this debate at the IPU, itself a hugely diverse organization that promotes solutions to common problems through dialogue based on respect and a shared recognition of all forms of diversity.

Hon. Abdelwahad Radi
President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union