Photo: A Palestinian woman from the West Bank is comforted by her sister as she receives dialysis treatment at the Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem.
Photo courtesy Paul Jeffrey / Action by Churches Together


Canadians have opened their hearts and wallets and come up with much needed funding to help alleviate a medical crisis in the Palestinian Territories.

The Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) together with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) are providing C$632,000 to improve specialized medical services and geriatric care at the Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) in East Jerusalem.

The sub-acute geriatric care unit at the AVH was established in 1998 and has an overwhelming demand for beds – with at least five people on the waiting list to get in at any given time.

“This funding is very important for people in Palestine and the Augusta Victoria Hospital,” said Robert Granke, executive director of the CLWR in a telephone interview from Jerusalem. “This support will almost double the number of beds in the geriatric ward (from 16 to 28) and increase access to cancer care treatment for people.”

This project – which is solely funded by Canada – will be completed by the end of 2008. It will serve the needs of Palestinians for many years to come, however, one does not need to be Palestinian to come to the AVH.

“Regardless of circumstances, the AVH opens its doors to everyone,” said Mr. Granke.

More than 90 per cent of patients are Muslim, however, Jews and Christians are also treated at the hospital.

Mr. Granke has been visiting the Middle East since 1981 and is well versed on the challenges facing the Palestinians with regard to health services.

“I have been on the board of this hospital for seven years,” said Mr. Granke. “Through my involvement on the board and my understanding of the needs of the people and the hospital, I began the process of working with the Church and with CIDA (on this project).”

Because the AVH is one of the few centres where cancer and dialysis treatment are available, people come from all over the West Bank and Gaza Strip, putting a strain on an already overloaded system.

“Access to health care remains a major issue for people from the West Bank and Gaza,” said Mr. Granke.

Just getting to the hospital is a major undertaking for many people, so much so that the AVH needed to establish its own bus service. Each morning at five a.m., a bus gathers patients from various parts of the West Bank, brings them to the hospital for treatment, and then returns them to their homes at the end of the day.

Mr. Granke says that the AVH gets good co-operation from the Israeli authorities and the Palestinian Ministry of Health for its bus service. He notes however, many doctors and nurses use the same bus to get to and from the hospital which can prove challenging in the event of an emergency.

The commute is even worse for those living in the Gaza Strip.

“It is a very difficult and laborious process to travel from Gaza to the AVH. Often, people will come in for short periods of time because they can only get permission to come in for the day for treatment,” said Mr. Granke. “If they are lucky they get permission to stay in Jerusalem for the night and travel back to Gaza the next day.”

Access problems aside, Mr. Granke believes this additional Canadian support will improve the health outcomes of those in the region.

“I think this has greatly enhanced Canada’s visibility in the region. It means a lot to Palestinians. It was noted here by the local media. I am optimistic for increased support in the future,” said Mr. Granke.

Photo: Dr. Daniel Livermore holding a defused PMN-2 anti-personnel landmine.


“Landmines are the classic third world weapon,” said Dr. Daniel Livermore, Canada’s former ambassador to mine action and current Senior Fellow at University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

He did not mean that comment in a derogatory way. Mr. Livermore was simply stating the obvious – anti-personnel landmines, which can be purchased for as little as a few dollars, have been – and continue to be – one of the weapons of choice for dictators and non-state armed groups.

To illustrate his point, Mr. Livermore brought out several landmines, including a defused, plastic, Albanian-made landmine (which resembled a child’s pencil case) and showed it to the 25 University of Ottawa students who had come to hear him speak out against the horrible affects of landmines.

Mr. Livermore – who once served as Canada’s Ambassador to Guatemala and El Salvador – described how landmines have been used in conflicts in Central America since the 1960s and emphasized how difficult it is to remove landmines after a conflict ends.

One of the major problems in parts of Central America is that there are rarely accurate records of were landmines have been placed. Minefields are often located by local anecdotal evidence or by talking with landmine survivors.

Mr. Livermore told how landmine warning signs have been stolen by the poor in many Central American countries and used as frying pans, thereby exposing other innocent civilians to unnecessary risk.

When Hurricane Mitch struck the region in 1998, many of the known landmine sites were obliterated and many landmines were displaced into a larger area. This compromised landmine clearance efforts for some time. As a result, countries in the region were eager for the Mine Ban Treaty to come into being.

“Central American states knew the gravity of the landmine problem,” said Mr. Livermore. “Landmines had been placed on prime agricultural land, on major travel corridors, around schools, wells, and other public institutions. I think this is the central issue of landmines – it is a development issue. Land has to be cleared of landmines before that land can be used,“ said Mr. Livermore.

During the question and answer period, students learned where landmines continue to be used and how mine clearance is carried out. They were also informed about the effectiveness of the Mine Ban Treaty and issues related to victim assistance and the importance of mine risk education.

“Central America is the landmine issue in microcosm,” said Mr. Livermore. “It is an issue of leadership, concerted effort, co-cooperation between governments and civil society. What remains though, is to make sure that these weapons don’t return; to make sure that equivalent weapons don’t return and that the region remains in peace.”

Last week the Government of Canada announced a contribution of $750,000 toward mine clearance activities in Nicaragua (which is the only country in Central America still dealing with uncleared landmines).

This is the latest Canadian contribution from the Global Peace and Security Fund to the Office of Humanitarian Mine Action of the Organization of American States (OAS).

Photo: Right to Water advocates outside Ottawa City Hall.


It rained on right to water advocates’ parade yesterday, but that could not dampen their spirits as they marched from Ottawa’s City Hall to the Parliament Buildings to raise their concerns about water issues.

Representatives from the Council of Canadians, Oxfam Canada, CUPE and the Polaris Institute celebrated World Water Day 2008 by chanting and waving banners demanding the federal government do more to protect Canada’s water supply.

Right to water advocates want to see a national water policy with national water standards, a total ban on bulk water exports and a nation-wide upgrade to water services and related infrastructure.

“We have seen no movement on water services or infrastructure investment from the federal government,” said Susan Howatt, national water campaigner with the Council of Canadians.

World Water Day is a chance for people to think about this vital resource and how to protect it.

The statistics are staggering. There are 1.1 billion people who lack access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people who lack access to basic sanitation, according to UN estimates.

Canada is certainly not immune to water problems. Despite having about seven per cent of the world’s supply of renewable fresh water, tragedies like Walkerton and Kasechewan First Nation have had devastating affects on communities.

“We do not provide safe drinking water for all of our citizens,” said Ms. Howatt.

According to the federal government’s 2008 budget, Ottawa will spend over $330 million over two years to improve access to safe drinking water in First Nations communities and an additional $62 million over the next five years to advance the health of the oceans and support greater water pollution prevention.

Ms. Howatt is also concerned that Canada is blocking a resolution put forward to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that recognizes water and sanitation as a human right.

“My feeling is that there is some fear that recognition of the human right to water would compel Canada to engage in trade in bulk water, but nothing could be further from the truth,” said Ms. Howatt. “The UN recognition of the human right to water would set down obligations of the state to fulfill within their own country but has nothing to do with international trade,” said Ms. Howatt.

Many environmentalists see bottled water as a form of bulk water and would like to see that industry more regulated.

Part of the problem is the belief that Canada has a never-ending supply of drinking water.

“I think we are (still taking water for granted),” said Ms. Howatt. “We imagine ourselves as the nation of thundering lakes and rivers and we do still have this myth of abundance.”

In fact, Canadians are water hogs. According to Environment Canada, Canadians use about 1650 cubic metres of fresh water per capita each year, more than double the average European rate.

However, according to John Steele of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, bottled water is not the biggest culprit when it comes to water usage.

“The 22 water bottlers in the province are allowed to take up to 18 million litres of water per day,” said Mr. Steele. “This represents only 0.2 per cent of the total daily amount of water drawn from Ontario’s water supply (2006 figures). The big users are you and I, and industry,” said Mr. Steele.

Perhaps one of the best examples of this can be found in the oil sands of Alberta.

Although the revenue generated from Alberta’s oil and gas industry allows Canadians to enjoy the standard of living they enjoy, the industry does consume large amounts of water.

“Oil sands mines are licensed to withdraw 380 million cubic metres annually from the Athabasca River, and another 140 million cubic metres from tributaries, run-off and groundwater,” said Simon Dyer, oil sands program director with the Pembina Institute in Calgary.

It can take between two and four-and-a-half barrels of water to extract and upgrade one barrel of oil. With at least one million barrels of oil being produced every day – that works out to be at least two million barrels of water being used every day.

Up to 90 per cent of the water is recycled until it is no longer usable. At that point it is stored in tailings ponds and other places.

According to Syncrude’s website, no process-affected water goes back into the river.

How long will it be before we are at a tipping point?

“We need a pause on oil sands approvals,” said Mr. Dyer. “We need to take the time to work on better technologies. We are locking ourselves in, approving all of these water-intensive projects,” said Mr. Dyer.

Photo: Mines Action Canada staff in front of a display in support of Canadian Landmine Action Week in Ottawa.



You wouldn’t know it if you just followed the mainstream media, but this is Canadian Landmine Action Week (CLAW).

Mines Action Canada (MAC) is putting on events all across the country to raise awareness about the status of the Mine Ban Treaty and the ongoing negotiations to ban cluster munitions.

Last night, representatives from MAC and the Ottawa Muslim Association held a public event called Hope in 2008 at the Ottawa Mosque to inform people about the need for a ban on cluster munitions.

Like landmines, cluster munitions affect the civilian population in far greater numbers than they affect military personnel.

The event – the first of its kind in the Muslim community – is part of MAC’s desire to reach out to more faith-based communities.

More than twenty people showed up to listen to a presentation by Alexandra Leroux, a program support officer with MAC and Aminah Kandar, a board member of the Ottawa Muslim Association.

“Muslim countries are deeply affected by landmines and cluster bombs,” said Ms. Kandar. “Allah made nature beautiful and we are working against that.”

Both Ms. Kandar and Ms. Leroux encouraged people to write to their MPs and MPPs and demand more action from Canada.

Although Canada led on the 10-year-old Mine Ban Treaty, many people in civil society groups are disappointed that Canada is not more active in banning cluster munitions.

“Canada is not leading,” said Ms. Leroux. “It is just reacting.”

Canadian officials attended the cluster munitions conference in Wellington, New Zealand last week, and in fact, Canada was one of 82 countries to sign the declaration.

In addition, the Canadian Forces is planning to destroy its remaining stockpile of artillery-based cluster bombs, although an exact date has not been made public.

Civil society groups are hoping to have a treaty signed by the end of the year.

The next round of negotiations will take place in Dublin, May 19-30.

To see a list of countries that have signed the Wellington Declaration click here

Photo: G8 Research Group press conference in Toronto. Photo courtesy Cliff Vanderlinden.


Canada took home a poor report card on its 2007 G8 commitments according to the recently released report issued by the G8 Research Group.

So poorly in fact, that Canada actually received its lowest score on G8 commitment compliance since the interim reports started in 2002.

Canada placed fifth overall, with the United States being the most compliant and Japan (hosts of the next summit) being the least compliant.

“It’s important to note that this is an interim report,” said Cliff Vanderlinden, chair of the G8 Research Group. “G8 members still have four months to shore up their compliance before the next G8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan.”

The 2007 Heiligendamm G8 Summit Interim Compliance Report looked at 23 priority commitments that were made by G8 countries in Germany last June.

The researchers looked at commitments to make improvements on a wide range of issues from helping Africa, to non-proliferation, to climate change and energy efficiency, to intellectual property rights.

Is Canada’s low score on compliance simply a wake-up call, or is it something more worrisome?

“Canada’s low score has different implications for different commitment areas,” said Michael Erdman, director of compliance studies.

“For the African commitments, it represents timing issues with respect to Canada’s contributions to African development. In other areas, however, it should signal that Canada needs to re-engage with the international community on key issues, such as the fight against counterfeiting and piracy, and controlling the spread of WMD and their delivery systems,” said Mr. Erdman.

Canada has failed to comply with three priority commitments: Intellectual Property Protection, Africa: Education, and the Hague Code of Conduct (which seeks to restrict the spread of ballistic missile technology).

Mr. Erdman believes Canada can come into compliance with these three commitments without a large financial outlay.

“Intellectual Property Protection requires a change of policy focus from blocking the entry of counterfeit goods into Canada, to cooperating with developing nations in order to stop these goods at their source,” said Mr. Erdman.

Canada did not comply with the education commitment to Africa because of its choice of funding strategies – it chose to donate $24 million as a lump sum in 2005 instead of providing yearly disbursements. To comply with this commitment, the government could provide annual contributions to the Fast Track Initiative-Education For All.

In order to fully comply with the Hague Code of Conduct (HCOC), Mr. Erdman says Canada needs more active promotion of the Code through Canadian diplomatic channels and to release annual reports on Canada’s implementation of the HCOC.

In addition, Canada has not reached full compliance on 10 other priority commitments; however, Mr. Erdman does not see any reason to be alarmed.

“I am quite confident that we will see significant Canadian action on several of the commitments with which Canada partially complied,” said Mr. Erdman.

“Also, there are a series of meetings for G8 finance, justice, development and environment ministers scheduled over the next five months and it is highly likely that these meetings will encourage greater compliance in the G8 member states,” he added.

"Canada takes its G8 commitments very seriously," said a spokesperson with DFAIT. "The Government of Canada is working domestically and in partnership with other G8 members to ensure that the commitments undertaken at the Heiligendamm G8 Summit, as well as previous G8 Summits, are implemented in a coherent, credible and timely fashion."

The next G8 Summit will deal with a number of topics including climate change, energy policies, African development, fighting infectious diseases and non-proliferation. It will take place July 7-9 in Japan.

The G8 Research Group is an independent organization at the Munk Centre for International Studies in the University of Toronto.

To read the report, please click here

Photo: cover of the book, Empty Casing. Photo courtesy Douglas & McIntyre. For more information from the publisher, please click here


For Fred Doucette, happiness is a good night’s sleep.

The former infantry soldier with the Royal Canadian Regiment did not always have trouble sleeping, but after multiple United Nations peacekeeping tours, the “worm of fear” worked its way through his mind and body and nearly consumed him.

Unfortunately, neither the military nor the psychiatric community could provide an explanation initially. For some time, Mr. Doucette was alone with his demons. Anger, flashbacks and torment ruled his life and affected his relationship with his family and co-workers.

Finally, in the summer of 2001, Mr. Doucette saw a psychiatrist at the Operational Trauma Social Support Centre (OTSSC) in Halifax and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Obtaining that information and finding out that PTSD was treatable, marked a turning point in his life.

Mr. Doucette does not know exactly what triggered his PTSD, but his one-year tour of duty as an unarmed United Nations Military Observer (UNMO) in Bosnia was a flashpoint.

This was not his first tour as a peacekeeper, nor would it be his last, but what he saw in Sarajevo continues to haunt him to this day.

That peacekeeping experience prompted Mr. Doucette (who retired from the military after 32 years of service) to write a book: Empty Casing: A Soldier’s Memoir of Sarajevo Under Siege (Douglas & McIntyre).

When he arrived in Sarajevo in July 1995, the city had already been under constant shelling by Serbian forces for three years. The infrastructure had all but collapsed; food, water and medicine were all in short supply. People were living on the edge. Even Mr. Doucette had to dodge Serbian snipers on his walk to work in the morning.

For much of his stay in Sarajevo, Mr. Doucette – like other UNMOs – was billeted with a local family because “that is where the beds were.”

Mr. Doucette’s hosts – Mrs. Mehmebegovic (who everyone called Mama) and her two sons, Goran and Zoran (who both served on the front line) feature prominently in the book and the bond between this Bosnian family under siege and the Canadian soldier trying to help them is what makes the book such a delight to read.

Mr. Doucette describes the routine of life in the apartment, especially time spent in the kitchen, where he got an intimate view of a family struggling to stay alive.

“The kitchen table was the centre, the gathering place for all that transpired in the apartment,” writes Mr. Doucette. “On that first morning, I sat at the table, shy and embarrassed, feeling totally out of place. This family had so little and yet they were so hospitable offering me coffee and bread.”

Mr. Doucette quickly learned the importance Bosnians place on a good cup of coffee and was instructed on how to hold the filjan (cup) and sip – not gulp.

“This isn’t your Tim Horton’s double-double,” says Mr. Doucette.

The good times around the kitchen table and the company of the Mehmebegovic family had a huge influence on Mr. Doucette.

He was acutely aware of the criticism heaped upon the UN peacekeepers by some of the civilian population.

“We were called UNPROFOR – United Nations Protection Force,” says Mr. Doucette. “People would come up to us and say ‘please protect us.’”

Mr. Doucette recalls how he and other UNMOs did whatever they could to help – from delivering water and firewood to slipping them the occasional ration box of hard-to-get food.

Unfortunately, it was not enough. An estimated 12,000 people were killed and thousands more were injured during the siege of the city.

Mr. Doucette has many memories of his time in Sarajevo. One of those is the importance of routine.

“People kept dogs because they wanted a link to a normal life (despite the chronic food shortages). You would see people walking around wearing a jacket and tie. Women wore makeup. People were trying to hold on to their dignity, even going out to cafes for a little snippet of normalcy,” recounts Mr. Doucette.

After his one-year tour, normalcy was exactly what he was looking for when he returned to Canada. Unfortunately, he would have to fight many battles before finding it.

One of the problems was the fact that he went from war-torn Bosnia to sitting in his backyard in Edmonton in less than 24 hours. There was no time to decompress, no one to talk to.

“It has changed radically now,” said Mr. Doucette. All soldiers go through a five-day decompression in a neutral spot (Cyprus) and have several debriefings.”

Upon his return to Canada, Mr. Doucette’s flashbacks and fits of anger began. Trips to health care professionals proved useless. His work began to slide.

Mr. Doucette admits he “hit the wall” in 2001. His trip to the OTSSC in Halifax led to a diagnosis and the beginning of many sessions in therapy.

While he is still on medication, today, Mr. Doucette is a changed man. His days of going to “the dark side” are behind him.

When asked if he considers himself successful, he says: “It’s hard to say what success is. To me, it’s having my life back. It’s great to not sweat the small stuff anymore. There was a lot of guilt, but we worked on that. Saying, I wish I could have, should have, would have – you can work yourself into a hole doing that.”

Although Mr. Doucette no longer wears his uniform, he remains involved with the Canadian Forces in his job as head of operations with the Operational Stress Injury Social Support Program in New Brunswick.

He meets with current and former soldiers, listening to their concerns and helps them find the appropriate health care professionals.

One of his goals is to return to Sarajevo with his wife Janis and reconnect with the Mehmebegovic family.

“They are there and I hope they are living large,” said Mr. Doucette.

His book, Empty Casing, gives Canadians an intimate look at the life of Canadian soldiers in a war zone, and the stress they have to live with.


To see my photographs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, please click here

Photo: Jennifer Lash of the environmental group Living Oceans Society at a press conference in Ottawa.


Environmental groups came to Ottawa this week to get the federal government to commit to improving the health of marine ecosystems on the Pacific Coast.

In particular, the David Suzuki Foundation, Sierra Club (B.C.) and the Living Oceans Society are demanding the government improve its oceans management practices by World Oceans Day (June 8) or face more public pressure.

While some may say that is nothing more than tree-hugger rhetoric, consider this: Canada’s oceans contribute more that $23 billion annually to our economy and employ more than 152,000 people.

Without healthy oceans, expect that number to drop, say the environmentalists.

The groups are particularly worried about the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA), an area 88,000 square kilometres large that includes much of the central and north coast of B.C.

The groups presented the government with a list of four key recommendations that they would like to see enacted.

“What we are asking the federal government to do is establish a federal/provincial and First Nations protocol agreement that will mandate and initiate a comprehensive marine use planning process,” said Bill Wareham, senior conservation specialist, David Suzuki Foundation.

Other recommendations include: a structure that encourages the participation of the 35,000 residents who live in PNCIMA communities; the establishment of a multidisciplinary team to conduct research and analysis on critical marine issues; and the creation of a marine planning secretariat to operate the planning process.

Environmentalists feel action needs to be taken because some fish stocks are in decline and some marine species are at risk.
In addition, the groups voiced concern that if the current moratorium on oil tanker traffic were to be rescinded, the area would come under threat of an oil spill.

Even without oil tankers, the volume of containers being shipped through the area is expected to increase 300 per cent over the next 15 years, according to environmentalists.

“There is a threat to our marine ecosystems,” said Mr. Wareham. “We need a plan for the people who live in this region. They depend on the prosperity that the ocean provides. With no plan, we risk losing all of the benefits that this ocean provides. It is an asset we cannot afford to lose.”

“We met with Minister Hearn and shared (our information) with him and he was non-committal at this time,” said Jennifer Lash, executive director, Living Oceans Society. “We feel he definitely listened, but we would have liked to see a stronger commitment from him to take action.”

Despite this, all sides have agreed to continue the dialogue.

Ms. Lash feels the government has everything it requires to make progress on this file.

“Canada brought the Oceans Act in 1997 and it was quite progressive. Unfortunately since then, other countries have actually gotten down and done substantial work. We have not necessarily seen that coming out of Canada. Although we have the legislative tools in place, our performance in actually implementing them has been quite poor compared to other countries,” said Ms. Lash.

Fisheries and Oceans Minister, Loyola Hearn, declined interview requests, however, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans website, the government will spend $61.5 million over five years to improve the health of the oceans.