Two of My Favourites

Today is World Humanitarian Day and nine years ago I began to define what the notion of a humanitarian was. Having never met one to my knowledge, I was on a pathway towards change of various kinds. 

In 2005 I was the president of the PGSA at the University of Guelph and about to defend my masters in philosophy. I didn’t know who Stephen Lewis really was. And yet I knew he had important things to say. The title of the talk he was going to give at the event we had planned was called, “Where in the World is the World Headed”?

Up to that point I had only read an article about Lewis and was very curious. So I did what I normally do in these kinds of situations. I head to the bookstore. I bought the best selling Race Against Time and was blown away. I was also reading Dallaire’sShake Hands With The Devilat the same time. A couple of cheery pick me ups as I worked through my Masters degree and through the thought of Michael Polanyi.

As a philosopher and president (I assure you it sounds loftier than it actually was) I wanted to do something a little more interesting than hosting an annual book sale. And this is what we did. We financed the event by approaching different departments. We put ads in papers. We got the word out on the street. We even managed to squeeze 50$ out of the neo-conservatives in the Friedman-esque like economics department. This I saw as a huge success. As we all know the social responsibility of any economics department is, to indeed, support causes that can and do affect social change.

48 hours out we had sold 68 seats. I lost a little more hair over those next few days and needless to say I had very little in reserve.

On the night of the event I was running around doing my thing getting the last few details in order before our guest arrived and someone grabbed me and asked me to come and check out the line up outside. I imagined 40-50 people. To my utter amazement and thrill the line up stretched far out onto the grass and sidewalk extending out from War Memorial hall. We had sold out. 700 seats gone. 650 tickets sold in less than two days. And we unfortunately had to turn over 400 people away.

That was my personal introduction to Stephen Lewis.

My respect has only grown for him since that day. He is one of my favourite Canadians and a humanitarian who has worked to improve the human condition, both at home and abroad. He was an elected member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly from 1963 to 1978. In 1970, he became leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party, during which time he was leader of the Official Opposition.

He served as Canada’s Ambassador to the UN from 1984 to 1988, and was the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF from 1995 to 1999. He was the UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa from 2001 to 2006. He is a visiting Professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, chair of the board of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, and Co-Director of AIDS-Free World in the United States.

He holds 37 honorary degrees from Canadian universities and is a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 2005 he was named by TIME magazine as one of the hundred most influential people in the world.

Unlike Stephen Lewis, I have never met Jean Vanier, but without a doubt he is another of my favourite Canadians. Vanier speaks eloquently about the implications of loving our neighbours and getting involved. He understands what it means to revel in this crazy/beautiful thing we call humanity. He writes,

  “What do we see at the beginning of this new millennium?

  War, genocide, new forms of destructive weapons, HIV/AIDS,

  An ever-increasing gap between wealthy and poor countries.

  A world governed more and more by an economy that is disrespectful of minority cultures and of the         deepest human needs.

   An aggressive individualism that fosters selfishness prevails;

   Each for his or her own self.

   We face a breakdown of what holds people together in family and cultural groups.

   Our poor earth is abused by greed.

   The weak are easily crushed and put aside”

Sober, thoughtful and challenging words.

Any humanitarian should encourage you to dig a little deeper as you consider the plight of the majority world, as you look closer and go beyond scratching the surface of the average and everyday. May we all look for new and compelling ways to bridge the gap between well thought out theory and socially relevant practice.

Terry Tempest Williams has said that, “Despair shows us the limit of our imagination. Imaginations shared create collaboration, and collaboration creates community, and community inspires social change.”

This article is about two of my favourite Canadians that have gone far and above the idea of what it means to create community, but it’s really meant to inspire you to take a step, write a letter or build a relational bridge somewhere, somehow and walk right into the future of change.

David Peck

August 2014