UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS TO VISIT CANADA

NOTE/98/34
20 November 1998


NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS


High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson will make her first official visit to Canada from 22 to 28 November.

The week-long trip will see the High Commissioner meet with Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Minister for Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy, as well as other Canadian Federal and Provincial Government officials. Mrs. Robinson will also meet with representatives of Canadian non-governmental organizations (NGOs), indigenous leaders and the academic community.

Following her arrival in St. John's, the High Commissioner will travel on 23 November to Newfoundland to meet with Alex Morrison, President of the Canadian International Peacekeeping Training Centre. She will also meet with Arthur Maxwell House, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland. Later that day she will, among other activities, hold a round table discussion with Newfoundland NGOs and speak at an open forum on economic, social and cultural rights.

On 24 November the High Commissioner will go to Toronto for an open forum with representatives of the academic community and NGOs at York University. In the evening she will deliver the keynote address at the International Press Freedom Awards Dinner given by the Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists.

In Ottawa on 25 November the High Commissioner will meet with Mr. Axworthy; Diane Marleau, Minister for International Cooperation and Minister responsible for La Francophonie; Sheila Copps, Minister of Canadian Heritage, and officials of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). In the afternoon she will meet with Prime Minister Chretien. This encounter will be followed by a meeting with members of Canada's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. In the evening Mrs. Robinson will deliver a statement at a meeting convened by the United Nations Association of Canada on human rights and the Internet.

The High Commissioner will travel to Montreal on 26 November, where she will speak on gender issues at Concordia University. She will also hold official meetings.

On 27 November, the High Commissioner will be in Edmonton, where she will meet in the morning with David Kilgour, Secretary of State for Latin America and Africa. Later in the day, Mrs. Robinson will travel to Hobbema, where she will hold a round table discussion with the Four Nations' Chiefs. That meeting will be followed by a series of visits and discussions. In the evening the High Commissioner will meet with the Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein. Mrs. Robinson will then deliver the keynote speech at the International Conference on Universal Human Rights and Values at the University of Alberta.

On the last day of her visit, Mrs. Robinson will meet with students from Edmonton's Holy Trinity High School.