In these complicated and stressful times, many people have stopped reading the news.

Speaking to a packed house at a UM event taking place at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights this past January, the Hon. Lloyd Axworthy bemusedly confessed to getting “a little irritated” by such declarations at dinner parties whenever conversation turned to the Trump Administration or the mind-boggling torrent of bad news.  

“When people say, ‘I just can’t watch the news anymore,’ I think, ‘Well that’s your prerogative, but if you can’t watch the news then maybe go and help create some news that’s better news,’” said Axworthy.

Disengagement and despondency in the face of the constant barrage is, for Axworthy, a misunderstanding of the political process and what it means to be a global citizen.

He was in Winnipeg as part of the J.W. Dafoe Political Studies Students’ Conference, organized annually by UM political studies students. This year’s conference focussed on the topic, “The UN at 80: Successes, Hopes, Failures and Challenges.” Marking its fortieth year, the student-run conference featured not one but two well-known Canadian political figures: Axworthy, former Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Chrétien government, and Bob Rae, a Canadian diplomat and former provincial and federal politician who currently serves as the Permanent Representative of Canada to the UN in New York.

Both gave insights about the history and possible future of the organization, and how, from the creation of its charter, the UN helped build relationships between nation-states — but also amplify and strengthen human security globally.