Peacebuilding at the Nexus with Human Rights in Canadian Foreign Policy: Mutually Reinforcing or Ships Passing in the Night?

After reflecting on the core research questions of the volume, this chapter reviews the relationship between peacebuilding and human rights in Canadian foreign policy in three phases. First, it covers the post-Cold War decade of the 1990s, as the “human security agenda” helped to inform or shape policy thinking and actions. Second, is the 2001–2014 period following the 9/11 attacks and the “Global War on Terror”, as warfighting in Afghanistan—and the wider consequences of war in Iraq—absorbed so much of Canada’s attention and resources. Third, it considers 2014 to the present, following the withdrawal of Canadian Forces from Afghanistan and the election in 2015 of a new government in Ottawa, coinciding at the global level with the transition to the Sustainable Development Goals. How, if at all, did Canadian governments during these periods choose to consider and act upon peacebuilding and human rights as mutually reinforcing policy priorities—or were they treated in effect as no more than “ships that pass in the night”?