It's a tough slog. You've got so many authoritarian dictatorships out there, and they don't like hearing what I believe should be a fundamental Canadian consistent message of concern. This is not only because of Canadian values and all of those sorts of good things, but there is a human rights statute that everybody has signed on to at the United Nations. I do believe we have to live up to those requirements. How one does it is obviously the challenge.
When I was ambassador to Vietnam, I had what often I would call frank and fraternal exchanges of view on human rights. I had a checklist, actually, of individuals who were of concern to Canada and the global sort of community at large; and I believe one had to be consistent in conveying those concerns at the right levels. I did the same with North Korea when I presented my credentials. It was nuclear proliferation and human rights that were my two main talking points with senior people there. I believe that has to be a consistent Canadian message at high levels. We're going to get hammered. Canada will get hammered once in awhile, as you know, but that's fine.
One last thing is the UN Human Rights Council. I was the Canadian representative when that council was formed, and Canada was a member for the first three years. I did the second two, including as vice-president. I notice that Canada has not tried to become a member of the Human Rights Council since my time there, which was in 2005. Why is this? I think there's a global issue in terms of human rights that has to be addressed, and Canada is not there. Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia—those great defenders of human rights—are consistently there as voting members, and I think we have to be there also.