17 Directors chosen for Board of new Institute

Roy McFarlane — September 1984

OTTAWA – On the second to the last possible day, June 28th, the House of Commons squeaked through legislation creating the Canadian International Institute on Peace and Security.

Fourteen Canadians, one .American and two British women and men have subsequently agreed to serve on the Board of Directors.

They are: Norman Alcock, President of the World Federalists, and former President of the now defunct Canadian Peace Research Institute; William Barton, former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations; George Bell, Director of the Canadian Institute for Strategic Studies; Kristoff Bertram, former Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (London, England); Harriet Critchley, Director of Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary; Paul Demarais, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Power Corporation; Gwynne Dyer, Journalist, Producer of the NFB series WAR; William Epstein, former Director of the Disarmament Affairs Division of the United Nations; Margaret Fulton, President of Mount St. Vmcent University, Halifax; Albert Legault, Professor of Political Science at the Universite de Laval; Dennis McDermott, President of the Canadian Labour Congress; Joarma Miller, Director of Project Ploughshares, Saskatchewan; John Sigler, Professor of Political Science at Carleton University; Ian Smart former Director of Studies at the Royal Institute of International Affairs; Lois Wilson, former Moderator of the United Church of Canada, Paul Warnke, former SALT II negotiator; and Gerald Wright, Vice President of the Donner Foundation.

Observers say that, because over half the board is composed of prodisarmament people, the Executive Director, who is to be elected by the Canadian members of the Board, will likely have a disarmament background. The smaller portion of the Board, coming from fields concerned with strategic studies, will be more inclined to concentrate on the global military situ’ation as it is today. It remains to be seen how these two factions will interact.

Critics, though, are dismayed with how little progress the Institute has made. The Board has yet to meet, and while some members had hoped that a meeting would be held in August, it is unlikely that they will get together until early winter, perhaps not until January of 1985.

With a current budget of $1.5 million, the Institute is expected to be an information boon to the peace movement. On the other hand, some observers wonder when the Institute will get down to practical decisions, such as the election of the Executive Director, the setting of a course of action, or at least, the choosing of a home for the Institute.

The Peace Calendar

Canadian Disarmament Information Service, 1983-1984

17 Directors chosen for Board of new Institute