The Trudeau government is extending its push for gender equality into the foreign service.
As CTV News reports, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland announced on Saturday the creation of a new ambassador for women, peace and security while she addressed the world’s female affairs ministers who were in Montreal for a meeting. European Union ambassador Federica Mogherini co-hosted the talks with Freeland.
Freeland said the new position would promote the Trudeau government’s foreign aid policies for women, which include global funding for abortion. She also noted that the new ambassador will encourage one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s defense policy goals: increasing the participation of women in international peacekeeping operations.
“International and domestic civil society committed to feminism has been telling us that Canada needs to be even more ambitious, and one way to do that is to have a high-level champion for these issues,” Freeland told the group.
Canada also plans to co-host a 2020 summit in Uruguay that will examine the roles of women in peace ands security issues.
The EU ambassador suggested Canada’s initiative will also be of benefit to men.
“We want to make sure that women in foreign policy, first of all are visible, secondly connect to each other, and thirdly work with others in a way that makes things advance for women in the world, because we believe it’s also a way to have men advance in the world,” Mogherini said.