Over 300 delegates from across Canada came to U of T for Canada’s largest international development conference, held by the Canadian group Engineers Without Borders (EWB).
EWB is Canada’s fastest growing international development organization with a current membership of over 6,000. Its mission is to help developing communities around the world gain access to essential, appropriate technologies. The four-day program included EWB skills building workshops and speeches by novelist and essayist John Ralston Saul, Federal Minister for International Cooperation Aileen Carroll, and Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy to AIDS/HIV in Africa. The main goals of the conference were to promote sustainable growth and to “highlight the importance of individual action in meeting the challenges of international development.”
His Excellency John Ralston Saul spoke about how people today have “decades to burn because we’re living longer than the ones before us, and we should get used to giving 25 to 50 per cent of our time to the public good.” He advised the members of EWB to work up North, improve conditions there, and make long term investments. “You have to get a sense of who you are, where you came from and what you represent,” he emphasized. His takeaway message was, “If you can’t lead from the front when you’re in your 20s, you’ll never lead from the front.”
George Roter, Co-CEO of EWB, explained the mandate of EWB. “One half of our mandate is to do great work overseas, make a difference in the lives of some of the poorest people, and undertake projects in basic areas such as food security, water, sanitation, and energy. Our second goal is to make Canada the most pro-development country in this world by 2015.” Roter feels that international development is the biggest challenge on this planet. “What better way to lead life, than to serve humanity,” he said.
The closing banquet on Saturday night at the Colony Hotel saw U of T president Robert Birgeneau and Stephen Lewis. The gala dinner started off with Aeroplan, one of EWB’s sustainability partners, introducing their plan to save three million litres of water collectively across the globe this year, equivalent to serving an average Cameroonian community of 1,500 people for the year.
Stephen Lewis’s spoke about his experiences overseas, about how children in poor African countries lose their innocence and all they know about is death. He commended EWB’s efforts and said, “I can’t get over it! It’s nothing short of amazing to see young people in international development. Everywhere I’ve been, it’s the young people at the forefront, especially young women, in the most dangerous places, such as refugee camps and conflict areas, putting their lives at risk to help the poor people.” He spoke about how an NGO like Doctors without Borders has proved to the world that it is possible to practice medicine successfully in poor countries, and how other organizations are following suit now. “This is just the beginning,” said Lewis.
EWB conference volunteer Francis Kung said that despite the busy three days, it was very rewarding. Delegate Loanne Winchiu found the range of speakers very impressive. “It’s not very often that you can talk to them personally. Also, it was great meeting people from all over Canada, wanting to change the world,” said Loanne, who hopes to pursue international development.
Roter said that what made the conference successful was “The people who are here, 350 delegates, mostly engineering students…who traveled on their own dime to come here and learn about international development and get ideas-most important thing-because that’s what they’ll take back with them.”
