Notes for an Address by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien on the Occasion of an Address to a Joint Session of Parliament by the President of the Republic of South Africa Nelson Mandela

Mr President, eight years ago, when you first addressed this Parliament, you had only recently been released from 27 years in prison. Apartheid was still the law of South Africa and your country was an outcast from the community of nations. Fresh from prison, you were in the midst of a heroic and still uncertain struggle to dismantle the apartheid state and end the shameful legacy of racial exclusion, minority domination, and institutionalized injustice.

Today, all that is changed. A new non-racial constitution with an entrenched Bill of Rights is in place. Public policy is vigorously debated in eleven official languages not only in the national parliament in Cape Town, but in nine provincial capitals as well. A united and democratic South Africa has rejoined the family of nations and under your leadership is playing a respected and vital role on the international stage.

We in Canada are proud to have been associated with the anti-apartheid struggle and to have assisted in your democratic transition. The fight against apartheid was a cause which crossed political lines and moved all my predecessors. From the stand of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker at the Commonwealth Conference of 1961, which resulted in South Africa's withdrawal from that body. Through the governments of Prime Ministers Pearson, Trudeau and Mulroney.

In this, our governments were reflecting the views of the people of Canada. Canadians in all walks who supported the anti-apartheid movement individually and through their churches, trade unions, professional associations, and non-governmental organizations.

Your return to Canada after eight eventful years allows the people of Canada, who shared your vision of a free, non-racial and democratic society, the chance to celebrate the profound and irreversible changes that have taken place in your country. And just as important, it is an opportunity to pay tribute to your own decisive role in engineering a remarkable, peaceful and harmonious transformation.

On behalf of all Canadians, I want to express our admiration for the profound and peaceful reshaping of your country, and for the spirit of tolerance and reconciliation which has guided that transformation.

In setting South Africa free, you have also unleashed your country's immense potential to be a force for peace and stability on the world stage. In the few short years since you have become President, South Africa has resumed its rightful place at the UN, the OAU, and the World Trade Organization.

It has become a vital partner in fashioning a safer and more secure world. And it is fitting, very fitting, that the Commonwealth - which closed its doors to the old South Africa - will hold its next leaders' meeting in the new South Africa - under your chairmanship.

In the same spirit in which we supported your historic struggle, today our two countries work together to bring greater peace and justice to the world. On establishing an International criminal Court. On eliminating child labour. On extending the Non-Proliferation Treaty. And, of course, as partners from the very beginning, in the Ottawa Process and the international ban on land mines.

And just as Canadians worked to help end the apartheid system, we are also working to help build the new South Africa. Providing assistance in areas such as improving the accessibility and quality of education and in helping to rebuild the justice system. In linking our "SchoolNet" with young South Africans using information technology to its fullest potential. And in increasing the trade and commercial links between our countries that are so important to South Africa's economic development. The fact that you are accompanied by an impressive commercial delegation and the key business meetings you are holding here in Canada are proof of the importance of that area.

Mr. President, the fact is that we in Canada care about South Africa. Not just because of our attachment to the struggles of the past, but because of our hopes for the future - the future of humanity.

We believe that at the end of a century of conflict and genocide, the only hope for the world is to learn to live together in understanding and tolerance. In South Africa, you are working to build such a society. You are rejecting separation based on race or language or religion. You are tearing down old walls of hate. And building new bridges of understanding. A new society for a new millennium. A multi-lingual society. A multi-ethnic society. A society that finds its strength in its diversity. And its soul and inspiration in a common sense of humanity.

In Canada, in our own modest way, we have tried to do the same. But we have not had the burden of history that has weighed so heavily on your country for so much of this century. While our goals and values are the same, our experiences have not been.

If after decades of hate and oppression, you can succeed in building a new society, our hopes for this battered world as it enters a new millennium can be just a little bit brighter.

Certainly, Mr. President, that is the inspiration of South Africa to the world today. And just as important, it is the inspiration that you provide to the world.

It is often said that there are too few heroes in the world today. That may be. But today we are in the presence of a real hero. Few people in our time - or any century - have so symbolized the spirit of freedom that lives within every human being as you have.

Your struggle was an inspiration to freedom-loving men and women everywhere. But, in a sense, the courage, optimism and generosity of spirit you have shown after your struggle have been even more of an inspiration. That suffering does not only lead to bitterness and disillusion, it can lead to wisdom and compassion. And to a better world.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am honoured to present to you the leader of his nation, the statesman of his continent, and a hero for the world. President Nelson Mandela.