19 April 2018
CCIC Event Asks if Canada is Doing Enough to Meet SDGs
Photo by IISD | Lynn Wagner
story highlights

John McArthur, Brookings Institution, delivered a keynote address at a CCIC event.

McArthur noted that Canada is moving backwards on 18 SDG targets, while 26 need a breakthrough, 12 need acceleration, and 17 are on track.

For ODA to grow properly, he said there needs to be a new strategic business case that shows how increasing ODA is in the best interests of the country, not just the development sector.

16 April 2018: At the third of four FutureDev events hosted by the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC), John McArthur, Brookings Institution, delivered a keynote address, asking whether Canada is doing enough in terms of meeting its responsibilities and commitments to the SDGs.

The event took place at the Canadian Human Rights Museum, in Winnipeg, on 16 April 2018. Welcoming participants, CCIC Executive Director Julia Sanchez noted that the event is part of an ongoing discussion on how CCIC can shape the international development sector in Canada.

McArthur recalled that during the UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) annual debate in 2017, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau restated Canada’s commitment to the SDGs, both at home and abroad. But in addition to respecting international commitments, McArthur emphasized, SDG implementation should be pursued because the Goals can be used as a tool to articulate desired outcomes, and to build a common understanding of successes. By encouraging politicians and decision makers to take up the SDGs in areas they are already responsible for, he suggested, they could use the SDG targets to add a benchmark measure of success in their work.

McArthur said the SDGs can be categorized as addressing three types of problems: external objectives, which include Goals that countries such as Canada have already reached (such as SDG target 3.2, to achieve under-5 child mortality <25/1000 births); domestic objectives, which include SDG targets that Canada still needs to improve upon (such as SDG target 1.2, to reduce national poverty); and collective objectives, where Canada’s action on a Goal can disproportionately impact global progress (such as SDG target 14.5, to conserve 10% of marine and coastal areas). He emphasized that all of the Goals are important, and while all individuals cannot undertake all of the Goals, if we all work on a Goal, then ultimately all 17 Goals will receive some focus.

McArthur highlighted a 2017 publication in which he and Krista Rasmussen reviewed domestic data for Canada’s outcomes on the SDGs. The findings show that the country is moving backwards on 18 SDG targets, while 26 need a breakthrough, 12 need acceleration, and 17 are on track. He highlighted that every Canadian province is on track to reduce cardiovascular disease by one third by 2030. For 44 targets, however, he noted that business as usual is not sufficient. He said Percent Low Income (LICO-AT), Canada’s measure of poverty, remains in pockets of communities. Similarly, in the north, food insecurity rates range from 9.8% in Yukon to 40% in Nunavut. Nationally, he reported that the average percentage for food insecurity hovers around ten percent or 3.6 million people. Additional areas requiring attention include malnutrition, substance abuse, quality drinking water, violence against children, and the number of unsentenced detainees as a portion of the prison population.

Internationally, McArthur noted that Canadian official development assistance (ODA) is currently holding constant. In order for it to grow properly, he said there needs to be a new strategic business case that shows how increasing ODA is in the best interests of the country, not just the development sector. He emphasized that Canada needs the world to succeed so it can as well, and said that Canada’s success stands on how much it helps its own communities and communities around the world. [Recording FutureDev Cities Series 2018]

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