It was on this date in 1985 that Peru’s Pérez de Cuéllar, Secretary General of the United Nations, addressed Canada’s Parliament. He was the second leader of the UN to do so, following his distinguished predecessor U Thant, who did so in in 1964. Later, Kofi Annan, in 2004, became the third UN Secretary General to speak before a joint-session of our Parliament.I remember Pérez de Cuéllar’s day on Parliament Hill particularly well. Little me was visiting the Hill as a high school student when I found myself in the right place at the right time and had the honour of shaking the hand of the UN Secretary General. This was quite an honour for a young person and I’ve never forgotten it.[caption id="attachment_543409" align="aligncenter" width="440"]
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar addresses the UN General Assembly in New York[/caption]Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar addresses the UN General Assembly in New York[/caption]Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.