ago) tends to be much more forceful in applying pressure in the name of human rights when the right is at issue than when the right to a fair wage and human working conditions are at issue. Canadian troops joined those from the United Kingdom and the United States in Kosovo to protect the political rights of ethnic Albanians from abuses by Serbia. When the issue is prison labour in China or child labour in India or below subsistence-level wages in Indonesia, however, the Canadian government opts for an emphasis on "quiet diplomacy" and "constructive engagement" (Black, 2001, p. 59).
The Canadian federal government policies on human rights recognise the broad spectrum of issues included within the framework of the concept of human rights (Axworthy, 1998). Thus, there is little argument concerning the comprehensiveness of Canada's accommodation of human rights in its foreign policy. Rather, the issue is the uneven application of the policies concerning human rights. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (2001) states, in relation to the implementation of Canada's human rights policies, that:
In seeking to advance human rights internationally, the essential question is how a country like Canada can most effectively influence others to respect international human rights principles. Our ultimate aim is not to punish offending governments, and certainly not their innocent citizens, but rather to influence governments to respect their people's rights. Responses to specific situations require a careful balancing of many considerations: a government's relative commitment to human rights, the range of Canadian interests at play and abo
...