South African History Online

Speech by President Nelson Mandela at the State Dinner Hosted by Canadian
Governor General

Canada, 25 September 1998

Governor General;
Your Excellencies;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies
and Gentlemen,

Thank you, Your Excellency, for your kind words and your warm welcome. Let me
say at the outset that we have been overwhelmed by the hospitality accorded us
since our arrival.

I am told that Ottawa is one of the coldest capital cities in the world. But
from our experience one would never know that. The people of this city have
warmed our hearts with their welcome and made us feel that we were at home away
from home.

Indeed, for many South Africans Canada was a second home when their own
country denied them their basic human rights. For me too, this is a return to a
country and a city that received me not long after my release from prison.

How much has changed in the intervening eight years. Today we can thank you
for having maintained your support for the forces of democracy at a critical
time in a transition whose outcome was never guaranteed.

And to that we add our thanks for over sixty million dollars given to help
kickstart projects launched under our Reconstruction and Development Programme.

The Canadian International Development Agency has been generous with us even
in times of limited resources, and we sincerely appreciate the strength of your
commitment to our own goals. It was important that we should lose no time in
starting to bring improvements in our people's lives so that their freedom
should gain concrete content.

Canada's assistance is felt in almost every sphere, to an extent that we feel
you to be a true partner in the transformation of our country.

With your help we have a new constitution that guarantees rights and freedoms
for all our people and respect for all our diverse communities. We have new
codes of ethics to promote good governance.

With your help millions have gained access to things which most Canadians may
take for granted, such as clean water, housing and electricity, but which have
been only a dream to the majority of South Africans.

Your invitation to us to pay this visit to your country has special meaning
for us. It gives us a chance to strengthen a relationship that has meant so much
in the past, and which will allow us together to meet the even greater
challenges of development that lie in the future.

That is why we are accompanied by Government Ministers concerned with areas
of high priority for us: the economy; the justice system; and health-care.

Our confidence in the future of our relationship is strengthened by the award
with which you have tonight, through me, paid tribute to the people of South
Africa for their achievements.

I will cherish the title of Honorary Companion of Order of Canada, knowing
that it is the highest decoration of your country. I am moved by the fact that
it is the first time that a foreign leader has received this honour. I humbly
accept it as an expression of the deep bonds between the Canadian and South
African peoples, based on our shared commitment to common values.

We are proud to have worked with Canada to help make the world a safer place,
and in particular to rid it of the scourge of landmines which have sown such
cruel and indiscriminate suffering, especially in some of the countries of
Southern Africa.

We think, this evening, of how much in our histories binds us, as former
colonies and now sovereign members of the community of free nations, and in
particular of the Commonwealth.

In this spirit, I would like in conclusion to say that South Africa is
committed to working with Canada, through the Commonwealth and all the other
fora to which we both belong, to help promote peace, stability, human rights and
prosperity throughout the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

I ask you to join me in a toast to Her Majesty the Queen, the Head of our
Commonwealth, to her representative in Canada, His Excellency the
Governor-General; and to the flourishing of relations between the peoples of
Canada and South Africa.