Pearson Centre
Established in 1994 by the Government of Canada as the Lester B. Pearson Canadian International Peacekeeping Training Centre (more commonly the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, or simply the Pearson Centre) was an independent, not-for-profit organization with its office based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its mandate was to support Canada’s contribution to international peace and security. Operations ceased and the Centre closed around 2011. The property was sold by the government of Canada to a private individual in November 2013.
The Pearson Centre conducted education, training and research on all aspects of peace operations throughout the world, with the majority of its projects under way in Africa and Latin America. Services ranged from the training of police officers in Rwanda and Nigeria to serve as peacekeepers in Darfur; through delivery of pre-deployment training for Latin American peace keepers in Brasília; to the design and delivery of complex training exercises for use in Europe and Africa. It also raised revenue through its specialized training and management courses, which it ran for individuals, governments and organizations around the world.
While in operation, the Pearson Centre worked with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Ghana. The Centre provided facilitation support to the International Network to Promote the Rule of Law, which is a project of the USIP. The International Association of Peacekeeping Training Centres (IAPTC) was founded on 2 July 1995, at the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre. The Pearson Centre also worked closely with the Canadian extractive sector to implement the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights and provide training strategies to ensure that their security providers adhere to these international standards.
History:
The Lester B. Pearson Canadian International Peacekeeping Training Centre was created as an offshoot of the now-defunct Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies and became an independent organization in its own right in 2001. Named in honour of Lester Bowles Pearson, the former Prime Minister of Canada and recipient of the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the inception of peacekeeping, the centre was established initially to train Canadian and foreign soldiers in the art of peacekeeping and conflict resolution for postings with United Nations Peacekeeping missions.
Lieutenant-Colonel Alex Morrison was the first president of the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, which was established in 1994 by the first Chretien government. He was followed by Sandra Dunsmore, and later Suzanne Monaghan. In 2012, the presidency of the centre was assumed by Kevin McGarr, previously head of CATSA.
In 1994, Jean-Jacques Blais was appointed chair of the centre, holding that position until he retired in 2002. Chairs have included several notable Canadians.
The centre was established at Cornwallis Park, in southern Nova Scotia, using facilities made available by the closure of CFB Cornwallis. Offices were later opened in Montréal, Ottawa and Halifax. Headquarters of the centre were moved during the Harper administration to the Ottawa office in 2008 while most of the operations remained in Cornwallis Park. The Montréal office was closed in 2008 and Halifax wound down by 2010.
As financial support to the centre was progressively withdrawn by the Federal government of Stephen Harper, operations were reduced and transferred to the Ottawa office. The centre’s Cornwallis park facilities formally closed in 2011.
The name was formally changed to the “Pearson Centre” in 2012. On 26 September 2013, the Pearson Centre announced it would be winding down its operations and closing its doors. Operations ceased with the final closure of the office 28 November 2013.
Senior management:
William Alexander Morrison, MSC, CD, (1941– ) was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, he is a graduate of Xavier Junior College and a historian. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968 from Mount Allison University. He joined the Canadian Forces in 1959 and retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1990. From 1980 to 1982, he was an instructor at the Royal Military College of Canada where he taught an undergraduate course in Canadian Military History. He was awarded his MSC in 1989. He was the 2002 recipient of the Pearson Medal of Peace, which is awarded for an individual’s “contribution to international service.”
From 1983 to 1989, Morrison was the military advisor to the Canadian permanent representative to the UN. He was vice-chairman of UN Peacekeeping Committee. From 1989 to 1997, he was the executive director of the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies; and in 1994, he became the founding president of the Pearson Centre.
Philip Murray was chairman and Kevin McGarr president at the time of the centre’s closure in 2013.
References:
- David Davis and Alexander Woodcock. Analytic Approach to the Study of Future Conflict. The Lester B. Pearson Canadian International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Clementsport, NS, Canada, 1996.
- David M. Last. Theory, Doctrine and Practice of Conflict De-Escalation in Peacekeeping Operations. The Lester B. Pearson Canadian International Peacekeeping Centre Press, Cornwallis Park, Clementsport, NS, 1997.
- George Mason University Center for National Security Law and The Lester B. Pearson Canadian International Peacekeeping Centre. Strengthening the United Nations and Enhancing War Prevention. GMU, Fairfax, VA, April 1997.
- Suzanne Monaghan The Pearson Peacekeeping Centre The Cornwallis Group XII: Analysis for Multi-agency Support www.thecornwallisgroup.org/pdf/CXII_2007_03_Monaghan.pdf
- Alex Morrison and James Kiras. UN peace operations and the role of Japan. Clementsport, Canada: Lester B. Pearson Canadian International Peacekeeping Training Centre; 1996. p. cm.
Pearson Peace Medal awarded to Alex Morrison
Alex Morrison – a man who dedicated his career to upholding the vision of peacekeeping established by Lester B Pearson, and to fostering an expansion of that vision to encompass new and evolving concepts of peacebuilding – is the 23rd recipient of the Pearson Peace medal. The Right Honorable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor-General of Canada, made the presentation in her capacity as Honorary Patron of the United Nations Association in Canada on Thursday, 30 January 2002 at Rideau Hall.
Mr. Morrison served in the Canadian military for over thirty years, commanding troops in national and international assignments and serving in a United Nations peacekeeping force headquarters. He ended his formal military service as Minister-Counsellor at the Canadian Mission to the United Nations, in which capacity he successfully upheld and protected Canada’s international role as a peacekeeper.
After his retirement from the army Mr. Morrison served as the Executive Director and then the President of the Canadian Institute for Strategic Studies. Alex was also one of the key articulate proponents of the idea to establish a centre through which to inculcate the ideas and techniques which would sustain an evolving need to train the men and women who were increasingly being called upon to undertake peacekeeping operations in varied troubled situations around the world. Ultimately he was the founder and first President of the Lester B. Pearson Canadian International Peacekeeping Training Centre, known as the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, which operates on the former military base Cornwallis in Nova Scotia. Throughout the seven years of his term as President, Mr. Morrison established the Centre as one of the finest in the world. In his vision for a “new peacekeeping partnership,” Alex also recognized the vital role that non-military agencies have to play in peace operations. He was instrumental in imbuing this notion into the core of the Centre’s teachings.
After he left his position at the Pearson Peacekeeping Centre in late 2001 he became involved with Peaceful Schools International – an organization dedicated to providing support to schools worldwide which have declared a commitment to creating and maintaining a culture of peace.