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May 6, 2007  Sing Tao Daily

Mason Loh, QC, Board Member of the Law Courts Education Society of BC Praised the UN for Their Peace Keeping Mission Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Lester B. Pearson, Ex-Prime Minister of Canada, Winning the Nobel Peace Prize

The Vancouver Chapter of The United Nations Association in Canada and The Canadian Institute of International Affairs jointly celebrated the 50th Anniversary of ex-Prime Minister Lester Bowles Pearson winning the Nobel Peace Prize. The event received huge support from peace loving organizations, communities, and academics.

Mason Loh, QC, Chair of The International Board of the Law Courts Education Society of BC, said that Prime Minister Pearson overcame numerous challenges at the time, managed to persuade the UN to establish an emergency force (the predecessor of UN Peace Keeping Force) in order to help resolve disputes before they became major contentions. Since then Canada has been recognized as an international peace mediator. However the recent Afghan prisoner issue and Canadian Forces casualties have forced us to reconsider our roles in the international peace keeping effort. Mason said that the Law Courts Education Society of BC cares and strives to resolve international peace issues, and has been helping to promote the protection of human rights for some time. In the past 10 years Mason, as Chair of the International Board of the Law Courts Education Society of BC, has led teams of justice experts to China helping to improve their justice system; to Guatemala helping to improve their police and prosecution system so that human rights, life and property are better protected. They went to South Africa to establish a mechanism of protecting women’s rights; and to Montenegro to rebuild their justice system after war.

Prior to becoming the 14th Canadian Prime Minister, Lester Bowles Pearson worked in the Foreign Affairs department for more than 20 years and was assumed an important position at the UN. During the 1956 Suez Canal Crisis, Britain, France, Egypt, and Israel each sent troops to protect their respective interests. Pearson quickly initiated and established a UN peace keeping force, sent them into the disputed area and dissolved the crisis. This troop was the predecessor of the modern day UN Peace Keeping Forces. Because of his mediation of the Suez Canal conflict, Pearson received the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize. On the international stage, Pearson assumed the role of Canadian representative, participated in the preparation of establishing a number of major international organizations such as International Alliance, UN, NATO, etc. In 1948, Pearson was named the Chief of Canadian Foreign Affairs and became the Canadian representative in the UN. Mason highly praised Prime Minister Pearson for his contribution to Canada and the world, including promoting leaders like Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chretien, and John Turner who later became prime ministers of Canada. When Pearson became the Prime Minister in 1963, he brought forward the Canada Pension Plan and Universal Health Care System. In 1965, he adopted the maple leaf as our national flag.

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