Lloyd Axworthy: Born December 21, 1939

This edition of It’s Our History, Our Country looks back at Lloyd Axworthy, one of the best-known Canadian foreign ministers of the late 20th century.

Lloyd Norman Axworthy was born on December 21, 1939, in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. His family belonged to the United Church, and he grew up in Winnipeg.

Early losses, then a long run in office

Axworthy finished his BA at United College in Winnipeg in 1961, the school that later became the University of Winnipeg. He then went to Princeton University for graduate work and completed a PhD in politics in 1972. His dissertation was about housing and urban development, and cities remained his main interest throughout his career.

His first campaigns were losses. In the 1966 Manitoba election he ran as a Liberal in St. James and finished second to Progressive Conservative Douglas Stanes. In the 1968 federal election he lost Winnipeg North Centre to the veteran NDP MP Stanley Knowles.

He won his first seat in 1973, when Fort Rouge elected him to the Manitoba legislature. He was re-elected in 1977, and for two years he was the only Liberal in the House. In 1979 he moved to federal politics and narrowly won Winnipeg—Fort Garry. After the 1980 election he was the only Liberal MP west of Ontario. That made him a key figure in Pierre Trudeau’s government, and he served as Minister of Employment and Immigration and then as Minister of Transport.

Human security and the landmine treaty

When Jean Chrétien’s Liberals won in 1993, Axworthy first took Human Resources Development. In 1996 he became Minister of Foreign Affairs.

As foreign minister he promoted “human security,” the idea that foreign policy should be judged by how well it protects individual people and not only states. Its best-known result was the Ottawa Treaty, which bans anti-personnel landmines. Axworthy challenged other countries to negotiate a ban within a year. In December 1997 more than 120 countries came to Ottawa to sign it. The campaign also showed how middle powers and civil-society groups could work together, and that approach went on to influence efforts on child soldiers, small arms and the International Criminal Court.

After Parliament

Axworthy did not run in the 2000 federal election. He went first to the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia, and in 2004 he became president and vice-chancellor of the University of Winnipeg, a post he held until 2014. During that time the university expanded its downtown campus and its programs for Indigenous and inner-city students. In 2012 Anishinaabe Elders honoured him in a pipe ceremony and gave him the name Waapshki Pinaysee Inini, “White Thunderbird Man.”

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2003 and promoted to Companion, the Order’s highest level, in 2015. He later chaired the World Refugee & Migration Council.

Why it matters up here

Northern Ontario readers may find his story familiar. Axworthy came from the Prairies, a region that often feels overlooked in Ottawa, and he lost his first two elections before he won one. He also kept arguing that policy should start with the people it affects. Northern communities have long wanted federal governments to work the same way.