Canada’s evolving feminist foreign policy: Lessons learned from 2017 to 2020

Canada, like several countries around the world including Sweden, Mexico, France (and to some extent, Luxembourg, Norway, UK, and Australia), has committed to align foreign policy with feminist values and principles. Between 2017 (when Canada launched its first concrete commitment to feminist foreign policy through the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP)) and 2020, important conversations have taken place within Canada and around the world about the nature of Canada’s feminist commitments: their limitations and their opportunities. This special section of International Journal is an important moment to reflect on the past three years of Canada’s commitments to a feminist foreign policy, particularly as Canada moves to consult on—and prepare for—a white paper on feminist foreign policy. On the heels of Canada losing its UN Security Council seat bid, the chorus of critics and experts calling for a serious rethink of its foreign policy makes this white paper process even more pressing. As Canada transitions to a more expansive and policy-coherent approach to feminist foreign policy, the articles in this collection provide insights into the challenges to be addressed, gaps to be filled, and the critical analyses necessary for expanding and enhancing Canada’s feminist foreign policy.

Several essays in this collection deal with the content of the FIAP and its concrete and deliberate feminist framing. Many of the critical insights within these essays emerge from empirical research that analyzes the impact of feminist foreign policy from the perspective of partner countries as well as the need for ongoing careful analysis of the content of the policy documents that comprise Canada’s FIAP; Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canada’s National Defence Policy; Canada’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security; and Canada’s 2019 Trade Policy. We hope that the lessons learned since the creation of the FIAP can inform the white paper process and the design of Canada’s next steps in forging a formalized, comprehensive, and coherent feminist foreign policy. A range of perspectives within government, and from critics outside government, point to inconsistent messaging about the transformative nature of Canada’s feminist foreign policy and raise concerns about the translation of policy to practice, as well as coherence across departments. Among the criticisms raised about Canada’s commitments to a feminist foreign policy is the apparent hypocrisy of Canada doubling its sales of military weapons to Saudi Arabia. ¹

Together, this collection raises questions from diverse disciplines (international development, sociology, anthropology, political studies/science, feminist and gender studies, queer studies, etc.) to broaden our understanding of the implications, imprints, and impacts of foreign policymaking for donors and partner countries alike. The multidisciplinary nature of this collection demonstrates the diverse conversations between scholars in different subfields and the expansive nature of foreign policy priorities and outcomes. The collection fills important gaps in foreign policy, feminist, and critical theorizing, drawing on diverse literatures and tackling topics that should be essential reading in Canadian Foreign Policy.

The Cadesky article examines FIAP and challenges a series of assumptions that are problematic in the construction of that discourse such as the conflation of gender and women. It is a thoughtful theoretical intervention that draws on a very diverse body of literature. This article is situated in the context of the contemporary and pressing issue of the COVID-19 pandemic and outlines what a feminist international assistance policy must mean in light of this health and development crisis.

The discursive critique continues in the piece by Aylward and Brown and focuses on sexual orientation and gender identity, draws on feminist theory, and includes assessment of the pre-FIAP period and the FIAP. There is such dearth of literature in our field that examines sexual orientation and gender identity and this piece is an essential contribution to our understanding of Canada in the world.

The lack of intersectionality addressed in the FIAP is a theme that continues into the essay by Morton, Muchiri, and Swiss. Drawing on the intersectionality literature, this article pairs a critical look at the feminism(s) reflected and absent in the FIAP and its related action area policies with an empirical discourse network analysis of the groups/persons represented in those policies. Their findings show that the feminism in the FIAP and its implementation policies are far from the intersectionality that a feminist foreign policy requires.

Rao and Tiessen bring an outside perspective of Canada’s feminist foreign policy, drawing on fieldwork from 2018 and 2019 in three African countries (Malawi, Kenya, and Uganda). This article documents Global South interpretations of feminist foreign policy and the FIAP. Rao and Tiessen reinforce the significance of the language of feminism and the diverse ways that feminisms are used and understood around the world. The essay moves beyond exploring whether a feminist foreign policy matters, how it matters, and to whom it matters. The emphasis is thus on the intersections between discourse, implementation, and interpretation.

The article by Smith and Ajadi widens the lens of feminist foreign policy beyond international assistance to consider the broader policy implications and realities of a feminist approach to policymaking. Their essay compares the feminist foreign policy discourse with the human security discourse under Lloyd Axworthy. They argue that both discourses are imbued with potential for transformative change, but, in the end, both are cases of unmet potential.

As a collection, these essays make exciting contributions to our understanding of contemporary feminist foreign policy commitments, highlighting theories and questions central to Canada’s feminist foreign policy and those increasingly being adopted around the world. The essays in this collection foster essential conversations between scholars in different subfields with critical analyses that bring in queer theory, masculinities, international development, gender, and feminist approaches. Much of the scholarship that brings feminist theorizing to Canadian Foreign Policy and Canadian International Relations has dealt largely with security and military questions to the detriment of a more cohesive and comprehensive analysis of diverse foreign policy priorities, including trade, development, and the projection of Canadian values abroad. Consequently, there are gaps in feminist and critical theorizing that need to be filled. This collection helps fill some of those gaps.

The diverse set of approaches and questions will be interesting and provocative reading for anyone interested in Canada’s foreign policy past, present, and future. The critical insights serve as important frameworks and analyses for moving forward and will be a valuable set of insights for policy-makers, students, and scholars alike as Canada moves to formalize its feminist foreign policy.