    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [October 8, 1999]
    [Pages 1725-1727]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1725]]

    Remarks at a Dedication Ceremony for the New United States Embassy
    Building in Ottawa, Canada
    October 8, 1999

        Thank you, and good morning. Madam Governor General, I congratulate you on your--you told me the proper
    word was installation. I might have said elevation, coronation.
    [Laughter] It's a wonderful thing for Canada and for us as your friends.
        Mr. Prime Minister, members of the
    Cabinet, distinguished justices of the Supreme Court, members of
    Parliament, Mr. Ambassador, members of the
    diplomatic corps, ladies and gentlemen: I would like to begin by
    thanking the Canadian and American military bands, and the four young
    men who sang our national anthems, equally well, I thought.
        I also want to thank the Prime Minister for his words and the Prime
    Minister and Mrs. Chretien for their friendship to us.
        You know, having said all these--you're supposed to only say nice
    things at an event like this. But I really resent Jean Chretien. [Laughter] He first came to Ottawa to
    represent the people of Canada when President Kennedy was in the White
    House and I was in high school. [Laughter] Now I have more gray hair
    than he does. [Laughter] And he's not even term-limited. [Laughter]
        Your wonderful Ambassador to our country, Raymond
    Chretien, once joked that the Prime
    Minister is, I quote, ``the only leader in the
    G-7''--that includes me; therefore, it's a put-down--``the only leader
    in the G-7 who could still slalom on water skis with one of his
    grandchildren on his shoulders.'' [Laughter] It is true that even if I
    had grandchildren, I could not do that. [Laughter]
        Well, Prime Minister, that's not the only
    way in which you carry the children of this country on your shoulders.
    And I thank you for being my friend and partner.
        I also want to say a special word of appreciation to the men and
    women who serve in our Embassy here, both American and Canadian
    citizens, and to my good friend Ambassador Giffin, who gave me an unusually generous introduction,
    confirming Clinton's fourth law of politics: Whenever possible, be
    introduced by someone you have appointed to high office. [Laughter]
        You know, Gordon's had an unusual life. He
    grew up in Canada, then moved to Georgia, where he became one of the few
    people in the South who had ever stood on frozen water. [Laughter] For
    years, Atlanta had no hockey team; no one there could even skate. Now
    they have a hockey team. The NHL announced it was awarding a new team
    there as soon as he came here. [Laughter] Instead of divided loyalties,
    he is for both the Senators and the Atlanta Thrashers.
        We even have two minor league hockey teams in my hometown of Little
    Rock, now, if you can believe that. The whole American South has gone
    hockey-mad. And since we're all dealing with global warming, it's
    becoming increasingly difficult to pursue the sport. [Laughter]
        I just had the honor of touring this new building. It was nice of
    the Ambassador to mention that the words of
    four of our Presidents are on this wall: President Kennedy's very
    memorable description of our relationship and wonderful quotes by
    Presidents Eisenhower and Reagan, and this is the first time I've ever
    had anything I've said carved in stone. I've had one or two speeches
    sink like a stone over the years. [Laughter] I've had several audiences
    sit like a stone. [Laughter] I'm glad to be carved in stone.
        As was said earlier, I'm not the first member of my family to visit
    here, nor is this my first visit here. Hillary was here just last week and, among other things, had
    the opportunity to dedicate the new sculpture out front of the Embassy.
    And I want to thank the renowned artist, Joel Shapiro, for honoring both our countries with such a beautiful
    piece of his work.
        I have now been here five times. Jean says
    I must learn to speak French, so let me say, Je suis chez moi au Canada.
    He also says if I come one more time, I have to start paying taxes.
    [Laughter] I think that's more important than the French to him. I don't
    know. [Laughter]

    [[Page 1726]]

        More than a decade ago, I came to Canada* with Hillary, our young
    daughter, and my mother-in-law. We celebrated the new year. We had a few
    wonderful days in Montreal. We drove to Chateau Montebello. In 1990
    Hillary and Chelsea and I had a wonderful vacation in the summer in
    Victoria and Vancouver.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        *White House correction.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        And 6 years ago this month--something that means a great deal to
    me--my mother, just 2 months before her death, took one of her last
    trips to Ottawa, where she spoke to the Ontario Cancer Society. She,
    typically, gave a new wrinkle to American relations when she turned down
    a visit to the Parliament or the Supreme Court so that she could visit
    something called Elvis Lives Lane. [Laughter] My mother was always a
    great fan of Elvis Presley. She's convinced that he's going to appear at
    one of my speeches one day. [Laughter]
        Today we add another chapter to the remarkable history of the
    friendship of our people. It is true, I believe, that in the 223-year
    history of our country, the President has never left the United States
    to dedicate an Embassy. If that tradition were ever to be abandoned, it
    would have to be here in Canada. In a world where too many regions are
    torn by conflicts and too many nations torn by hatred among people of
    different racial, ethnic, and religious groups, our two nations, the
    harmony we seek to promote within, and the friendship we seek to promote
    between us, have shown the world a better way and given ourselves a
    great responsibility for the new millennium.
        If we took the border we share and stretched it across Europe, it
    would reach the combined distance from Lisbon to Moscow, Belfast to
    Tehran, across lands scarred by warfare for many centuries. Yet our
    border has been undefended for 180 years now. It's hard to believe the
    Rideau Canal, which passes a few blocks from here, originally was built
    after the War of 1812 to protect Canada from the United States. It's a
    sign of how far we've come that today the canal isn't a barrier, but the
    largest outdoor skating rink in the world.
        The United States and Canada have benefited from sharing our
    continent. We, in particular, have learned from you, a parliamentary
    democracy with two official languages, many distinct cultures, an
    inspiring commitment to social justice and solidarity. Our culture is
    richer, much richer, for the writings of Robertson Davies, the
    photographs of Yousuf Karsh, the magnificent music of Oscar Peterson,
    and for those of us who are country music fans, we were thrilled when
    Shania Twain was named the Country Music Star of Year. And last week, of
    course, when number 99 was raised to the rafters in Edmonton, most
    people on both sides of our border agreed that Wayne Gretzky is the
    finest hockey player ever to be seen.
        Our two nations have a wonderful tradition of standing together in
    moments of difficulty and need. During last year's terrible ice storm, I
    was proud to hear that linecrews from Vermont helped restore power to
    some small towns in Canada. And we in the United States will always be
    grateful for the way in which the people of Nova Scotia responded to the
    tragic crash of Swissair flight 111.
        All of you know well that we share the world's largest trading
    relationship, with more than a billion dollars a day passing over the
    border. Our NAFTA partnership, together with Mexico, has resulted in a
    100-percent increase in trade within North America in just 5 years and
    the creations of millions of new jobs in both our countries. I know
    Canada is looking forward to hosting the third Summit of the Americas in
    Quebec City in early 2001, to talk about ways to strengthen trade within
    our hemisphere.
        We also share a responsibility to help to spread the benefits of
    freedom and democracy beyond our borders. That's what my quote on the
    wall is all about inside. It is fitting that the first American Embassy
    in Ottawa--the first American Embassy in Ottawa--was opened the same
    week that the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated at Arlington
    National Cemetery in Washington.
        For in this century, young Americans and young Canadians have fought
    side by side again and again to turn back tyranny and defend democracy.
    Together, we stood against mass killing and ethnic hatred in Bosnia, in
    Kosovo, and East Timor. Together, we have worked to build peace and
    democracy from the Balkans to Haiti. We have stood against aggression in
    the Persian Gulf. And together we must continue to work for the day when
    all the world can look to us and see how much stronger the bonds between
    nations can be when freedom and human rights and the diversity of human
    beings are all respected, how much richer society can be when we work to
    build each other up in our

    [[Page 1727]]

    common humanity, rather than to acquire political advantage by putting
    each other down.
        It is no surprise that the word ``multicultural'' actually comes
    from Canada. For two centuries, you have shown the world how people of
    different cultures can live and work together in peace, prosperity, and
    mutual respect in a country where human differences are democratically
    expressed, not forcefully repressed.
        Earlier this year, we in the United States were pleased to see
    Canada's rich tradition of democracy deepen with the creation of the new
    territory of Nunavut. We are proud to be your partners and allies. And
    we deeply value our relationship with a strong, united, democratic
    Canada.
        Of course, as any two nations as complicated as ours are, we have
    our differences, and we don't always see eye to eye. It's kind of
    interesting to watch Jean Chretien and me get
    in an argument. It's kind of like getting in an argument with your
    brother, you know? You have to do it every now and then just to keep in
    practice. [Laughter]
        When we do have our differences, we try to approach them in good
    faith and directly, as true friends must. And we have shown that when we
    work together, on nearly every issue we can reach agreement.
        I know that there's still one big issue out there that the Canadians
    are really pretty tense about. But I simply do not have the legal
    authority to order Doug Flutie to return to
    Canada. [Laughter]
        Let me say to all of you, in closing, as we move into this new world
    of the 21st century; as we contemplate whether our children and
    grandchildren live to be 100 years or more because of the decoding of
    the human gene; as we imagine whether poor people across the world, from
    Africa to Latin America to Asia, will be able to skip 50 years of
    economic development because of the availability of the Internet and the
    cell phone and the rapid transfer of knowledge; as we imagine all the
    glories of modern technology in the modern world, it is well to remember
    that for all this race to tomorrow in technology, the deepest problem
    the world faces today is the most primitive problem of human nature, the
    fear of the other, people who are different from us.
        What have we done, Jean and I, since we've
    been in our respective positions around the world? We tried to stop
    people from killing each other in Bosnia and Kosovo because of religious
    and ethnic differences. I spent an enormous amount of time trying to
    help the people in the land of my forbears in Northern Ireland get over
    600 years of religious fights. And every time they make an agreement to
    do it, they're like a couple of drunks walking out of the bar for the
    last time. When they get to the swinging door they turn around and go
    back in and say, ``I just can't quite get there.''
        It's hard to give up these things. Look at the Middle East. For all
    of our progress, it is so hard for them because of millennial
    differences. Why were all those people slaughtered in Rwanda?
        When we have differences here in our homes, in our neighborhoods in
    Canada and in the United States, it is well to remember that the effort
    we are making to remind our own citizens that our common humanity is
    always more important than the things which divide us. They make life
    more interesting, our differences, but we must constantly reaffirm that.
        Canada and the United States, I think, have a special responsibility
    to the new millennium. It would be tragic if all the dreams that we
    share for our children and our grandchildren's future, if all the
    potential of the modern world, were to still keep crashing on the rocks
    of mankind's oldest failing.
        Let us show the world we don't need to be afraid of people who are
    different from us. We can respect them. We can differ honestly. But
    always--always--we must reaffirm our common humanity. That, to me, is
    the true story of our long friendship, which this magnificent building
    embodies.
        And now, it is with great pride and privilege that I declare this
    Embassy officially open, in service to the people of the United States
    and in friendship to our greatest neighbor and ally, the people of
    Canada.
        May God bless the people of Canada and the United States of America.
    Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 10 a.m. at the McKenzie Street entrance at
    the U.S. Embassy. In his remarks, he referred to Governor General
    Adrienne Clarkson of Canada; Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien and
    his wife, Aline; U.S. Ambassador to Canada Gordon Giffin; the
    President's mother-in-law, Dorothy Rodham; and NFL Buffalo Bills
    quarterback Doug Flutie.