After independence

Canadian involvement with East Timor did not end after the Indonesian military withdrew in 1999. ETAN and a spin-off group, Canadian Action for Indonesia and East Timor, continued to monitor the situation and lobby the Canadian government, but both disbanded in the early years of the 21st century. In 2015, President Taur Matan Ruak awarded the Order of Timor-Leste to ETAN/Canada “for the valuable contribution given by you to the Timorese people’s struggle for self-determination.”

Images: Abé Barreto Soares went to the UN Human Rights Commission for ETAN in 1993 – photo from Archives and Museum of the Timorese Resistance, Dili; Abé and Bella Galhos with the Order of Timor-Leste medal, Dili, 2015. 

Transitional justice

As the Indonesian army left Timor-Leste and the transition to independence began, the Canadian campaign against impunity for the perpetrators of mass atrocities was led by KAIROS Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives, a coalition backed by the major Canadian churches. KAIROS called in 2001 for an international tribunal.

Instead of a tribunal, there was a truth and reconciliation commission, the CAVR, which made a series of human rights recommendations to governments including Canadas’s. CAVR senior advisor Pat Walsh presented the final report to Foreign Affairs officials in Ottawa in 2015.

Image: KAIROS media release on international tribunal (ETAN papers).

Development cooperation

Canadian support for economic development in East Timor began in 1990 with a small grant to ETADEP, which the Canadian government considered to be the only true Timorese NGO. The most significant early player was the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, which provided both funding and human rights support, especially for the Peace and Justice Office created by Bishop Belo. In 1997, USC Canada began programming in Timor-Leste, shifting to its current focus on sustainable agriculture and biodiversity. USC Canada in Timor-Leste is now an independent NGO, RAEBIA.

Images: Jess Agustin of Development and Peace with Bishop Belo in Dili, 1999 (courtesy Jess Agustin); Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna meets with USC and RAEBIA, Ottawa, 2016 (USC twitter feed).