Yellowknife (Mar 21/03) - Yellowknife resident Leah Campbell got a firsthand look at the politics behind the United Nations and its role in the Iraqi war.

Leah Campbell looks over her photographs of Ottawa after spending last weekend there as a delegate at Canada's first International Model United Nations conference. - Erin Fletcher/NNSL photo

Campbell, a 27-year-old Yellowknife resident, and Fort Smith delegates Mahalia Villebrun and Paula Anderson, were delegates for Canada's first International Model United Nations conference.

They spent last weekend in Ottawa learning about democratic processes while mingling with 800 post-secondary school delegates from China to Colombia.

The three NWT delegates represented Austria in the simulated debates, discussions and committees.

They had to bone up on their world knowledge and rules of conduct, and wrote a position paper months before attending the conference.

"It was really interesting. I didn't know a lot about Austria except that Arnold Schwarzenegg-er is from there."

Campbell learned a few things about herself too.

"I'm not cut out for politics because it would just drive me nuts," she smiled, adding accomplishing anything took a long time.

There were a lot of American delegates and although it wasn't the focus of the conference, there was talk about the war in Iraq, said Campbell.

"The UN is a powerful tool," she said. "That's one of the things I find so upsetting about Bush's rush to war.

"If he does it without UN backing he is setting a dangerous precedent t... He's going against 50 years of hard work and damaging the U.S. and UN's reputation as well."

"It was difficult there. People were totally talking about (Iraq and the war) on their breaks."

The conference was organized by the United Nations Association of Canada in partnership with Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, who was also one of the event sponsors.

The keynote speaker was Stephen Lewis, UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and the former Canadian ambassador for the UN.

The GNWT gave about $5,500 to the three NWT delegates while Canadian North gave them a discount on their flights.