A force for good in our time - A new spiritual hero of the moment

Louise Arbour, former Canadian Supreme Court Justice, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is now running a private NGO, the International Crisis Group.

While the International Crisis Group is not a boots-on-the-ground aid group in terms of directly delivering food or medical aid to crisis-stricken areas, it is instrumental is getting governments to do the right thing by providing impartial analysis and sound advice to those in the corridors of power.
In the recent Maple Syrup Revolution podcast, Lindsay Stewart and I talked briefly about the damage done to Canada international reputation over the last few years by Harper Government. It is thanks to the fine work of people like Louise Arbour and Steven Lewis and our past dedication to international peacekeeping missions that give Canada any international credibility at all. 
In a recent inteview with the Toronto Star she claims that of her many public incarnations this will be the last. I think that is unfortunate because there is one more incarnation I'd like to see her in, that of leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Prime Minister of Canada  -- since she doesn't seem anymore impressed with the current government than I am:

“Is Canada punching below its weight?” she says. “Is it punching at all?”

Ottawa, Arbour argues, is “largely absent on the international scene. It’s very difficult to capture any kind of message, position or form of engagement these days.”

And she adds, “when I was prosecutor in 1996, it mattered what Canada thought. On issues of justice and ethics, it mattered what the Canadian position was. There was a sense that you would get an honest, well-thought-out approach. Not just a raw pursuit of ideological or national interest.”

Check out this 2008 interview from CBC radio's As It Happens.
And a tip of the hat to Estaban in Olde Berlin for the suggestion.