Canada On Fire (figuratively) at UNESCO

by Ansley Au

 “CANADA!!!!” screamed all the delegates and chairs as the delegate of Canada raised his placard for the very first time, motioning for a POI. It was without a doubt that Canada was the star of the afternoon at UNESCO, as nations fiercely debated the topic of preserving cultural heritage in war zones.

After lunch, the two blocs were seen huddled together to finalise their respective resolutions after the heated debate in the morning session. The morning session was a tough one for Portugal, as the delegate was extremely argumentative and was low-key in denial of his stance; the same goes for Canada, as the delegate struggled to confirm his stance on the topic. However, we must understand that ISMUN 2025 marks Canada’s first-ever MUN conference and, with the unwavering support and encouragement from fellow delegates and chairs, Canada regained confidence in such a supportive environment and was able to motion for its first POI and first follow-up question. 

Both of the resolutions acknowledge the importance of cultural preservation and urge the strengthening of protection regarding cultural artefacts. After Afghanistan's speech for their resolution, there were joint speeches between Portugal and the USA, Croatia and Italy and Albania and Egypt due to time constraints. It was at this time that Canada motioned for his first POI of the afternoon, the room erupted into boisterous laughter and shouts, and delegates were screaming, “ LET HIM COOK!”. The chair’s multiple attempts to calm down the delegates were unsuccessful; the delegates put their differences aside and supported first-time MUNer Canada wholeheartedly. After Canada’s astounding POI, which questioned the definition of “self-defense” regarding the resolutions made by the opposite bloc, delegates and chairs alike were cheering and chanting, as Albania would say, “He made them think!”. 

Canada was on fire. Metaphorically. After multiple for and against speeches, Canada motioned for POIs for nearly every speech, and the delegates soon limited POIs to Canada exclusively. Russia and Afghanistan tried to interfere with Canada’s POI, but Albania (the most virtuous of them all) said, “LET HIM BE!” Having multiple POIs in hand, Canada still managed to clock Portugal’s tea, leaving Portugal speechless and fumbling for an answer to Canada’s aggressive POIs on whether using military as means of protection as “last resort” is a viable solution. 

“Who is that diva?” was the question left hanging in the air after Canada’s outstanding POIs. The tense debate was unfortunately halted due to the delegates' need to “touch grass” (taking awesome council photos). Apart from Canada’s short yet concise POI’s, Egypt and Albania’s passionate against speech to the opposing bloc’s resolution also sparked controversy, as they stated “This resolution is like a Lamborghini without an engine.” Egypt and Albania repeatedly stressed that the resolution was not feasible and did not provide any concrete solutions. Canada was instructed by fellow bloc members to “take notes” during the joint speech. The note-taking proved to be effective as he proceeded to cook with another POI (written by Iraq, so technically Iraq is the master chef here).

Canada also had the opportunity to give an against speech in regards of voting for opposite bloc’s resolution, although Canada lacked MUN experience, he however did not lack in support from his fellow UNESCO members, surprisingly nobody motioned for POI’s (A Historical event), even Portugal (winner of “Most likely to become dictator”) clapped for Canada’s historical moment. Even the chairs gushed over Canada’s development, stating that the delegate was growing up too fast and wondering how Canada managed to unlock a hidden trait after lunch. 

After passing both resolutions (passed due to the delegate of Norway’s threatening glare) and mandatory clapping, the fun began as the delegates began doing their superlatives, while the chairs read notes from the banter chair. Favouritism was clearly in the room with us, as nearly all the notes were dedicated by delegates to profess their love for Canada's outstanding debate today. Heated discussion regarding the age group for Gen Alpha and Gen Z was conducted, being the country that upholds integrity, the delegate of Canada even fact-checked the chairs, stressing that he was indeed “on the borderline” of Gen Z, denying all accusations that he was part of the generation that created brainrot terms such as, skibidi toilet. 

UNESCO Day 2 ended on a high note as delegates busied themselves signing each other’s placards. The entertaining yet fierce debate this afternoon truly did amuse everyone in the room, including the journalist, as she had a fantastic afternoon at UNESCO. “UNESCO has been the most dramatic, most tea-worthy conference of the entire event.” said the journalist with a wide smile on her face as her fingers flew across the keyboard, typing up this very article.