No country is more eager than Canada to stop the world's armies from using children as soldiers. Winnipeg will host the International Conference on War-Affected Children in September. And in June, we became the first member of the United Nations to sign a protocol regarding "the involvement of children in armed conflicts." On July 7, we became the first nation to ratify that instrument. According to Lloyd Axworthy, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the protocol "will play an important role in advancing human security by ... protecting children, the most vulnerable victims of armed conflict."

If his attachment to the cause is genuine, we urge Mr. Axworthy to take a hard look at Sri Lanka. According to a widely confirmed report issued last week by the University Teachers for Human Rights in Jaffna, members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam -- a group that has been classified by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization -- is forcibly conscripting children, some as young as nine years old. According to the report, only 5% of the children come to the Tigers as volunteers. The rest are taken from families and schools either by force or threat. Such behaviour is prohibited under the newly signed protocol. Although the Tigers are not government-controlled, Article 4 of the protocol states that "armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a state should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18."

Much of this recruiting activity is funded with money collected from Tamils living in Canada. According to Rohan Gunaratna, a research associate at the Center for Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews in Edinburgh, Canadians give almost $2-million to the Tamil cause every month. Unlike the United States, Canada does not prohibit fundraising for the Tigers. In fact, two federal ministers, Paul Martin and Maria Minna, spoke earlier this year at a $60-a-plate dinner for the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils, a group that has been identified by the U.S. State Department and the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service as a Tiger front organization.

This is not the first time we have seen Canada's domestic policies appear inconsistent with its participation in high-flown treaties. In February, Mr. Axworthy signed the Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, according to which states must make the provision of funding for terrorists a criminal offence under domestic law.

Canada's endorsement of that convention, just like its endorsement of the protocol regarding the involvement of children in armed conflicts, will be largely meaningless until we develop a U.S.-style system for identifying international terrorist organizations and creating effective domestic laws to prosecute those who raise money on their behalf.