Georges W.J. Charpentier
An officer of the Department since 1949, Georges Charpentier served in Canberra, London, Ankara and Rome before becoming Canadian Ambassador to the Ivory Coast in 1970. He retired from the Department in 1986, and died in Ottawa on March 24, 1990.
Boxing Day, 1989
* Dedicated to André Bissonnette, Esmond Butler, and Frank Stone.
A Despairing Cry From the Permanent Middle
bout de papier, Vol. 7, No. 4 (1990), p. 37 by Faux Nash I would have preferred to have given this poema portentous title out of some learned tomelike “An Analytical Appraise”or “A Mandarin’s Malaise”Oh. You thought I was writing about my girth,My “Permanent Middle” being a keen source of mirth.But no. I write on […]
Tales from Chile: Dip Bags, Hot Stuff and Jesus Poblete
Three years in Chile during the most volatile era of the “protestas” of the mid-1980s produced a wealth of memorable experiences … of demonstrations, strikes, funerals and a major earthquake, larger, but thankfully less lethal than the ones which were to hit…
A $50 Million Foreign Service Idea
Dennis Baker, Ron Berlet and Ray Guy, three long time members of Canada’s Foreign Service, have at least one thing in common. All have been Presidents of Tradex Investment Fund Ltd., a mutual fund originally created exclusively for Foreign Service Officers, but…
Humble Origins: “For want of a better phrase, the External Affairs of the Dominion”
G iven the central position within the Government of Canada that the Department of External Affairs has occupied for most of its eighty-year history and the prominent international role played by so many of its diplomats, it seems hard to believe that…
The George Costakis File
n April 4, 1990, an auction took place at Sotheby’s in London. On offer were, among other things, 20 works from the George Costakis collection of the Russian avant-garde, and four of Costakis’ own paintings, done late in this life.
Farewell to the Dupont Chancery
A long and colorful chapter in Canadian diplomatic history came to a close last spring when the moving vans lined up in front of the venerable old Dupont Chancery in Washington in preparation for the move to our new building on Pennsylvania…
Our Washington Presence: Living on America’s Main Street
anada’s presence in Washington has gone through a period of transition and consolidation following the move into the new, $90 million Arthur Erickson-designed chancery on Pennsylvania Avenue in May of 1989.
Nicaragua: Long Journey into Tomorrow
Author’s Note: In February, 1990, I was in Nicaragua for the elections. In the tense days before the election, random travel was not to be taken casually, but most foreigners are very partisan about Nicaragua and I wanted to test the reality…
