Sweeney Guards the Gate
When Liebnitz entered the conference room, he was greeted by the Head of the Service, MacBannock, and by Chief Inspector de Toombs. Said MacBannock, “The security office has asked for our help on a tricky international case, Liebnitz, and one that’s right…
Rogue Tory: The Life and Legend of John G. Diefenbaker
John Diefenbaker was briefly a legend in his own time and, as Denis Smith tells us in this fine biography, for much longer in his own mind. The legend was that of the humble outsider who rose, on the basis of his…
A Moscow Literary Memoir: Among the Great Artists of Russia from 1946 to 1980
Robert Ford is a distinguished poet and a Russian scholar. He is also a legend in the foreign service, in part because he spent so many years in the Soviet Union, the last sixteen of them as Ambassador. When my husband, Geoffrey,…
So you thought your entry exam was tough…
In the never-ending quest for the perfect Foreign Service Officer, Personnel has — it is thought — been working on a new, re-vamped Foreign Service entry examination. bout de papier’s mole in the “S” Branch (rumoured now to be our Ambassador in…
Dog Days of Summer at the UN, 1950
At the beginning of June 1950, Robert Gerald (“Gerry”) Riddell succeeded John Wendell Holmes as Acting Permanent Delegate of Canada to the United Nations in New York. Before the end of the month, Riddell was engaged in the diplomacy arising from the…
Russ Davidson
Stanley Gooch provided the following eulogy at a memorial service for Russ Davidson on Sunday, July 21, 1996. Russ died in Ottawa on July 16, 1996.
Don Guillermo — A Valued Friend in Mexico
When Guillermo Pérez retired last November he had been in the service of the Embassy in Mexico for fifty years and forty seven days, chauffeur and friend to a dozen ambassadors, local guide to countless Canadian visitors. I knew Guillermo for only…
The Head of Mission’s Most Valued Friend
When the Right Honourable Roland Michener was about to go to India as High Commissioner he asked me, because he temporarily occupied an office next to mine, for advice on how to conduct himself as a Head of Mission (HOM) at a…
Ein Kanadier in Bonn
La proposition de travailler pendant une année pour le ministère allemand des Affaires étrangères avait quelque chose d’exaltant. Il s’agit en quelque sorte de changer de peau et de jouer, si j’ose dire, au fonctionnaire allemand le temps de quelques mois, et…
From My Cubicle
Formal agreements exist between the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and its counterpart ministries in Germany, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico to exchange foreign service officers on a regular basis. For the year 1995-96, Ulrich Grau of the…
