bout de papier, Vol. 14, No. 3 (1997) — Fall 1997 // Automne 1997, pp. 41–44
edited by David Reece, Carleton University
Press, Ottawa, 1996, 291 pp., $26.95
Reviewed by Allen Brown
Allen Brown, currently responsible for rela-
tinne with Fount in DEATT’s Middle Bact
“Special trust and confidence in your loyalty, integrity and ability.” These words, from the Governor General’s letter of appointment, start off every ambassador’s or high commissioner’s assignment. The first few words also form the highly appropriate title of this engaging new book of essays by 17 former Canadian diplomats.
From “Breaking Ground in Budapest” by the sole woman contributor, Dorothy Armstrong, to “Les Otages de Stanleyville” as related by Michel Gauvin, this collection of essays vividly depicts the world of Canadian postwar diplomacy.
Firsthand accounts portray the work of Canadian envoys in various European, Asian, African, Caribbean and Middle Eastern countries, as well as at NATO and the UN (curiously, no essays on US or Latin American postings are included). Amid the anecdotes are reflections on the nature of foreign policy, intriguing insights into the role of the idiosyncratic in the exercise of diplomacy, cogent case study analyses, and stirring eyewitness accounts of late 20th century history.
Sometimes nostalgic but seldom dull, these stories express the emotional highs and lows, triumphs and frustrations of the job. And what a varied job it turns out to be, with duties ranging from promoting bull semen to rescuing Canadian hostages. Graciously, several ambassadors even share credit for their successes with the “highly competent and dedicated staffs” at Canadian missions!
In his introduction, editor and former ambassador David Reece observes that these essays demonstrate that “the envoy is not a dog on a chain” and sometimes must disobey orders on account of “urgent local exigencies.” More alarmingly, these stories also show that sometimes the envoy is left twisting in the wind by bureaucratic dithering at headquarters or domestic political considerations. One example is Gordon Brown’s sad tale about his on-again off-again closure of the Cyprus mission. Another is Michel Gauvin’s story that Lester Pearson ignored his entreaty for guidance at a critical moment in his mission to rescue Canadian hostages in the Congo. If things went wrong, Pearson could then say, “On n’a jamais fait cela; c’est Gauvin qui l’a fait de sa propre initiative.”
Problematic relations between heads of missions and headquarters often appear as an undercurrent in these essays. Harry Carter, ambassador to South Africa from 1969-72, writes in his essay “Playing for Time”: “In those days I thought there was a very real lack of communication. Reading my letters of late 1969 and early 1970 vividly recalls my bitter feelings of frustration and futility”
What is more remarkable is that this lack of communication could be deliberate. As former ambassador John Hadwen attests: “I have known situations in Ottawa when it has been decided not to tell the Canadian head of mission of some major developments because that individual could be expected to make an unhelpful contribution by return telegram.”
Apparently not all heads of mission enjoy the same degree of trust and confidence!
One highlight, Bill Barton’s essay on “Making Things Happen at the UN,” will interest foreign service officers engaged in multilateral diplomacy. Few are better informed about the byzantine workings of the UN than the distinguished former ambassador. At the UN he personified “alertness and aggressiveness,” qualities he claims are requisite for inserting oneself into the unceasing wheeling and dealing between groups of delegations. Working life in any UN institution, he says, is like a poker game: “It is important to play by the rules, but a good player has to use guile and bluff while still maintaining a reputation for fairness and keeping one’s word.”
Though modestly written, Mr. Barton’s essay reveals him as a master player – working closely with his mission team and knowing just how to handle “the problem of quids for pros” as he puts it. His accounts of the 1975 review of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and 1977-78 Namibian independence negotiations make a fascinating read.
In other circumstances, it seems that sometimes the right word by the right person in the right ear makes all the difference. For example, an unexpected meeting in Lebanon in 1974 of ambassador Jacques Gignac and Jean Chrétien, then Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, finally provided the political “coup de pouce qui mena enfin le gouvernement a poursuivre une diplomatie beaucoup plus ouverte et active” in the Middle East. And perhaps a word in the ear of Chinese premier Chou En-lai by Chester Ronning led to “the single biggest administrative and personnel problem that the Department had to face during the next 20 years” — Canada’s participation in the International Commissions for Supervision and Control in Indochina in the mid-1950s.
The role, for better or worse, of former prime minister Trudeau in Canadian foreign policy also figures fascinatingly in many of the book’s essays. Unfortunately, Geoffrey Pearson’s piece, “The Second Cold War,” offers only a disappointing sentence or two on his work as Trudeau’s special representative in his 1983 peace initiative. A frank behind-the-scenes assessment of this unusual exercise could have added much to his chapter and the book.
In the end, what is particularly interesting about these essays are the views on foreign policy expressed from the perspective of the envoy abroad. To John Hadwen, it can be argued that foreign policy does not exist; what exists are continuing general national interests that require Canadian envoys “to take whatever action is possible.”
D’Iberville Fortier puts it slightly differently: “… Qu’est-ce que la politique étrangère? Un fleuve qui s’alimente à cent affluents et infléchit son cours selon la volonté populaire, ou un ruisseau qui canalise les idées et les intérêts de quelques-uns? Cela dépend beaucoup il me semble des caprices de l’histoire, de ceux du ministre … du patron du ministre.”
Whatever the viewpoint, the collective wisdom and experience offered in this collection of essays by some of Canada’s most distinguished former ambassadors and high commissioners makes this book well worth reading for those interested in the practice of Canadian diplomacy.
David Reece, editor of Special Trust and Confidence, is also the author of A Rich Broth: Memoirs of a Canadian Diplomat recently published by Carleton University Press.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 14, No. 3 (1997) — Fall 1997 // Automne 1997, pp. 41–44. Read the rest of this issue →
