bout de papier, Vol. 30, No. 2 (2017), pp. 39–40
notebooks of former Canadia
by RHOMA/ACMAR, Edited by Robert Higham,
Reviewed by Lia Hiltz
REMEMBER THE TIME the retired ambassadors got together in the backyard? It was just gone summer. A nip in the air, but there was a nice fire going. What a night. And the stories! April told the one about Castro getting schooled in Havana by the Agriculture minister. Roberts told us how he fixed a bungled Mulroney-Gorbachev bilateral meeting in Moscow, only to be handpicked for a sort-of promotion — back in Ottawa.
When the old-timers thought you were out of earshot, they laughed over the never-forgotten screw-ups… the split-open trousers at a formal affair, the OR chef showing too much imagination for a PM visit.
And when they thought you were listening, through the open window of the kitchen, slicing tomatoes maybe, while the wives (I’ll come back to that) laid out the paper-plated feast — then it was all tradecraft. Keep a big Rolodex, Dionne said. Always talk to strangers, warned Higham. It saved his skin in Accra.
For more eavesdropping pleasure, pick up a copy of Declassified: Excerpts from the personal notebooks of former Canadian diplomats by the Retired Heads of Mission Association (RHOMA). Lovingly edited by RHOMA’s Director of Communications Robin Higham, the collection includes 32 memoirs and essays by former HOMs and spouses in English or French spanning several decades. The stories are vividly brought to life by former Head of Mission Anthony Jenkins, whose rather elegant ink and brush illustrations aptly convey the how-did-I-get-myself-into-this tone of many of the writers. Declassified is a tribute and a comedy skit for the Foreign Service that you will happily eat up in an evening.
Loosely organized into five sections, together the articles of varied scale and tone answer that most vexing of questions, “and what do you do, really?”
Foreign Service officers, or partners thereof, will want to read Declassified not only because it is a gorgeous romp, but because this survival manual is jam-packed with cautionary tales and solid advice, and dotted with nicely-honed comments on today’s political and diplomatic scenes. While the book by its nature looks back to times that — good or bad, face it — will never come again, it has loads to inform us about now.
In that vein, Louis Delvoie’s Of Diplomacy and Diplomats opens the collection with the provocative lines, “Diplomacy is said to be the world’s second oldest profession. For those of an unkindly turn of mind, it is said to be very much akin to the first.” His short essay briskly takes us through the timeless roles of the diplomat (representation, analysis and reporting, etc), for which the rest of the book handily supplies the examples.
One favourite of mine was Higham’s own Petites astuces/Tricks of the Trade, a harrowing kidnapping story illustrating the weighing of interests, optics, rules and human feeling, which is very much the business of diplomats.
The Glamour is Gone by Alena Schram is the first of many contributions by spouses, and another of my favourites. It shares the addictive acerbic and worldweary quality of many of the spousal entries, willing to poke fun in ways the husbands will not.
Which brings me to something. In this book, all the HOMs are men and all the women are spouses. “In those days,” Schram adds, “wives figured prominently in their husband’s annual appraisals, and we were in this career together.” The gratitude shown by many HOMs to their spouses in their own writings reflects Schram’s description of the FS couple as a team. These anachronisms sit uncomfortably in a book published in 2016, given how much the portrait and pedigrees of FS officers, HOMs, spouses, couples (and the department’s treatment of them) had already changed by the time I entered the Foreign Service even in late 2000.
Another anachronism, and one that will leave many feeling wistful, is the foreignness of the articles (sigh), that is to say, how every story takes place abroad. With each article led by a short bio, one cannot miss how each contributor lived life elsewhere, racking up four, five, six, or oh hell why not, more postings. And, because until recently only political officers became HOMs, the collection reflects the political officer’s story, or that of his spouse. Having said that, many favourite memories are from the early career, so there is a surfeit of hands-on stories to read, many consular and trade in nature.
The stories from before the digital age left me rather wistful. Some authors resort to that old chestnut about it being preferable to beg forgiveness from HQ rather than ask permission.
The importance of making good judgement calls in our can’t-hide-anywhere era is as important as ever. Still, then as now, careers go on despite screw-ups, like how Kohler trips down a gangplank in front of a whack of cameras after delivering a 4-metre maple tree to Brazil. (A six-posting career still awaits him, don’t worry.)
I enjoyed Declassified, which is truly a gift, and I look forward to a second volume down the road. It will be fascinating to read how the broader variety of people presenting credentials today will remember their careers, and to compare to this first book.
I loved how the writers shared their silly and sweating moments along with their cherished achievements. The sheer variety of the job is easily its defining and most seductive feature, but at the human level, it means that each of us will make major mistakes despite the most valiant efforts to be all things to all people.
Declassified is an insider’s book that is both familiar and mysterious. Few of us will attempt all the roles available in the Foreign Service, and none will fill them in every region. Meeting bewildering challenges — some frightening, some absurd —with real courage or just luck, the portrait emerges of a group of intrepid individuals braving bizarre situations with wits and contact lists. As I followed along while Marcella Bissonnet arranged a ghost exorcism in Djakarta, a place I will likely never visit never mind work in, I thought, better you than me.
In the last section of the book, “Snippets of History” (following “Adventures in Protocol”), the writers allow us to peek over their shoulders as they stand on the sidelines —or right in the rush — of history being made. I appreciated the awful-ordinary parts, such as the necessary business of figuring out just the right level of respect to show a dictator while presenting one’s credentials (Purdy, meeting Idi). And J loved the joyful ones, as when Hubert fulfilled his long-held dream of becoming Canada’s Ambassador to the OAS, and our first.
The job of an FS officer at post is usually to arrive somewhere without enough knowledge to do your job. (Without good LES, in my opinion you are likely doomed — just my two cents.) But with the publishing of Declassified, we now have something at our fingertips to fill in some of the gaps, or remind us that today’s shot nerve could be tomorrow’s great story.
Lia Hiltz has been posted to Washington and is serving in Berlin. She is currently working on a graphic novel.
To purchase Declassified, please send a cheque in the amount of $25.00 including shipping and handling, to RHOMA, P.O. Box 53190. Stn. Rideau Centre, Ottawa,
Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 30, No. 2 (2017), pp. 39–40. Read the rest of this issue →
