bout de papier, Vol. 14, No. 4 (1997) — Winter 1997 // Hiver 1997, p. 32
On Saturday, September 13th, the Canadian Foreign Service lost one of its pioneering women. Colleen Cupples died at the age of 51, after a short stay at the Great West Memorial Hospital in Perth. As I listened to her friend Sara speak at the memorial held on Saturday, September 20th at Colleen’s cottage overlooking Christie Lake, it struck me how much Colleen had always been the person I came to know in the early 1990s.
I first met Colleen back in 1982 when as a young officer on my first posting in Mexico, we hosted an Immigration Program Manager’s meeting and she was our manager in Buenos Aires. I remember being struck by Colleen’s style, poise and intelligence. It was also clear that she had a keen interest in the impact of migration on foreign policy, a relationship that is now clearly coming of age!
As I worked my way in Immigration it became obvious that Colleen was someone everyone knew or thought they knew — even if they had never worked with her nor even met her. Someone who, by the force of her personality and intellect, cut a large swath in the Canadian Foreign Service. As the first Social Affairs woman to be named Ambassador, she will always be considered a pioneer. For many women in the Foreign Service, she will be seen as having played a role in ensuring that those coming after are given opportunities to excel.
I worked for Colleen when she was Director of Latin America and the Caribbean Programs Division in DFAIT. Working for her was a superlative experience for it gave me a chance to learn from a master. It is true that sometimes one learned by deciding not to do what Colleen did but most of the knowledge I acquired was from seeing a professional in action.
Colleen cared deeply about the programme and its people. She always wanted what was best for Canada and was not afraid to defend an unpopular opinion when she believed it to be right. Colleen was a great motivator of people, an excellent identifier of potential and not afraid to push for opportunities for officers who might not have been on the fast track. More importantly, one did not have to be an officer for her to encourage new goals and achievements.
Colleen played a leadership role as the Immigration stream prepared for its journey “across the river”. She recognized that this was not a journey back because many of her younger colleagues had never worked for CEIC. She organised a number of meetings at the grassroot level and encouraged our participation which in the end proved to be very therapeutic for many of us. During this very period, Colleen found out that one of our colleagues was seriously ill and I remember the wonderful white roses she had delivered to Gerry Schroh. Colleen had a knack for the grandiose but “juste a point” gesture.
Colleen I will miss you as a colleague, a mentor and a friend. You packed more life into 51 years than most of us will ever know. Your leaving us so soon has left all of us with a sense of loss. That loss is mixed with the frustration we all feel, that you made it so hard for us to give back to you a small measure of what you gave to us.
Claudette Deschênes
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 14, No. 4 (1997) — Winter 1997 // Hiver 1997, p. 32. Read the rest of this issue →
