bout de papier, Vol. 22, No. 2 (2006) — Summer 2006 // Été 2006, p. 24
On June 16, 2006, during National Public Service Week, the Deputy Minister of International Trade, Marie-Lucie Morin and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, V. Peter Harder, participated in a ceremony to unveil a plaque dedicated to the memory of all public servants and their immediate family members who died in tragic circumstances while on active duty abroad. It honours all such public servants and their families in perpetuity. The plaque will be mounted on the wall in the lobby of the Lester B. Pearson Building, 125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, close to the anti-personnel land mines plaques and the Trade Commissioner Service commemorative plaque.
The idea to create this commemorative plaque started to grow when the Foreign Service Class of 1982 celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2002. In marking this anniversary, appropriately at the Earl of Sussex Pub, colleagues remembered a number of classmates who died violently while on assignment abroad and we resolved to establish a means of remembering fallen comrades. It was thought that a more dangerous world exposed our people abroad to much higher risks than those normally associated with work and life in Canada and that these sacrifices to our country should be remembered in a fitting way.
It is important to note that this memorial is all-inclusive and is meant to remember any employee that is a part of the broader foreign service family. It is meant to honour and remember those on active service for the Government of Canada, including Locally Engaged Staff, at diplomatic and consular missions abroad, and dependents who die while accompanying the employee on active service with DFAIT, CIC, CIDA and any other federal government organizations.
This project enjoys the support of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers (PAFSO), Retired Heads of Mission Association (RHOMA), the Foreign Service Community Association, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, and the Public Service Alliance of Canada. It joins similar memorials in the British Foreign Office and US State Department for those who served and died while at their embassies and diplomatic operations abroad.
The Foreign Service intake group of 1982 is grateful for the financial contribution of PAFSO, RHOMA and DFAIT to establish this plaque, which will be a lasting testament to our colleagues, friends and family for whom this memorial is intended.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 22, No. 2 (2006) — Summer 2006 // Été 2006, p. 24. Read the rest of this issue →
