bout de papier, Vol. 11, No. 2 (1994) — Summer 1994 // Été 1994, pp. 10–11
Delivered by Colin Robertson
St. Matthew’s Church, Ottawa,
22 March 1994
Today we celebrate the life of Arnold Smith, one of Canada’s most distinguished foreign service officers. Ambassador to Egypt in the aftermath of Suez, Ambassador to Moscow during the Cuban missile crisis, Secretary General of the Commonwealth during the tumultuous first decade of its existence.
It has been said that Canadian nationhood was forged on the battlefields of France during the first World War. I think it can be said with equal justice that Canada achieved its place as the helpful fixer and peacekeeper of nations as a consequence of the actions of Canadian diplomats like Arnold Smith.
Arnold and his generation of Canadian diplomats were instrumental in the creation of the multilateral institutions which have preserved the peace and promoted prosperity throughout the world for half a century. His generation experienced the horrors of two world wars. They were determined it would not happen again. They were internationalists. They were the makers of multilateralism.
During the days when he was writing speeches for others, he put his creed into words for his friend and mentor, Mike Pearson, then Secretary of State for External Affairs. Arnold wrote that:
“no great society is ever defeated by outside pressures or attack, unless it first defeats itself by disintegration of its own moral standards … the real issue, which will in the long run determine the political future and fate of our society must be faced and fought out within the minds and wills of each one of us. There is no escape from our individual responsibility and no other road to reach that goal.”
As Arnold would later write in his memoir of the Commonwealth, Stitches in Time, he and his generation were guided by the sense of community — that our neighbourhood included all of the world and that the best way forward was through cooperation and the recognition of our common humanity. The starting point, as Arnold defined it in a speech he gave nearly forty years ago, “is the ability and willingness… to talk to each other … with mutual knowledge, understanding and respect.”
Diplomacy, in Arnold’s view, combined four qualities: “patience and strength, prudence and vision as we move forward, steadily and relentlessly, in the search for a peace which will rest on something firmer and more lasting than force.”
I knew Arnold first as my professor and tutor and, later as my friend and mentor. We arrived at the Paterson School at Carleton at the same time: he the illustrious Lester Pearson Professor of International Affairs, I the student. There was nothing aloof about Arnold and he proved as good a professor as he was a diplomat.
His tales of a crowded life were robust and entertaining. A superb raconteur, he would keep us entranced with his stories of motorcycling about the Baltic states in the years before the war and as propagandist in Estonia and Egypt during the war years.
That year René Levesque had just come to power in Quebec and there was considerable anxiety about Canada’s future. Arnold took the view that Canada was Canada because it was both English and French.
Chaque fois qu’Arnold devait prononcer un discours, et devant n’importe quel auditoire, il se faisait un point d’honneur de dire quelques mots en français, pour bien montrer l’importance qu’il accordait à la dualité linquistique de notre pays.
Pour lui, il était très important que l’on comprenne les deux langues canadiennes, simplement parce que cela correspondait à la réalité du Canada.
Of all his accomplishments, he was perhaps most proud of his work in the making of the modern Commonwealth. He created the Secretariat and then guided the institution through crisis after crisis — Rhodesia, Pakistan, South Africa and elsewhere.
Arnold’s teaching convinced me to do my thesis on the Commonwealth. He graciously arranged for me to observe the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1977. His letters of introduction opened all doors, including that of Sonny Ramphal. These interviews gave me another insight in Arnold as administrator and manager. Everyone to whom I spoke was full of praise and admiration for his work.
One of my fondest memories is the splendid lunch Arnold gave me at the Athenaeum to celebrate the news of my entry into the Foreign Service. I had been going to visit him and Eve at their farm in France but I had run out of money. I phoned Arnold and he said no matter, he was planning to come over to London anyways. We would have lunch.
When I arrived at the Athenaeum I was escorted up to the Library. It was intimidating. Arnold had three lessons for me that day. I was introduced not as Colin Robertson, his student, but as Colin Robertson of the Canadian Foreign Service. It was his way of marking the rite of passage and showing confidence in me.
The second lesson was to recommend a good tailor. He told me that substance was everything but that a well-cut jacket never hurt anyone’s advancement.
After lunch he beckoned for the drum of Stilton — a great, massive tub. I looked at it with some trepidation. And herewith came the third and perhaps most important lesson. How to eat Stilton: “Use a spoon, scoop it up and always, but always, with Port.”
Arnold instilled in me a desire to live life to the full, a life that included room for the arts and culture. Living well is the best revenge. This included developing an appreciation of Grands Crus. How I recall his scalding commentary on our provincial liquor practices.
The last time I spent any length of time with Arnold was during my posting in Hong Kong when he and Frances stopped over during their honeymoon. As Stewart reminded me the other day, he was determined his wife should see the Taj Mahal. It was obvious Frances that you had restored Arnold to his old exuberance.
And it gave me considerable satisfaction to be able to return the favour of recommending a tailor to Arnold. At dinner he delighted the children and showed his usual enthusiasm for things new as we made our way through the crowds enjoying the magic of the Chinese New Year’s Lantern Festival.
Now he is gone. He is not forgotten.
We will all remember Arnold in various ways. For me the lasting picture will be of the man with the walking stick and Russian shapka atop his head. His fur coat is open and flapping in the winter wind as he marches boldly down Sparks Street.
At the end of the Sparks Street Mall there is a memorial on which is written a verse from Ecclesiastics: “All these were honoured in their generations and were the glory of their times.”
It applies to Arnold and his generation.
And so we remember Arnold Cantwell Smith:
Companion of Honour, Officer of the Order of Canada, Foreign Service Officer. A Christian Gentleman and a Good Friend.
Loved by his family, his friends and his students.
Respected and admired by his colleagues.
Honoured by his Queen, his Country, his Commonwealth.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 11, No. 2 (1994) — Summer 1994 // Été 1994, pp. 10–11. Read the rest of this issue →
