bout de papier, Vol. 21, No. 2 (2005) — Spring 2005 // Printemps 2005, pp. 6–7
The following was read by J.H. (Si) Taylor at the service for Ron MacLean.
As a colleague and friend of Ron MacLean for more than forty years, I am honoured to have been asked by his family to speak about his foreign service career.
Ron had a rich and varied professional experience. Rooted in North America by birth, upbringing and education, he served Canada abroad in four other continents: Asia, Africa, South America and Europe. He knew bilateral diplomacy through assignments in India, Japan, Brazil, South Africa and Denmark. Multilateral diplomacy he knew through service at the OECD and the International Atomic Energy Agency. One of his principal interests was in international economic relations, but he also handled, as ambassador to South Africa, the highly charged political file of relations with the apartheid regime. He was four times a head of mission. He had as well the advantage of a much broader experience of the work of other departments in Ottawa than was usual for foreign service officers; at different times, he worked on loan to CIDA’s predecessor, the External Aid Office, the Treasury Board and the Department of Energy Mines and Resources.
In all the important ways Ron was well equipped for his career. By the time he joined the foreign service in 1956, he had already devoted a number of years to studying international relations at one of the most prestigious institutions in the United States. He had also acquired the inestimable advantage of an ideal lifetime partner in his wife, Beverley. Their partnership, which would have marked its 50th anniversary this week, was notable for their strong shared commitment to foreign service and the mutual support they gave one another through all the changes of foreign service life. This experience included in time raising a family of three, two sons, Christopher and Thomas, and a daughter Alyson. Eventually the circle widened with the addition of a daughter-in-law, Roswitha, Christopher’s wife, and a son-in-law, David, Alyson’s husband; and in a new generation, five grandsons. This splendid family was the central focus of Ron’s life, sustaining him throughout his years in the foreign service and into retirement. All of us have suffered a sad loss in his death, but it is to Bev, her children, their spouses and the grandchildren that our deepest sympathy extends today.
Beyond these advantages of family and background was Ron’s own character. He was a person of perfect integrity. Intellectually curious, he was probably happiest abroad, absorbed in learning about the societies in which he immersed himself. He had a broad and sympathetic understanding of foreign realities. He conveyed without ostentation a sense of identity that made him a convincing representative of his country and its interests. And he had a wry sense of humour that saved him from being frustrated by some of the sillier manifestations of diplomatic life.
These elements of background and education, character and experience, worked together to create Ron’s impressive career. From another perspective, his career was a mixture of what he wanted to do and what other people wanted him to do. Plainly he was a success in the various assignments he undertook in Ottawa outside the Department of External Affairs. But he was not really an Ottawa man. Like many of his colleagues, he joined the foreign service to serve abroad. In this, he had his way. He spent the greater part of his career en poste. It is quite remarkable that, apart from a brief period as a junior officer, he never served in Ottawa in his own department. In the course of a career of some forty years, he spent roughly ten in Ottawa, almost entirely in other departments. No doubt this too was partly the result of personal inclination. But it was doubtless what others wanted as well. Such assignments can be important both for the department that provides an officer and for the department that receives him. Not everybody does such jobs well. It is noteworthy how, time and again, Ron was trusted to represent the foreign service in some other branch of the bureaucracy. People had confidence in him.
Even more was this true of his appointments abroad. Few people are appointed ambassador four times. This is a mark of distinction and of confidence in the person appointed. Ron’s appointment to South Africa was an illustration. During the dying years of the apartheid regime, Canada’s relations with South Africa were much in the public eye and very difficult. Not only the foreign minister but the prime minister took a close personal interest in these relations. They often intervened personally to direct their course. Our ambassador on the spot in South Africa had to tread warily. He had to maintain workable contacts with the apartheid government as long as it held power, notwithstanding the poor state of Canada-South Africa relations. At the same time, he had to reach out, within the limits of discretion, to the forces then in opposition who were on the threshold of coming to power. In the circumstances there was never a good time to change ambassadors. The man on the spot tended to be nailed to his job. The government was reluctant to be accused of leaving such a key embassy without leadership in the event of a crisis. This created problems for Ron both at the time of his appointment and at the time of his departure. In the end, the MacLeans were to stay five years in South Africa. I do not know what this long and demanding assignment may have cost Ron personally. At least he had the satisfaction of knowing that the government was confident it had the right man for such a challenging job. And in the end, he received with his appointment to Copenhagen, a final assignment of the kind he wanted.
This then was a career full of stimulation, of challenges and responsibility. Ron’s was a lifetime of highly professional accomplishment, to be looked back on with quiet pride in the years of retirement and to be reminisced about with old friends. It was just such a reunion my wife and I had been anticipating this past New Year’s Eve, when as is our annual custom, we celebrate the New Year with a group of old friends that has always included the MacLeans. To our sorrow, this year’s reunion was not to be, but the song those of Scottish heritage love to sing on the occasion still seems appropriate. We can recall the days of Auld Lang Syne, and an auld acquaintance who will not soon be forgot – Ron MacLean.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 21, No. 2 (2005) — Spring 2005 // Printemps 2005, pp. 6–7. Read the rest of this issue →
