bout de papier, Vol. 27, No. 2 (2013) — Spring 2013 // Printemps 2013, pp. 36–37
Tom Delworth was born in Toronto in 1929 — a child of the Depression. He attended Weston Collegiate in Toronto and Victoria College at the University of Toronto, where he was a student in honours psychology. He received his BA in 1951. He astutely decided to switch fields at this point, to modern history, receiving an MA in 1956. Even more wisely, to jump ahead, he married Pamela in 1969, at a ceremony in Toronto at which I had the privilege of being his best man. Tom and Pam’s son, Christopher, was born in 1973.
Tom joined “the Department” in August 1956. I would like to say it was a banner year, except that modesty forbids, as it included your humble author, among others. In those days, there was no Pearson Building. We were all over the lot. Tom’s first home, as I recall, was in the Daly building. Others were in the Post Office building on Confederation Square. I shared an office in the East Block with Marion MacPherson, one of the early women officers in the Department, which was not an “equal opportunity employer” in those days. Others were spread about elsewhere.
Early on, Tom showed his mettle while posted to the Minister’s office. He was one of the departmental assistants to Sydney Smith, the then Minister, who had been recruited from his duties as President of the University of Toronto by Prime Minister Diefenbaker. Tom was nothing if not assiduous in respect of his duties. Conscientious he was, but he was much more than that. He gave it everything he had — the job he was doing, when he was doing it, was more important and challenging than anything else on the face of the Earth. And, God knows, Sydney Smith needed that kind of energy and devotion as he faced his new responsibilities.
Next, was his first posting. For us junior foreign service officers, that was, after all, part of the reason we had joined the department — to see the great wide world up close —as real diplomats. We even had a song in the annual new-officers’ skit — “All I want is a post somewhere” — set to the well-known tune from My Fair Lady. Tom lucked it out when the Department sent him off to Stockholm. Or at least my wife Janice and I thought so, when we had the great pleasure of escaping gloomy Moscow in 1959 to spend a few days visiting him.
There followed (1963-1964) a posting to Vietnam, to Canada’s mission to the International Commission for Supervision and Control. The Commission was supposed to monitor the peace process in that war-torn region. It is hard to imagine it today, more than half a century later, but between 1954, when Canada joined the peace commissions, and 1973, when the final mission withdrew, almost a third of the Department’s diplomats served in Indochina. It seemed that virtually all bachelor officers were sent out. I say “bachelor” because there were no proper accommodations for married officers, except for the heads of the various missions. I might add parenthetically, that I escaped because I was married — I always knew that this was one of the best moves I ever made, but now I had concrete proof.
Some years in Ottawa in the Department’s Far Eastern Division helped Tom build up expertise and expand his influence on the development of Canadian policy in this important area. Then came his first post as ambassador (to Indonesia from 1970 to 1974), during the dramatic early years of the Suharto regime whose national development strategy required substantial assistance from donor countries like Canada. More senior responsibilities followed, both in Ottawa and abroad.
Three aspects of his career were a particular source of satisfaction for Tom: He served with distinction in Geneva
(1974-75) and also concurrently with his ambassador’s post in Hungary (1975-78) as Head of the Canadian Delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Later, he had similar responsibilities during his ambassadorial appointment to Sweden (1984—87) at the CSCE Conference on Confidence and Security Building measures and Disarmament. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which developed its structures in those years, has played an immensely significant role in the unfolding of post-Soviet Europe, and the development and reinforcement of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Eastern Europe. Tom’s efforts in its early days, and his role in Canada’s contribution to its future as an agency of great consequence in the North American-European context
cannot be overestimated.
Tom’s part in the formation of Canadian
policy with Asia and the Far East is equally deserving of notice. The sustained development of sound, productive relations between Canada and the countries of the region was a continuing commitment since his early days in Vietnam, in the Far Eastern Division in Ottawa, and as Ambassador to Indonesia. Subsequently (1978-84) as Assistant Undersecretary in charge of Asian and Pacific Affairs, and later Assistant Deputy Minister for Political Affairs, and Special Adviser to the Deputy Minister, he pursued these objectives at the most senior levels with great effectiveness. He was a major contributor to the creation of the Asia Pacific Foundation, a significant player in Canada’s relations with that part
of the world.
+ Finally, he served as Canadian
Ambassador in Bonn, from 1988 to 1992. Those years coincided with the reunification of the two Germanys, a time of great challenge for the entire continent, but also one of major importance for Canadian policy vis-a-vis the new Germany. His skills were particularly important in protecting and advancing Canadian interests; he ensured a significant Canadian contribution to a process that proved to be one of the most momentous developments of the second half of the twentieth century.
With his retirement in 1993, Tom brought to a close a thirty-seven year career in Canada’s foreign ministry — thirty-seven years of outstanding service and accomplishment. But that is not the end of the story. At sixty-five, Tom turned to a completely new role in academe. Or perhaps I should say a return, for he once described his early university years as “the most profound intellectual experience of my life”.
He was appointed as Bissell Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto and Skelton-Clark Professor at Queen’s University, and Special Lecturer at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton, prestigious teaching positions whose duties he accomplished with great distinction. It was, however, his activities as Provost of Trinity College in the University of Toronto, from 1996 to 2002, that in many respects represent the culmination of a long career in the service of his country.
At an age when many men and women justifiably feel they are entitled to slow down, a time when many of us are content to polish our golf game or enjoy the pleasures of the couch potato, Tom poured his very considerable talents and energy into one of the University’s most important colleges. As Provost, he gave vigorous leadership to Trinity and — literally — built a better institution. We all know that universities are much more than bricks and mortar, but we also know how important it is to be able to provide the resources necessary to create appropriate surroundings in which achievements of the mind may be pursued. Tom had extraordinary success in raising funds, and helped to bring about the establishment of the Munk Centre for International Studies and the new Trinity College Library.
Tom was a significant participant in the governance of the University of Toronto. He contributed substantially to the effective functioning of one of North America’s most important academic institutions, and its college structure for which he had great respect. When that was over, back in Ottawa, he had still had more to contribute: to the Council on Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific, to the International Institute for Strategic Affairs, the Atlantic Council of Canada, and the Atlantik Briicke. And in the Ottawa milieu, to the Rockcliffe Park Foundation, and especially to Opera Lyra to which he gave all the dedication and dynamism that he could muster.
Tom’s working life was dedicated to establishing a sound foundation for Canadian foreign policy, to excellence in the university milieu, and to the betterment of the Ottawa cultural scene. I find it hard to conceive of a more appropriate embodiment of that sometimes overused expression: “public servant”.
But I would be more than a little remiss if I did not add that there was much more to the Tom we knew than the highlights of a fine career. He was a kindred spirit to many of us. He was a comrade for more than fifty-five years, from our earliest days in Ottawa in the nineteen fifties until just a short time ago. At the end of the day, that is the measure of the man.
Go in peace, my friend, we shall miss you.
Born in Toronto in 1930, Maxwell (Max) Yalden obtained his BA at the University of Toronto in 1952, studied in Paris, and got his Phd in Philosophy at the University of Michigan in 1956 — the year he joined External Affairs. Assignments included Moscow, the Geneva Conference on Disarmament, and the Embassy in Paris. He was Assistant Under-Secretary of State in the Department of the Secretary of State (1969), Deputy Minister of Communications (1973), Commissioner of Official Languages (1977), Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg (1984), and Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission (1987). He was elected to the U.N. Human Rights Committee in 1996 and re-elected in 2000. A Companion of the Order of Canada and Commandeur de l’Ordre de la Pléiade, he holds honorary doctorates from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University.
View the original scanned pages →
Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 27, No. 2 (2013) — Spring 2013 // Printemps 2013, pp. 36–37. Read the rest of this issue →
