Letters // Correspondance
I would like to offer two postscripts to the piece on Victor Odlum’s evacuation planning (Vol. 6 No. 4). While it is true that the famous evacuation plan never had to be carried out, Odlum did organize a safari of Embassy locally-engaged…
From the President’s Desk // Le mot du président
Il s’agit plutôt du mot de l’ex-président! A présent, tous les membres savent que Amos Donohue m’a succédé au poste de président de l’APASE. Je sais qu’il accomplira de l’excellent travail et je profite de l’occasion pour lui offrir mes meilleurs voeux…
Editor’s Notebook // Carnet du rédacteur
The Department of External Affairs ranks 32 out of 33 federal departments with respect to the representation of women in the management category. Even National Defense has marginally better representation: It is Revenue Canada which ranks a dismal 33.
Spousal Employment
Carol Markham has been a member of the Executive Committee of PAFSO since 1987 and chairs the sub-committee responsible for the elaboration of a PAFSO policy on spousal employment. This policy, reprinted below, has been endorsed by PAFSO and was presented to…
The New Internationalism: Implications for Canada’s Foreign Policy and Foreign Service
The following was originally a speech given to a meeting of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers which was subsequently revised for publication in bout de papier.
Some Thoughts on Policy Planning in External Affairs
Although it is commonly agreed by diplomats and their academic watchdogs that every foreign office requires a strategic policy planning unit, there remains considerable disagreement in both circles on its mandate and position. Policy planning has multiple facets, the most important are…
The Poets of External
External’s early archives yield such amazing gems! Readers of bout de papier may remember, for example, my yarn (in Vol. 5, No. 3) about the unbelievable correspondence in the middle of World War II between the Canadian Legation in Washington, ie. Mike…
The Mechanics of Media Relations
I would love to meet the civil servants who troll the halls of government departments inspecting press releases to make sure they’re boring. They must exist, because the average public sector press release reads like this:
Letters // Correspondance
Dear Editor,
From the President’s Desk // Le mot du président
Officially, we are the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers. But in the recent past, I believe we may have been placing too much emphasis on our uncredited union title to the detriment of our professional interests.
