bout de papier, Vol. 7, No. 4 (1990), p. 3
It proved to be the best summer party the Pearson Building has seen in years. On Thursday, June 14th, PAFSO hosted the inaugural ceremony for its new Canadian Foreign Service Officer Award. The turn-out was tremendous. PAFSO members from all streams and all branches of External Affairs and CIDA, all the directors of Personnel, and the great majority of our senior management crowded into the Crush Lobby for the event. When the Right Honourable Joe Clark arrived, the ceremony was ready to begin.
Opening remarks on behalf of PAFSO were delivered by our newly selected President Michael Fine, followed by some comments by Michael Small, PAFSO Executive Vice President and originator of the Award program. Small described the genesis of the Award as an attempt by PAFSO to foster professional pride among members of the Foreign Service through a means of providing recognition by one’s peers. After thanking PAFSO’s panel of five judges — all of them distinguished former members of the Foreign Service — Small turned the ceremony over to the judges to deliver the Citations.
The first Citation went to Gary Luton, Third Secretary (Commercial) in the Canadian Embassy Kuwait for his outstanding initiative and perseverance in aiding the family of a Canadian engineer who was accidentally killed in the United Arab Emirates. Gary’s Citation was presented by Hedevig Ring, a former President of PAFSO and retired senior immigration officer, who herself had served in the Middle East. Gary was notified by his Ambassador that he had won the Citation while participating in an oil and gas seminar in Calgary. At his request, his first boss in Ottawa, Ken Sunquist received the Citation for him.
The second Citation went to Scott Mullin, Chargé d’Affaires in the Canadian Embassy in Tehran for his leadership of a small post operating under extremely sensitive political circumstances. Scott’s Citation was presented by Blair Seaborn, the recently retired Intelligence Co-ordinator in the Privy Council Office, who had once run a small Canadian mission in Vietnam in the 1960s under equally sensitive circumstances. Marc Perron, the Assistant Deputy Minister for Africa and the Middle East, received Scott’s Citation for him and read a message from Scott who credited the entire “Tehran team” with the success of the mission’s early operations.
The third Citation went to Georges Paquet, Counsellor in Port au Prince, for his dedication in ensuring the safety of the over 1500 Canadians living in Haiti. Georges was nominated by the entire Canadian staff of our Embassy in Haiti. His Citation was delivered by his former Departmental colleague Margaret Catley-Carlson, now Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare. Georges happened to be in Canada on home leave at the time, and to his immense surprise he was notified in the Eastern Townships by a phone call from his Ambassador. He managed to alter his travel plans and come to Ottawa in time to receive his Citation in person at the Ceremony.
Finally, the Minister took the podium, and ad-libbed his way hilariously through his “PAFSO prepared notes” on the winners. The PAFSO judges had decided to split the Award between two officers, who were nominated separately for work they had done together at Headquarters. Alexandra Bugailiskis in the United Nations Operations Division co-ordinated all of Canada’s efforts in the United Nations to clear the path for Namibian independence under UN auspices, while Dan George in the Southern Africa Task Force was responsible for Canada’s bilateral participation in the UN peace-keeping force and in the independence preparations for Namibia.
As the Minister declared “I never know who is doing all this stuff”. In this case, he had a chance to meet two of the officers who had worked for two years on a major Canadian foreign policy triumph with which Mr Clark himself had been closely associated. Alex and Dan both used the occasion to deliver some extremely eloquent impromptu remarks. Alex reflected on some of the lessons the Namibian exercise should have for Canadians’ own sense of nationhood and the high regard that other people have for Canadians’ shared political values. Dan observed that the Namibian experience proved for him that, from time to time, it is still possible in a career in External Affairs to act effectively in the world on behalf of one’s ideals.
All five winners received two copies of PAFSO’s new Canadian Foreign Service Office Award certificate, designed for us by Terry Laurenzio of 246 5th Avenue, using the distinctive violet maple leaf logo we have chosen as our symbol of the Award. In addition, Alex and Dan shared a $1000 prize.
PAFSO has already received several nominations towards next year’s Award. We hope to receive many more in the coming months from members of the Foreign Service and from the public at large.
Editor’s note: For a copy of PAFSO’s brochure describing the Award, please write to PAFSO, 45 Rideau St., Suite 600, Ottawa, Ontario, KIN 5W8.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 7, No. 4 (1990), p. 3. Read the rest of this issue →
