bout de papier, Vol. 8, No. 4 (1991) — Fall 1991 // Automne 1991, pp. 2–3
bout de papier held a Presentation Evening in the Crush Lobby on Thursday, 6 June 1991, to provide a much needed opportunity for many of our supporters to meet members of the Editorial Board, particularly, our illustrious Senior Board. It had been several years since bout held such an event, and it was also my first “event” since becoming Editor.
Il m’a fait plaisir d’accueillir nos amis et nos collègues du ministère, qu’ils travaillent encore ici ou qu’ils aient déjà prie leur retraite. L’Association des Chefs de mission à la retraite était d’ailleurs bien représentée.
It was also a great pleasure to see many of our advertisers and several members of the Canadian press corps. On the topic of the press, this soirée certainly offered them a unique opportunity to meet some of the people who make Canada’s foreign policy happen. (Readers will recall that this was the period of the Al Mashat hearings on the Hill.) Among other notable guests and former Cabinet Ministers at the bout soirée, both the Under-Secretary, M. Marchand and Associate Under-Secretary Chrétien were in attendance.
A few words about bout de papier might not be remiss at this time. bout is Canada’s only magazine of diplomacy and foreign service. We are an association magazine and we are paid for by a combination of the dues from PAFSO (the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers) and revenues from our valued advertisers and subscribers. We depend greatly on the efforts of volunteers who devote their personal time to write and produce the magazine.
Tous ceux qui contribuent à bout de papier, qu’ils soient rédacteurs, photographes, caricaturistes ou dessinateurs, sont bénévoles. Malgré cette pratique salariale inhabituelle, nous avons été ravis de la spontanéité de ceux qui désirent contribuer à ce qui est largement perçu comme étant un magazine de prestige. Nous cherchons des publicitaires qui ont à coeur de satisfaire les besoins d’un mode de vie itinérant, une façon de vivre qui comporte des problèmes particuliers, mais surtout des opportunités uniques.
We have come a long way from our first issue which was printed in 1973. This appeared as a small newsletter with a blue and white masthead. Our first edition using photographs, which we thought was a daring step in 1983, appeared in tabloid format in black and white. In the last two years, bout has won five awards nationally and internationally, such as the New York Art Director’s Award for Design which we won two years in a row (1989 and 1990). Who knows what 1991 will bring!
One of the primary reasons for our success is the fact that we reach out across the department to tap the talents and interests of currently serving members, be they PAFSO members or not, spanning occupational groups and seeking out interested individuals from our rotational, non-rotational and management groups. bout provides a unique forum for debate by members of academia, other government departments, the media and our own members. We can do what we do because we have the active interest and continued support of senior management in this department, our three Deputy Ministers, as well as our individual managers, who encourage their staff to produce a quality magazine which reflects well on all of us in External Affairs and International Trade Canada.
Two special events took place during the bout de papier Presentation Evening. The first was to have the privilege of a few words from author and former Ambassador Charles Ritchie. This proved to be a delightfully pointed, witty, and funny “sideways look at the foreign service” from a man who really needs no introduction to the foreign service community. As an active member of our Senior Board, he remains a symbol of the ongoing Canadian foreign service and its members who, from our earliest serving member to our newest, span 58 continuous years of Canadian foreign policy experience and expertise.
The second event of the evening was the presentation of an award for writing by former Ambassador Arthur Menzies on behalf of the Retired Heads of Mission Association (RHOMA). He outlined the background of this association which had begun to take shape in the spring of 1985. It organizes social occasions at which former colleagues can get together to reminisce and to hear about the current work of the department. It has also sponsored several modest “special projects” such as the Senator Dandurand Scholarship in International Affairs at Laval University.
The Directing Group of RHOMA considered that an annual prize for writing would greatly encourage foreign service officers who make up the membership of PAFSO to write quality articles for bout de papier about their experiences abroad and their observations on international issues. The first annual award was announced in Volume 8, Number 1, but it had never been formally presented by RHOMA.
The RHOMA Selection Committee was drawn from bout’s Senior Board and was composed of Messrs. Bill Barton, Yvon Beaulne, and John Starnes. Their task was to review all eligible articles from the four issues of Volume 7. Although the Committee did not report in detail on their deliberations, they indicated that they had been impressed with the quality of the articles in Volume 7. They wished, therefore, to go beyond their original mandate of making one award and also make “Honourable Mention” of two other articles.
The first Honourable Mention went to Hugh Stephens for his piece entitled, “Over the Khunjerab to Kashgar”. Hugh is presently posted in Seoul, Korea. The second Honourable Mention went to Jim Gould for his review of “A History of Islamic Societies” by Ira Lapidus. Certificates will be forwarded to both individuals along with photographs taken during the presentation ceremony.
The first annual RHOMA Prize for Writing ($500) was awarded to Michael Small for his colourfully illustrated article 6A Tale of Two Tribes”.. This piece described his visits in 1987 both to the Yanomami Indians along Brazil’s northern frontier with Venezuela and to the Indians of Xingu Park in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, south of the Amazon. He writes movingly about the economic pressures and the infectious diseases which threaten the survival of the primitive Yanomami. The eighteen tribes of Xingu Park, on the other hand, have survived contact with other Brazilians to the point where they even wanted air conditioners included in a small Canadian development aid clinic that Michael was offering them!
The evening concluded with remarks by the Under-Secretary, M. de Montigny Marchand. He acknowledged the unique role which bout de papier plays in explaining ourselves to the outside community and in acting as a forum for discussion both positive and negative of the issues of the day, be they ones of foreign aid or trade policy or be they issues of interest to PAFSO members or internal to the workings of the department. M. Marchand stressed his support and that of Senior Management for bout de papier and particularly for the team (both the Editorial and the Senior Board) which, working intergenerationally (he used the term “complicité”), succeed in putting out a very thought-provoking, interesting and dynamic magazine.
The current edition continues the ongoing debate concerning Canada’s foreign policy with a feature article by Professor W.M. Dobell entitled, The New Internationalism. Sam Hanson delves into constitution-building matters in Constitution-Building in Namibia: Could it Happen Here? We are pleased to have an Interview with Rick Hansen about perceptions of his global tour and an update on his current work in Vancouver. Finally, to prove that Canada too is part of the world, we are pleased to travel to the Arctic with John Morrison in our Photo Essay, “Quelques arpents de neige…”
Speaking of photos, a reader in our last edition (Vol. 8, No. 3) queried why we no longer offer the Photo Caption Contest. Contrary to his stated views, it too was a favourite of mine throughout my four years on the Editorial Board. The problem is finding photographs! Believe it or not, with the cutbacks in government spending, the Archives no longer are able to catalogue their photo collection. Members of our Board have spent hours there pouring through old memorabilia and over the years we have in fact already printed the most noteworthy items available to us. Our department does not keep photos either — thus a part of our history is slowly being lost.
We do not use our cover shots or those illustrating articles for the Photo Caption Contest because we do not own the rights to them and we do not wish to detract from their artistic or commercial value. If readers have other suggestions for obtaining suitable shots of our leaders in action please drop us a line or a picture ….
In listing the Canadian Ambassadors to the United States (Our Washington Presence, Vol. 7, No. 4) we noted that the Ambassador (1936-39) was Sir Herbert Meredith Marley. This should have read, Sir Herbert Marler.
Last but not least, we wish to give credit to Yves Brodeur for his zany and witty cartoons and illustrations which have appeared in recent editions of the magazine. Yves has been posted to Ankara and is currently First Secretary at our Permanent Mission to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris.
Due to the length of PAFSO News, there is no From the President’s Desk in this issue.
Ottawa, 12 August 1991
Carol N. Markham, Editor
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 8, No. 4 (1991) — Fall 1991 // Automne 1991, pp. 2–3. Read the rest of this issue →
