Bill Dymond: RIP

Bill's friends and colleagues will be saddened to learn that Bill passed away on November 25 after a short but brave struggle with cancer. A memorial service will be held at St. Bartholomew's Anglican Church, 125 Mackay Street in New Edinburgh, on Tuesday, November 30th at 11:00 am.

The Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, with whom Bill had been associated through the Centre for Trade Policy and Law for the past ten years, will set up a scholarship in Bill's honour. Details will be posted on the CTPL and NPSIA websites early next week.

HOM Appointments

(Note that none of the appointees has a foreign service background, not that there's anything wrong with that.)

Diplomatic Appointments

(No. 369 - November 19, 2010 - 3:45 p.m. ET) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced the following diplomatic appointments:

Cassie Doyle becomes Consul General in San Francisco (United States of America).

The Honourable Loyola Hearn becomes Ambassador to Ireland.

Judith A. LaRocque becomes Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, in Paris.

John F. Prato becomes Consul General in New York City (United States of America).

Biographical Notes

Cassie Doyle (BA [Sociology], University of Victoria, 1976; MA [Social Policy and Administration], Carleton University, 1983) was appointed deputy minister of natural resources in June 2006. Ms. Doyle has several years of executive experience at the municipal, provincial and federal levels of government in Canada. Before joining Natural Resources Canada, she served as associate deputy minister of Environment Canada. She also served on the Board of Directors of the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. Prior to joining the federal government, Ms. Doyle held a number of senior positions in British Columbia’s government, including chief executive officer of British Columbia Assets and Land Corporation, and deputy minister of environment, lands and parks. She began her public service career working in housing and urban development with the City of Ottawa. Ms. Doyle succeeds Stewart G. Beck.

The Honourable Loyola Hearn (BA, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1969) worked as a teacher in Renews and Trepassey, N.L., prior to joining the provincial government. He served in the Province’s House of Assembly from 1982 to 1993, and was minister of education from 1985 to 1989, before entering federal politics. Mr. Hearn was elected to Parliament in 2000, and he served until 2008. He served as Progressive Conservative Party House leader, Conservative Party House leader, Opposition House leader, Canadian Heritage critic, Public Works and Government Services critic, critic of the leader of the government in the House of Commons and Fisheries and Oceans critic. On February 6, 2006, following his victory in the 2006 federal election, he was named minister of fisheries and oceans. In September 2008, Mr. Hearn announced that he would not stand for re-election. He and his wife, Maureen, have a son, David, and a daughter, Laurita. Mr. Hearn succeeds Patrick Binns.

Judith A. LaRocque (BA Honours [Political Science], Carleton University, 1979; MA [Public Administration], Carleton University, 1992) has broad and varied experience in government. She started her career in 1979 at the Public Service Commission. She was a procedural officer at the House of Commons from 1982 to 1984. She has occupied the position of chief of staff to the government leader in the Senate and to the minister of state for federal-provincial relations and has been executive assistant to the minister of justice and attorney general for Canada. From 1990 to 2000, she was the secretary to the governor general, as well as secretary general of the Order of Canada and of the Order of Military Merit and herald chancellor of Canada. In 2000, Ms. LaRocque became associate deputy minister of Canadian heritage. In April 2002, she became deputy minister of Canadian heritage. Ms. LaRocque succeeds Paul-Henri Lapointe.

John F. Prato (MPA, Queen’s University, 1989; MBA, Queen’s University, 1991) is a certified financial analyst charterholder. He worked as a managing director in the Equity Capital Markets (ECM) group at TD Securities, the investment banking division of The TD Bank Financial Group. As a member of the ECM group since 1998, he was responsible for senior client coverage of a wide variety of leading Canadian companies. From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Prato worked in merchant banking with TD Capital Group Ltd. with a variety of mandates, including private equity, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buy-outs and early-stage investing. Mr. Prato has served on the Board of Trustees of the Royal Ontario Museum, and on the Executive Committee of that board. He currently sits on the boards of the St. Michael’s Hospital Foundation, the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research and CommunityLend Inc. Mr. Prato succeeds Dan Sullivan.

Citizenship Changes Affect Foreign Service

Public Servants with children who were born abroad have expressed alarm about recent changes to immigration regulations that limit the ability to pass on Canadian citizenship to only those citizens who were themselves born in Canada. This means that while foreign service kids born abroad are Canadians, any of their kids who are born outside Canada will not be.

Gaétan Bruneau, who is affected, says that help is on the way. If Bill C-37 goes through, parents of kids born abroad will not need to worry about the citizenship of grandkids born outside Canada.

Read about it here.

The salient section reads:

- Ensure that the law supports the implementation of the first generation limit to passing on citizenship, ensure that the law does not unintentionally bar applicants who are eligible for citizenship, and ensure that the children of people serving Canada abroad – children of Crown servants – are not disadvantaged by their parent’s service to Canada and are able to pass on citizenship to their children.

Crichton Cultural Community Centre

Interested? It's on Nov. 27 at the old Crichton School. Contact Jennifer Barbarie ( 613-695-5010) for details, and tickets.

As the flyer indicates (attached), this is a 1950's style High School "reunion", including a sock hop with music of the era (Elvis, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley and the Comets, you get the picture..), and a multi-media presentation with TV commercials etc. of the 50's. We're also hoping to have some professional swing dancers on hand to show the rest of us the tricks of the jive and jitterbug trade, and we've got a great DJ to call the tunes. In fact it's Gary Frith, Angela Bogdan's husband. Food provided by local caterers. Vintage outfits and dancing encouraged but not necessary to have a good time. Tickets are available at Books on Beechwood, but I would be happy to deliver... - Jennifer Barbari

Here's more, from a New Edinburgh News article.

For the first time this year, the timing of the CCCC’s popular annual fundraising event, Cocktails for Crichton, is out of step with the NEN publication schedule, with the result that we’re obliged to report on the event before it has actually taken place- treacherous waters indeed! That said, if the efforts of our outstanding event co-ordinators, volunteers, generous sponsors and donors are any guide to its ultimate success, our 1950’s era High School Sock Hop on November 27^th has all the makings of yet another in the CCCC’s series of awesome (and memorable!) community gatherings.

It’s perhaps worth emphasizing that these fundraisers are not optional on the annual events calendar of the CCCC, but rather play a critical role in helping to finance our ongoing operations which, unlike most community centres, receive no support from the City of Ottawa. When you pitch in and join the party, you’re giving us much needed help to keep our programs running and our facilities shipshape, and (we hope!) having a heck of a good time in the process!

Grease Comes to Crichton

What began as the germ of an idea for a reunion of Crichton Public School alumni gradually morphed into plans for a full scale, community-wide High School Dance, set in the unforgettable era of Elvis, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, and countless more of the great names of Rock ‘n Roll. It was the age of poodle skirts, saddle shoes, white socks, sweater sets, cat’s eye glasses, and a wild polarizing of male fashion ranging from preppie nerd to ultra-cool greaser. At the time of writing, CCCC organizers were doing their level best to ensure that participants come suitably attired in the fetching styles of the era, and ready to rock around the clock (well, maybe for an hour or two..!) on November 27^th.

As always, this year’s fundraiser is very much a collective community effort, and we are extremely grateful to the many individuals and businesses who have pitched in to help make it a success. Since the event is still a work in progress as this goes to press, it’s very likely that yet more volunteers and donors will come forward in the remaining weeks before the party, and we look forward to acknowledging their contributions in the next edition of the NEN.

Special thanks to our 2010 Sponsors who have given us the means to host a really first class, fun event for our community:

• Governor’s Walk Retirement Residence

• Sheila Whyte’s Thyme and Again Creative Catering

• BMO Financial Group and

• Quality Entertainment.

Thanks also to the local businesses who, along with our sponsor Thyme and Again Creative Catering, have generously donated food for the hungry contingent of dancers and party goers we look forward to entertaining on November 27th:

• Arturo’s

• Bread and Roses Bakery

• Bridgehead

• Da Bombe Desserts

• Epicuria

• New Edinburgh Pub and

• The Scone Witch

While we took the conscious decision not to undertake a full scale Auction this year, a number of generous contributors have donated a select few extremely attractive Silent Auction items to top up our proceeds from the event. While there may be more names to add to this list as we approach the finish line, at this point, we’d like to express our thanks to the following group of staunch supporters:

• A Week in Tuscany will again be auctioned, courtesy of our hard-working Board member Jennifer Barbarie, whose home away from home in Anghiari was among the most popular items at last year’s Cocktails for Crichton Auction;

• Ingrid McCarthy, founding Director of the New Edinburgh Players, and multi-talented artist and author, has donated a framed water colour of Anghiari to complement Jennifer’s contribution; and

• Gift Certificates were donated by

  • El Meson

  • Farb’s Kitchen and Wine Bar

  • Fraser Café

  • Groovy Grapes

  • Scissors Hair Salon and

  • ZaZaZa Pizza

Shake, Rattle ‘n Roll

The central focus of this year’s Cocktails for Crichton event is, as our eye-catching poster suggests, dancing to the unforgettable rock ‘n roll music of the ‘50’s- and more specifically, jiving, a skill which may not be in your repertoire unless you’re a veteran of that era, or perhaps a dance history buff. To lead the way on the dance floor and to pass along a few of the tricks of the jive trade, we’re fortunate to have a lined up a pair of experts from Swing Dynamite, a leading Ottawa swing dance group directed by Byron Alley. (Stay tuned for photos of the rest of us trying our hand- or rather feet- on the dance floor in the next edition of the NEN!)

And of course, no High School dance would be complete without a DJ. As luck would have it, we were able to enlist the services of Gary Firth, a consummate DJ and broadcaster with extensive experience in the business, who just happens to live on Crichton Street directly across the road from the school! Gary has participated in the planning process with enthusiasm and much-needed expertise, and we have no doubt he’ll be a smash hit with the neighbourhood on November 27^th.

No one who attended last year’s Cocktails for Crichton Auction will forget the star of our show, Mama Morton (aka Joseph Cull). Despite a fully packed schedule of benefit performances and volunteer gigs of all descriptions, Joseph was generous-spirited enough to join our organizing team again this year, and to play a leading role as the High School Principal. While best is yet to come on November 27^th, there’s no doubt that Joseph will work his magic in this role, dishing out plenty of knuckle rappings, finger-wagging scoldings and flamboyant expressions of disapproval to the unruly nerds and greasers in the crowd. Thank you, Joseph: it’s a simple truth that we couldn’t do this without you, and we’re eternally grateful for your presence and support.

Finally, no tribute would be complete without a hats off to our core group of organizers. At the helm again this year is our Event Co-ordinator par excellence Alex MacDonald, whose powers of imagination, attention to detail, organizational experience and expertise have combined to lift our soirée out of the realm of the mundane fundraiser and into the stratosphere of truly great parties. Not only does she “think of everything” as the saying goes, she thinks of it with a flair and genius which inspires her cohorts and greatly enriches the event.

Her partner Martin Clary is equally talented and dedicated in the handling of all the technical aspects of the event, from lighting to floor plans to the all important musical production. And on top of this daunting task list, Martin is preparing a multi-media presentation to complement the music and dance elements of our Sock Hop, and to thoroughly immerse the party goers in the inimitable aura of the 1950’s.

Many thanks also to the other hard-working members of the CCCC organizing team, Jennifer Barbarie, Carol Burchill, Ingrid McCarthy, Vicki Metcalfe and Jane Heintzman, and to the many volunteers who have agreed to pitch in on the day and evening of the event, including our ace organizer and staunch supporter Hilary Armstrong, who has generously agreed to return to the team on November 27^th.

Postes en Afrique

Signez et faites circuler la pétition pour contrer la
FERMETURE DES AMBASSADES CANADIENNES EN AFRIQUE

Encore une fois, le Canada se prépare à fermer des ambassades en Afrique. Un tel désintérêt pour ce continent peut difficilement s’expliquer au moment où un grand nombre d’entreprises canadiennes y investissent abondamment et que toutes les puissances émergentes ou anciennes se positionnent sur ce qu’il est convenu d’appeler le grand marché de demain. Ce serait une grave erreur de sacrifier une relation aussi précieuse. Il faut le faire savoir au gouvernement Harper!

Lire la suite et signer la pétition...

Vous pouvez aussi écrire à votre député fédéral (voici une proposition de texte à coller/copier sur votre papier en-tête ou courriel). Voici le lien pour la liste des députés fédéraux

http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Lists/Members.aspx?Language=F

Cher Député

Récemment, le 26 octobre dernier, à la Chambre des communes, le Ministre des Affaires étrangères, l’honorable Lawrence Cannon n’a pas voulu confirmer ou nier la possibilité de fermetures d’ambassades canadiennes en Afrique tel que notre Ambassade au Cameroun à une question posée par l’honorable Mauril Bélanger, député d’Ottawa-Vanier. À titre d’organisation active sur le continent et convaincue de l’importance de la présence de représentation diplomatique canadienne sur le continent, nous sommes très inquiets.

L’honorable Bélanger déclarait dans le préambule de sa question : - Monsieur le Président, l'Amérique du Sud compte 13 pays, et le Canada a des ambassades dans dix d'entre eux. En Europe, nous avons des ambassades ou des hauts-commissariats dans 35 des 45 États du continent. L'Afrique, qui compte 250 millions d'habitants de plus que l'Europe, est formée de 54 pays, et le Canada y a des ambassades dans moins de la moitié d'entre eux. Vingt-trois, pour être exact. - S’il est exact que le gouvernement veut fermer plusieurs autres ambassades en Afrique (on parle de 4 ambassades) , la réputation du Canada sera encore plus ternie qu’elle ne l’est déjà.

On ne peut pas continuer de prétendre que nous sommes les amis de l’Afrique tout en diminuant de près de 50% les pays de concentration pour l’aide canadienne et fermer un autre 20% de nos ambassades peu de temps après en avoir fermé 2 autres. Comment peut-on prétendre que notre politique étrangères est basée sur des « principes » de bonne gouvernance, de la protection des droits humains, de la protection de la mère et des enfants, et être absent de 66% des pays Africains (après les coupures)? On oublie trop facilement que 34 des 50 pays les plus pauvres au monde sont en Afrique. Pourquoi, le Canada se retire-t-il de l’Afrique?

L’Afrique, 54 pays et 1 milliard de personnes, a droit au respect de la part d’un pays du G8 et ce n’est pas en diminuant notre présence sur le continent que nous pourrons convaincre les pays africains que le Canada se soucie de leur développement social et économique. Au contraire tous ces signaux vont miner graduellement notre réputation – déjà considérablement affaiblie - bâtit au cours des 50 dernières années. Ceci est tout à fait l’encontre de ce que les autres pays du G8, la Chine, les Indes et le Brésil ont fait au cours des trois dernières années, il ont augmenté leurs représentation en Afrique.

Nous vous demandons d’intervenir pour endiguer ces actions qui ne peuvent être que néfastes pour le Canada, ses ONG et ses entreprises dans leurs relations avec un continent important.

FSCA 25th Annual Art Exhibition

The Foreign Service Community Association (FSCA) is holding its 25th Annual Art Exhibition from Tuesday to Wednesday, Nov. 9-10 at Foreign Affairs and International Trade. The FSCA is presenting artists and authors from the Foreign Service community in Ottawa. I encourage you to attend the Exhibition to enjoy and support their contributions to the cultural and artistic vibrancy of Ottawa!

Art Exhibition

Dates: Tuesday and Wednesday, November 9 and 10, 2010 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Location: Skelton Lobby, Lester B. Pearson Building, 125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, ON