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www.embassynews.ca OTTAWA | WednesdAy, MArch 30, 2016 | IssUe 589

EMBASSYTRADE | IMMIGRATION | DEFENCE | DEVELOPMENT | FOREIGN POLICY

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MiLitaRy PoLiCe

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Tories rejected departmental, diplomatic advice to join UN Vietnam program

Defence minister one of several MPs who received severance pay after election

Besieged by criticism in the media of its human rights record, the Saudi government extended an olive branch to select members of the Ottawa press corps last week, inviting them to an exclusive dinner reception for Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion.

Meant to be a good news story, the event was held on March 24 to pay tribute to the Canadian government’s efforts to aid Syrian refugees. But the Saudi ambassador couldn’t avoid the topic every invited journalist wanted to ask him about: a controversial Saudi arms deal with Canada.

The dinner was officially co-hosted by the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council: Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain. The Saudi embassy and residence compound on Sussex Drive was the venue, and the small group of reporters were promised rare access to Saudi Ambassador Naif Bin Bandir AlSudairy and his Gulf counterparts.

GCC ambassadors had an announcement to make about Syrian refugees, the report-ers were told. None of those reporters had seen the inside of the Saudi embassy before. The embassy doesn’t tend to send out press releases or have a chummy relationship with Parliamentary Press Gallery reporters.

The press had been brought in to pass along a message to the Canadian people, said Mr. AlSudairy: a “thank you” to the Canadian gov-ernment for its work resettling Syrian refugees.

The minister in charge of Canada’s international aid in 2013 rejected a joint UN program with Vietnam that his own department and diplomats had recom-mended, documents show.

An August 2013 memo to then-devel-opment minister Christian Paradis pro-posed a grant arrangement with the UN Development Program to contribute $14 million over three years to a major socio-economic development plan in Vietnam.

The memo was obtained by Embassy under access to information law.

Called the One Plan, the UN launched the project with Vietnam in 2012 and set out several focus areas, such as gender-equitable growth.

Donors were asked to give $134.5 million in direct contributions, and had raised $45.6 million at the time the memo was written. Canada’s foreign affairs department proposed chipping in $14 million to that, under a Canadian initia-tive called Strengthening Institutions for a Modern Economy.

The 11-page memo, endorsed by the top foreign aid bureaucrat at the time, Paul Rochon, extensively lays out the rationale behind the proposal. It notes that the pro-

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan received severance pay from the military after winning his seat in the Oct. 19 election, disclosures to Canada’s ethics commis-sioner show.

An entry dated March 1 states Mr. Sajjan received severance pay from the Canadian Armed Forces. Reports from last fall say he quit the reserve force Oct. 21, two days after the federal election. When he was named minister Nov. 4, his departure still hadn’t been formalized.

“Even though the minister released from the Canadian Forces voluntarily, he—like all other members of the CAF—received this taxable, deferred part of his compensation upon release,” press secre-tary Jordan Owens said.

“He has provided all necessary infor-mation to the Ethics Commissioner, and his personal finances are a private mat-ter,” she said. Ms. Owens would not disclose the amount that Mr. Sajjan received.

Based on publicly-available informa-tion about how severance is calculated, it appears Mr. Sajjan was eligible to receive an amount in the tens of thousands—likely between $30,000 and $40,000 or more, according to his rank and years of service. His office did not respond after to repeated requests to confirm the accu-racy of this estimate.

■ Paradis told bureaucrats to hunt for ‘technical assistance’ options instead.

■ Slammed in media over arms deal, Saudis look to change the channel, but can’t fully avoid the elephant in the room.

■ The jury is out on MPs accepting severance pay from public employers: some refused it, some donated the money, others just cashed the cheque.

Carl MeyerPeter Mazereeuw

Marie-Danielle Smith

Continued on Page 8Continued on Page 3

Continued on Page 2

Saudi Ambassador Naif Bin Bandir AlSudairy and Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion on March 24. Embassy Photo: Sam Garcia

Guess who’s coming to dinner? A night in the Saudi embassy

EMBASSY, Wednesday, March 30, 2016—2

News Defence

military members get severance ‘almost regardless’ of how they leave

Complicated rules dictate how officials calculate severance, making it nearly impos-sible to determine an average amount that members are paid.

For eligible reservists, as a basic prem-ise, severance is calculated at seven days of pay per year of service—but there are a bunch of complicating factors, such as the member’s rank, total years of service and how much time the member actually spent performing duties.

Several current MPs confirmed to Embassy that they benefitted from military severance pay in the past.

For example, Karen McCrimmon, the par-liamentary secretary for the minister of vet-erans affairs, received severance after she left the forces in 2006.

But she quit for family reasons, her office said, and didn’t get her job in the House of Commons until last October. They declined to provide an amount.

Another new MP, former Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, also accepted severance pay after he retired from the forces in 2011.

His parliamentary assistant, Shawn Kalbhenn, told Embassy: “all military mem-bers, almost regardless of how they leave the forces, receive severance pay when they leave.”

Mr. Leslie had come under criticism in 2014 when it came out that he had billed DND $72,000 in “relocation expenses” for a move within Ottawa, shortly after retiring. That’s another type of benefit the military doles out for about 300 of its own every year, the Ottawa Citizen reported.

Another ex-military MP and former Conservative veterans affairs minister, Erin O’Toole, told Embassy that he was in the mili-tary for 12 years before working for a decade as a lawyer then seeking elected office.

Because he left the forces after the end of a contract, Mr. O’Toole got his own con-tributions to a pension fund back, but didn’t receive severance pay, he said.

‘it is not supposed to be a free gift’

“We always find it curious when there are jobs where there is severance offered for vol-untarily leaving,” Aaron Wudrick, the presi-dent of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, told Embassy.

“These are public dollars. Severance is supposed to be for situations where an

individual faces a sudden loss of employ-ment—you know, against their own will. It is not supposed to be a free gift to people who choose to leave their jobs.”

Some changes have been made to the sys-tem in the past few years. The Reserve Force Retirement Gratuity has been phased out in favour of the less-generous Canadian Forces Severance Pay program.

And in 2012, accumulation of severance pay for resignation and retirement reasons stopped. But many members are still eli-gible to redeem what they had accrued before then.

“Severance benefits for the purpose of resignation and retirement are infrequent amongst other employers,” the defence department acknowledges on a Frequently Asked Questions web page.

“The ending of the severance entitlement for retirement and resignation will provide financial predictability for the government in these times of fiscal restraint,” it says.

In the face of a federal deficit this year, people like Mr. Wudrick believe elected offi-cials should tighten the public purse strings and refuse severance packages, even if they are legally entitled to them.

“Especially given the circumstance we’re in, where we’re sort of tight for money, it would certainly be showing leadership to say ‘OK, I’m going to forgo this,’” he said. “I think that shows some leadership and that shows respect for tax dollars.”

He added, “if the minister did actually take this money, he should follow the exam-ple of some of his colleagues.”

other ministers, mPs took severance pay after election

Indeed, other MPs declined severance from public sector positions as they headed to the Hill last fall.

Liberal MPs Anthony Housefather and Ramez Ayoub and NDP MP Jenny Kwan declined substantial packages, with Mr. Housefather telling Global News that “I’d rather leave it with the taxpayers.”

Several other MPs—Liberals Jean-Claude Poissant and Pierre Breton and Conservative Alain Rayes—decided to donate severance packages to charities or non-profit organizations.

Still, Mr. Sajjan isn’t alone. Others, includ-ing cabinet ministers, accepted severance pay from their previous jobs.

Jody Wilson-Raybould, the justice minis-ter, disclosed with the ethics commissioner Feb. 23 that she had received severance pay from the Assembly of First Nations. Embassy contacted her office to ask for more infor-mation, but staff had not responded before press time.

The only other severance disclosure on the ethics commissioner’s website is from Jennifer O’Connell, a Liberal MP who received severance pay from Pickering, Ont.’s municipal government after quitting her job as a city councillor.

But Global News reported Feb. 18 that she and six other MPs had received a combined total of nearly $780,000.

That included $132,518 for Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr after he left the Alberta legislature and $46,150 for Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi after he left the Edmonton city council.

On their ethics disclosures, those ministers list income from the Alberta and Edmonton governments, respective-ly, but don’t specifically mention sever-ance pay.

[email protected] @mariedanielles

Defence minister one of several MPs who received severance pay after election

This week on embassynews.caCheck out embassynews.ca for more foreign affairs news and opinion, like these:

n The budget Easter bunny should make rounds in Asia

n Gwynne Dyer: Obama in Havana

n Canadians react to terror in Brussels

Finance Minister Bill Morneau tables the 2016 budget in the House of Commons March 22. PMO photo: Adam Scotti

Continued from Page 1 Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan at the National Press Theatre Feb. 8. The Hill Times photo: Jake Wright

Diplomatic Circles will be back


News Development

gram aligns with the department’s country strategy for Vietnam and that it would present an opportunity to showcase Canadian support for disadvantaged and vulnerable women and for transparent public institutions.

As a donor, Canada would have been given a seat at the steering committee that would have influenced funding priorities, the memo states.

The memo adds that, in addition to Mr. Rochon, “relevant officials within the foreign affairs and trade sections of the department, including Canada’s ambassador to Vietnam, have been consulted and are supportive of this initiative.”

But it appears Mr. Paradis rejected the proposal.

On the memo’s last page, he checked a box next to “I do not agree with the recommenda-tion.” He then wrote in the comments section below, “please see my office for instructions.” He signed and dated it Nov. 19, 2013.

Vietnam says it was unawareEmbassy asked Development Minister

Marie-Claude Bibeau’s office and Global Affairs Canada if they were aware of why Mr. Paradis rejected the program.

“The department was asked to explore whether a similar initiative could be pursued through Canadian technical assistance,” wrote Louis Belanger, director of communi-cations for Ms. Bibeau, in an email March 24 responding to both lines of inquiry.

Technical assistance can involve provid-ing officials with expertise on international

best practices, something that Canada engag-es in with Vietnam through other programs. The memo about the proposed UN program said it would allow for the sharing of technical expertise, as well as other services.

The government still hasn’t established any similar programs with UNDP and Vietnam, Mr. Belanger said, although Canada continues to provide support to several other projects within the country.

Reached for comment, Vietnamese Ambassador To Anh Dung said that staff at the Vietnamese embassy didn’t know about the proposal.

future potentialMs. Bibeau’s office did not rule out joining

the UNDP program in the future.“As the government will be reviewing aid

policy and the funding framework, country

programs will be reviewing a wide range of possible ideas and partners for future proj-ects,” wrote Mr. Belanger.

The memo says civil society and the private sector identified the “comparative advantages and role of the United Nations in Vietnam.”

As a rapidly-developing country, impor-tant regional player and fast-growing market for Canadian exports, Vietnam’s economic and social progress are worth protecting and furthering, the memo suggests.

That can come through such actions as strengthening the environment for business, improving unskilled labour practices, making public investments more efficient, enhancing legal standards and improving advocacy for civil society. The One Plan set out to channel all the UN’s power into achieving these ends.

Vietnam has only become more relevant to Canada in the years since the memo.

The Southeast Asian country is now a Trans-Pacific Partnership signatory, along with Canada, and is part of the Harper-era International Education Strategy. It’s also a so-called country of focus for interna-tional aid priorities, although the House of Commons foreign affairs committee is cur-rently reviewing which countries should be included on that list.

The Liberal government has promised to become more engaged with the UN, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently host-ed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Canada.

[email protected] @ottawacarl

Tories rejected departmental, diplomatic advice to join UN Vietnam program

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Girls from a local hill tribe laugh in Sapa, Vietnam in 2011. Gender-equitable growth was a focus area for a program the Conservative government rejected in 2013. UN photo: Kibae Park


News Defence

Military police say they recorded about one incident for every eight Canadian Armed Forces members in 2015—and that’s fewer than

usual, historical data show.They are not necessarily crimes but could

also involve such things as damaged equip-ment or faulty alarm systems, according to the military police.

In 2015 the military police created 11,671 “general occurrences” from 26,711 “com-puter-aided dispatches,” said Jean-Marc Mercier, a public affairs officer with the military police.

Those numbers are drawn from SAMPIS, which stands for Security and Military Police Information System. It’s a system that hasn’t been updated in seven years and has been the target of numerous recommendations for improvement and complaints—let alone the problem that it can’t produce detailed statistics without the manual aid of several full-time analysts.

Mr. Mercier said computer-aided dis-patches are automatically created for all calls to the military police. These are “not easily searchable,” he said.

General occurrences, on the other hand, are the main event records that the police themselves write, “the most common way to enter the initial basic information about an offence,” said Maj. Mercier. “It represents the written record of a reported offence as required by law and, in all likelihood, by police agency policy.”

Examples of general occurrences, he said, are homicides, assaults, motor vehicle acci-dents, impaired driving, breaking and enter-ing, thefts, robberies, missing persons, sud-den deaths, frauds, sexual assaults and drug and weapon offences.

But it’s important to recognize, he noted, that about 57 per cent of the offences, or 6,700 for 2015, are agency-specific. Although these can include such things as security or alarm problems—a door left unlocked, for instance—they also include thefts or equip-ment losses that occur on bases, he said. Embassy recently reported substantial thefts, losses and damage to CAF equipment in the 2014-15 financial year.

Michel Drapeau, a military lawyer in Ottawa, said that the numbers seem high. But, “it could be anything from somebody reporting smoke to somebody reporting anonymously an assault,” he said.

Still: “you don’t expect the military police to be so active,” he said.

According to Statistics Canada, the gen-eral crime rate in 2013 sat at about five per cent, or one criminal incident for every 20 people.

system hasn’t been updated in seven years

Data from the provost marshal’s most recent annual report cover 15 months, from Jan. 1, 2012 until March 31, 2013.

During that time, 39,751 calls and 18,913 general occurrences were reported—sug-gesting that 2015 was in fact a slower-than-average year. Of the general occurrences, 817 are categorized as “violent crime.”

More than 3,000 are property crimes—that’s the most frequent entry. But well over 12,000 of the occurrences aren’t categorized in the report.

Previous years show similar numbers. The three-year average from 2009 to 2011, according to the 2011 report, was 16,928 gen-eral occurrences and 34,863 calls per year.

It wasn’t possible for Embassy to obtain such a breakdown for 2015, or to quickly get information about the thousands of “occur-rences” not listed as crimes, because SAMPIS is not designed to spit out statistical informa-tion. It’s “primarily a management tool, not a statistical database,” said Maj. Mercier.

Five full-time operators are employed to manually extract data from the system for annual reporting purposes, he said. “All actions on the system by operators are recorded,” Maj. Mercier said.

The provost marshal’s annual report for 2014 is still sitting on the minister’s desk for approval, an access-to-information officer said while processing Embassy’s request. Reports are presented to the Chief of Defence Staff and not to Parliament, which means there’s no legislative mandate to publish reports by certain dates.

The SAMPIS system, which Maj. Mercier said is also used by many other police agen-cies in Canada, has been in use since 2000. The software was last updated in 2009, he said.

According to the Judge Advocate General’s 2014-15 annual report, 1,182 charg-es were laid within the military justice sys-tem. Almost 40 per cent of these concerned an absence without leave.

The charges were handled at 827 summa-ry trials and 70 courts martial, and in total, about 90 per cent of those charged received guilty verdicts.

That doesn’t paint a full picture, however. Because military and civilian police often work together, or hand investigations over to one another, some of the investigations con-tained in the military police system would have seen charges laid on the civilian side.

more sexual assaults being reported

The military employs 68,000 regular force and 27,000 reserve force members, accord-ing to DND. About 1,400 people work for the military police at 31 locations in Canada, and about 180 are deployed abroad.

The military police are Canadian Armed Forces members with police training who have two basic roles: providing security, whether on military bases, on deployments or at dip-lomatic missions; and policing military bases and Department of National Defence property.

Military police have the power to investi-gate disciplinary offences that fall under the National Defence Act, but also most criminal offences, as long as there’s a connection to military members or property.

They automatically have jurisdiction on military bases, but frequently liaise with civil-ian police forces—sometimes taking over civilian investigations—for incidents that occur outside of military bases but involve members of the regular or reserve forces.

Military police will shadow investigations conducted by civilians to support and keep

track of files. These shadow investigations are put into the system as general occur-rences, Maj. Mercier said.

Embassy sat down March 24 with MCpl. Darrell Coughlin, an investigator with Canadian Forces National Investigative Service, which handles the most serious offences referred to military police, such as homicides and sexual assaults.

The latter have come under increased scrutiny since a report by former Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps released last year found a pervasive culture of sexual mis-conduct within the military.

Since a task force within the military was formed to respond to the report, more sex-ual assualt cases are being reported, MCpl. Coughlin said.

More generally, as long as there’s a “mili-tary nexus”—a connection to the military, to a military member or to DND property—the military police can investigate almost any type of offence.

From his time working as a patrol offi-cer on a military base in North Bay, MCpl. Coughlin said typical offences dealt with by local military police rather than the national service included domestic violence, thefts, traffic-related offences and assaults. Within SAMPIS, “general occurrences” were opened for a wide variety of incidents, he said.

concerns over report editingInvestigators released a report in March

2015 after an inquiry into the suicide of Cpl. Stuart Langridge in 2008.

The commission in charge of the Fynes inquiry made 46 recommendations in total. Eight of them deal specifically with SAMPIS and the general occurrence files it produces.

Most recommendations relate to accuracy within the system. One states the provost marshal should prohibit “the practice of mak-ing unattributed or misattributed modifica-tions...to file entries, and prohibit in particular the existing practice of supervisors amending and/or altering [general occurrence] file doc-uments created by subordinates.”

It adds the forces should liaise with the software vendor, Versaterm, to make sure original versions of files are preserved in the system and that all revisions are tracked.

“I remain fully committed to carefully reviewing and implementing those recom-mendations necessary to maintain the level of excellence that Canadians have come to expect from their Military Police over the past 75 years,” the provost marshal, who’s in charge of the military police, responded after the Fynes report was published.

Mr. Drapeau said that he hasn’t seen any significant changes in the way military police operate. In representing clients, he said he has encountered major inaccuracies within the police tracking system.

For example, he said he noticed clear discrepancies between an original version of a report and an edited, “cleaned up” version housed in the system.

“You want to have the real McCoy, the original, as stated, as written—flaws and all, grammar and all,” he said. “Don’t come in and polish it up.”

Maj. Mercier said that live police records are “variable and ever-changing due to the dynamic nature of police work” and that data within the system is updated and revised on a daily basis, “whether during the course of an investigation or as part of the quality assur-ance process before a report is concluded.”

need for a separate military police force?

There’s no reason that civilian police shouldn’t be able to handle the types of offences that military police deal with on a daily basis, Mr. Drapeau argued.

He said the military police as a body—through no fault of its officers—isn’t an incu-bator that can provide for the wealth of expe-rience that metropolitan police forces do.

He sees problems with the military police service such as the youth and relative inex-perience of officers handling major investiga-tions, or their closeness to the military chain of command.

But some military police officers see things differently.

In addition to patrolling a base and serv-ing on the national service, MCpl. Coughlin did aircraft security on a deployment to Afghanistan in 2007 and protected mission personnel in Tokyo in 2010.

This range of experiences made him bet-ter prepared for his work, MCpl. Coughlin argued, as did the fact that he had completed the same basic training as other military members.

“I can have appreciation for what soldiers go through,” he said. He added that he inher-ently understands the intricacies of the mili-tary better than civilian police can, despite undergoing the same kinds of police training.

“With a few years of experience, [a mili-tary police officer] is an investigator, when on the civilian side it would probably take much more, the person would do patrol much longer,” Maj. Mercier said, arguing that young military police gain more significant experience earlier in their careers.

“Add to this the variety of locations and situations where they are involved—it makes them a well-rounded specialist.”

[email protected] @mariedanielles

Military police recorded one incident for every eight CAF members in 2015National Defence employs five people, full time, to manually compile statistics from a clunky records system.

Marie-Danielle Smith

MCpl. Darrell Coughlin, an investigator with the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service, at its headquarters in Ottawa March 24. Embassy Photo: Marie-Danielle Smith


News Trade

A meeting between Bombardier execu-tives and visiting European parliamentarians was cancelled at the last minute, and one member of the European Union delegation is pointing to the controversy caused by French politician Marine Le Pen as the cause.

A delegation of EU parliamentarians had a scheduled visit to Bombardier’s Montreal office cancelled, after officials from the Canadian aerospace company requested to meet only with two high-ranking members of the delegation, wrote Jude Kirton-Darling, a British Member of European Parliament and member of the delegation, in a text-based interview over Twitter.

Doing so would have divided the members of the delegation, something the Europeans weren’t prepared to do, she wrote.

Ms. Kirton-Darling wrote that she believed Bombardier wanted to avoid meeting with Ms. Le Pen, who was technically a part of the visiting delegation.

“I think it was directly due to her that our programme was changed,” she wrote, later adding that she had not spoken with anyone at Bombardier on the subject.

A spokesperson for the aerospace com-pany had a different story, saying the right people weren’t available to host the full del-egation from Europe.

The cancellation was relayed to the mem-bers of the EU delegation by the European Parliament’s secretariat, which was respon-sible for co-ordinating the visit, wrote Ms. Kirton-Darling. Embassy could not confirm whether the decision to cancel the visit was made by Bombardier or the secretariat.

‘it didn’t work out’Ms. Le Pen is an MEP and the leader of

France’s National Front party, which has built a strong following in that country rail-ing against immigration and the political establishment.

Ms. Le Pen did not travel with the rest of the EU delegation, which came to Canada last week in preparation for the EU parlia-ment trade committee’s upcoming study of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between two jurisdictions.

Ms. Le Pen held her own series of press events in Montreal and Quebec City, criticis-ing Canada’s resettlement of Syrian refugees and promising to recognize Quebec as an independent state were her party to win power in France, the Canadian Press reported.

Bombardier spokesperson Isabelle Rondeau said the company’s decision to request a meeting only with trade committee chair Bernd Lange and the EU Parliament’s rapporteur for the CETA, Artis Pabriks—both members of the delegation—had to do with the availability of people in the company, and the “capacity” to meet with the whole nine-person delegation, she said.

“We have our own constraints, and in this case it was appropriate for us to meet with the chair and rapporteur,” she said. “It didn’t work out.”

Ms. Rondeau declined to comment on whether Ms. Le Pen’s rhetoric played a part in the cancellation of the meeting, which had been scheduled to take place in Montreal on the morning of March 23.

Ms. Le Pen was not available to be inter-viewed, according to spokesperson Richard Malvasio, and was not able to respond to emailed questions by press time.

Bombardier has been in the spotlight for months over its request for federal money to go toward its C Series plane program, and a recent report by the Globe and Mail that, even while the company awaits a federal decision, it plans to send 200 jobs overseas.

The EU delegation, minus Ms. Le Pen, met with Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, the Canadian House trade committee, civil society groups and others during its time in Ottawa, and toured the Port of Montreal while in that city. Ms. Le Pen did join the delega-

tion for a meeting with Pierre Marc Johnson, Quebec’s negotiator for the CETA.

Mr. Johnson said he did not consider cancelling the meeting, despite the refusal of most of Quebec’s top politicians to meet with Ms. Le Pen. He had been in communica-tion with Quebec government officials about Ms. Le Pen’s activities in the province before the meeting, he said.

“We were welcoming a European del-egation. It so happened one of its members, Mme. Le Pen, was active in the media when she was in Montreal, [and] made a few dec-larations which were surprising coming from a foreigner, criticizing Canadian and Quebec immigration policy and passing judgment on

the character of ministers. I guess it created a situation which was not usual for these kinds of visits,” he said.

Mr. Johnson said Ms. Le Pen was “totally against any trade deal, and she said so,” arguing that the investor-state dispute settle-ment mechanism—commonly referred to as ISDS— included in the deal would compro-mise France’s sovereignty.

The meeting was otherwise “excellent,” said Mr. Johnson, adding that Quebec gov-ernment is satisfied with the CETA text “on every aspect including ISDS.”

The EU delegation’s visit was also produc-tive and positive on the whole, wrote Ms. Kirton-Darling.

“There will be a lot of discussion in the parliament about CETA [and] it was useful to understand some of the concerns in Canada in more detail (e.g. On social programmes/public services, pharmaceuticals, meat indus-try, etc). Building the connections with our parliamentary counterparts was really impor-tant too,” she wrote.

[email protected]@PJMazereeuw

Le Pen’s presence spiked Bombardier meeting: EU legislator

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■ Aerospace giant lacked ‘capacity’ to meet entire delegation, says spokesperson.

Peter Mazereeuw


“ Of course I would like to live in a world without weapons. But my peaceful conviction

must take the real world into account.

—Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion defends his government’s decision to allow a government-brokered sale of armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia, in the prepared text of a speech at the

University of Ottawa March 29.

quoteweekOF

THE

Belgium may be a boring country, but it still seems extreme for a Belgian politician to say that the

country is now living through its darkest days since the end of the Second World War. Can any country really be so lucky that the worst thing that has happened to it in the past 70 years is a couple of bombs that killed 34 people?

That may sound a bit unchari-table, but respect for the innocent people killed by terrorists does not require us to take leave of our senses. What is happening now is the media feeding frenzy that has become almost a statutory requirement after every terrorist attack in the West.

And people do let themelves get wound up by the media-generated panic. Last week at dinner a young man, staying with us overnight in London before tak-ing a morning flight to the United States, openly debated with him-self about whether he should can-cel his (non-refundable) ticket or not. It was a ticket from London to Chicago that went nowhere near mainland Europe at all.

The airlines are just as prone to panic, cancelling flights into Belgium as if the country had suddenly become a seriously dan-gerous place. This story will domi-nate the Belgian media for weeks, as it did the rest of the Western media last week. Even non-West-ern media played it for a day or two. After almost nothing new or useful is said, the frenzy will die down—until next time.

This is a very stupid way of behaving, but you will notice that I am a part of it. No matter what I say about the bombs in Brussels, the fact that I am writing at length about them in a column that appears all over the world contributes to the delusion that they are not only a nasty event but also an important one.

It is the sheer volume of cover-age that determines an event’s per-ceived importance, not what is actu-ally said about it. But if we in the media are compelled to write about an event like the Belgian bombs

anyway, what can we truthfully say about it that will not feed the panic?

The first thing, after every ter-rorist attack, is to stress that the media coverage of the attack is its primary purpose—indeed, almost its only purpose. It’s obvious and it’s trite, but if you don’t actu-ally say it people forget it. Like the health warning on cigarette packets, it should be part of every story on terrorism.

Secondly, we have to put the alleged threat of such terrorist attacks into perspective. People rarely do this for themselves, because once events are beyond the range of their daily experience most people cannot distinguish between what is truly dangerous and what is only dramatic and frightening.

It really does help to remind people that terrorism is a statisti-cally insignificant risk—that they are in much greater danger of dying from a fall in the bath than of dying in a terrorist attack—even if that approach conflicts with the journalists’ natural urge to empha-size the importance of whatever they are writing about.

And finally, a little dispassionate analysis quickly deflates the notion that terrorism is “an existential threat,” as British prime minister David Cameron once said. Moreover, the recent terrorist attacks in Europe

have been largely confined to French-speaking countries.

Muslim immigrants in France and Belgium mostly come from Arab countries, and especially from North Africa, where French is the second laguage. Radical Islamism is much weaker in the rest of the Muslim world, so Germany (whose Muslims are mostly Turkish) and Britain (where they are mostly of South Asian origin) generate fewer Islamist extremists than the fran-cophone countries, and face fewer terrorist attacks.

France’s and Belgium’s Muslim citizens are also less integrated into the wider community. French hous-ing policy has dumped most of the immigrants in high-rise, low-income developments at the edge of the cities, often beyond the end of the metro lines. Unemployed, poorly educated and culturally isolated, their young men are more easily recruited into extremist groups.

The point of this sort of analy-sis is to cut the problem down to size. There is no terrorist army in Belgium, just a bunch of young men making it up as they go along.

The Brussels attacks happened four days after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, the sole survivor of the gang who carried out the attacks on the Bataclan arena and the Stade de France in Paris last November.

Back in Brussels after failing to use his suicide vest in the Paris attack, Abdeslam was a psycho-logical wreck, and his Islamist colleagues undoubtedly expected that once in police custody he would sing like a canary. So they decided to launch another attack and go to glory before the police kicked in their doors.

Prime Minister Charles Michel issued the usual ritual incantation about Belgians being “determined to defend our freedom,” but Belgium’s freedom is not at risk. Terrorists are not an existential threat. They are a lethal nuisance, but no more than a nuisance.

Gwynne Dyer is a United Kingdom-based independent jour-nalist who writes a column for Embassy.

[email protected]

Terrorists a lethal nuisance, not an existential threat

de Adder’s Take

”

Amid a Western media frenzy after attacks in Brussels, we must cut the problem down to size.

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The Belgian flag next to a stone angel at Martyrs’ Square in Brussels, Belgium, pictured here in 2009. Flickr photo: Les Sachs


Opinion Defence & Development

Last Tuesday’s terror attacks in Brussels set off another round of shockwaves throughout Europe and around the world.

Once it was confirmed that no Canadian citizen was among the victims, Canadian media outlets cast a wider net to find some-thing—anything—to connect the horrific attacks to Canada. For instance, a taekwondo team from Winnipeg was fortuitously late arriving at the Brussels airport, so only witnessed the aftermath, not the blast; an Air Canada flight to Montreal was cancelled; and several school trips planned for Belgium were diverted following the bombings.

Canadian authorities did not heighten secu-rity measures at domestic airports indicating that, despite the media’s best efforts to fright-en the bejeezus out of us, there is no connec-tion between the Belgium attack and Canada.

Of course, as soon as Daesh claimed responsibility for the attacks in Brussels, the usual fear-mongers took to their soapboxes to deride the Liberal government for being soft on terrorists. The militant Islamic group is also known as the Islamic State, ISIL and ISIS.

Jason Kenney—Conservative MP, for-mer defence minister and self-appointed lead tub-thumper in the Colonel Blimp Brigade—rose in the House of Commons to ask, “Is Canada...at war with [Daesh]? And if so, why did we end our combat opera-tions against that terrorist organization?” The implication from Kenney’s query is that our contribution of six old CF-18 fighter jets bombing Daesh targets in Iraq and Syria was somehow keeping Europe safe.

Kenney’s ludicrous equation falls apart when you factor in the connections between the perpetrators of the March 22 Belgium attacks and the Nov. 13, 2015 Paris attacks that left 130 dead. Last November our air-force pilots were still regularly targeting and blasting Daesh positions in Iraq and Syria, yet the streets of the French capital were still vulnerable to fanatical Daesh extremists.

Kenney can perhaps be somewhat forgiven for falling victim to the pro-war propaganda of Stephen Harper’s former government. In fact, Kenney was one of the loudest voices in the Harper choir trying to convince Canadians that by bombing Daesh in the Middle East, we were keeping the ter-rorists off the streets in Canada.

The problem stems from the blurred defi-nition of the words “terror” and “terrorism.”

Following the 9/11 attacks against America, United States President George W. Bush first used the term “War on Terror.” This was of course as ridiculous as declar-ing “War on Fear” or “War on Violence,” but in those frightening days immediately after 9/11, no world leader was about to point that out to the US president. Instead, countries pledged their allegiance to the US on the “War on Terror.” Bush’s successor in the White House, Barack Obama, announced that America was no longer at war with a tactic but would instead focus on specific enemies.

Nevertheless, for several years, the world’s only superpower led a coalition of allies, including Canada, on a war against a tactic. In simple terms, this meant that anyone opposed to the US could be branded a terrorist.

This line got totally blurred in the spring of 2014, when Daesh fighters swept out of Syria and captured a vast swath of Iraq.

While Daesh combatants certainly com-mitted terrifying atrocities (such as mass beheadings) following their victories, the problem was that they were not acting as terrorists. Instead, they were functioning as uniformed conventional forces, capturing and holding territory.

For the past two years, Daesh has been administering its self-proclaimed caliphate, which includes the Iraqi city of Mosul with its nearly two million inhabitants. Terrorists blow up airports and shoot unsuspecting mass transit passengers like in the Brussels and Paris attacks; they don’t manage gar-bage collection and food distribution as Daesh does in Iraq and Syria.

If there was a serious international intent on eradicating the Daesh rule over its caliphate, a single NATO standard armoured division could recapture that territory in less than three days. Unfortunately, the destruction of conventional Daesh units would simply drive them back underground, and the US has already experienced the bloody reality of trying to occupy and sup-press insurgents in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle.

Bombing, containing or even eliminating Daesh’s conventional forces in Syria and Iraq will in no way impact the actions of the Daesh fanatics who are launching attacks in Europe. They may fly the same black flag and shout the same slogans, but as we learned from the lone-wolf, “Daesh-inspired” terror attacks in Canada in October 2014, homegrown crazies can pop up anywhere, anytime.

Bombing Syrian villages does not make Canadian streets safe, and it is impossible to wage war against a tactic.

Scott Taylor is editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine.

[email protected]

A radical change in disaster response is underway. Long gone are the days when hunger relief meant ship-ping Canadian grain overseas. For

10 years, charities have been sourcing food locally. Now, instead of providing food, more and more agencies give people money.

The move to cash is shaking up relief agencies and government alike, demanding new skills and safeguards and posing a raft of new questions.

The last time I worked in an emergency, after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Oxfam was already giving people cash instead of food, either as a wage for community work or simply as a grant, something the agency had pioneered in southern Africa in 2005. The motivation: farmers and storekeepers had plenty of food to sell, and there is dignity in having money in your pocket.

Fears that people might spend their allot-ment on alcohol or tobacco proved false, and the infusion of cash did not cause inflation. The biggest concern turned out to be safety. How does an agency or family handle large amounts of cash without being robbed? Since then, tech-nology has come to the rescue.

Today, more than a million Syrian refu-gees in Lebanon and hundreds of thou-

sands in Jordan and Turkey get pre-paid credit cards, smartcard vouchers or ATM cards, instead of food or currency. Every month the UN’s World Food Programme adds about US$30 per person to each fam-ily’s card. Some agencies are even transfer-ring money directly to people’s cell phones.

A great deal of field research shows cash transfers can work. Buying and cooking the foods they like helps people regain a sense of normalcy. Smartcards help them maintain a low profile in hostile situations, increasing safety and avoiding stigma. Cash stimulates the local economy, improving relations between refugees and host communities.

And there are other unexpected ben-efits. An extensive International Rescue Committee evaluation in Lebanon showed families were able to pay off debts to loan sharks, turn down dangerous or exploitative work, and keep children in school because they could pay for supplies. Households receiving cash assistance were half as likely to send their children out to work as those receiving food aid.

Such considerations are crucial because, in today’s drawn-out crises, aid recipients need help for lengthier periods. According to the 2015 Global Humanitarian Assistance Report, two thirds of humanitar-ian aid is spent in places that have required funding for eight years or more.

Efficiency is the biggest positive for donor governments and humanitarian agen-cies. Relieved of the headache of buying, moving and storing enormous quantities of food, charities can focus on more appropri-ate tasks: judging whether the market has enough food and whether banking services

will suffice; determining who is needy; moni-toring whether needs are being met; and evaluating the entire operation.

Experience to date also underscores chal-lenges. Communities can view cash as more susceptible than food to favoritism, nepo-tism and outright thievery. In many places women control food, while men control cash. Though more efficient for aid organiza-tions, cash can raise the cost to beneficia-ries through banking fees and extra travel. And no one knows the ramifications of rush-ing an isolated community into the modern cash economy at a moment of vulnerability.

Moreover, how will humanitarian agencies protect the privacy rights of those receiving smartcards? Do they have appropriate data col-lection policies? How will they manage the risks of fraud? As banks, credit card companies and mobile phone firms play a larger role, can chari-ties ensure the most needy will be served?

Cash transfers remain a small propor-tion of all humanitarian assistance, primar-

ily because the United States still uses aid to dispose of its farm surplus, binding the bulk of the World Food Programme and many American charities to the in-kind sys-tem. Canada, the third largest donor to the WFP (contributing $383 million), completely untied its food assistance about eight years ago, so that food aid is purchased locally or regionally. However, cash distribution still plays second fiddle to food and other goods in Canadian aid, not least because a skepti-cal public more easily understands these as life saving.

With the numbers of needy skyrocketing and aid budgets stalled, cash looks to be the way of the future. In the run-up to May’s UN World Humanitarian Summit, Britain is leading a concerted push to expand cash transfers. Agencies had better buckle down if they are to manage the transition wisely.

Mark Fried, formerly of Oxfam Canada, is a literary translator and editor based in Ottawa.

[email protected]

Ludicrous to think bombing in Iraq, Syria keeps Europe safe

Let them eat cash

Doesn’t impact actions of fanatics launching attacks in Brussels, Paris.

Instead of providing food, more and more aid agencies give people money.

Inside Defence

Scott taylor

Mark FrieD

Syrian refugee Ali Ahmad Farhat chooses what he wants to buy with a World Food Programme e-card at a supermarket in Nabatiyeh, Lebanon. Mastercard Photo: Dalia Khamissy


News Diplomacy

The thanks came in the form of a cheque for $31,000 to United Way Ottawa from the GCC countries. The cheque was presented just after 5 p.m. in one of the embassy’s stone and glass-walled reception rooms after Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson arrived to take part in the ceremony. The ambassadors stood together against a photo backdrop, chatting while they waited for more guests to arrive as the menagerie of staff, press and press handlers milled about quietly.

Public relations for the event were han-dled by Navigator Ltd., a communications firm with offices in several Canadian cities that brandishes the slogan, “When you can’t afford to lose.” The firm has earned a reputa-tion for crisis management, working for for-mer Ontario attorney general Michael Bryant after he was involved in a collision that killed a cyclist, and more recently former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi.

However, Navigator had only been hired to help the Saudi embassy with the evening’s event, not any sort of crisis management, said Darryl Konynenbelt, a senior consultant with the firm.

The Gulf states have, fairly or unfairly, been criticized in some corners for their response to the Syrian refugee crisis. It’s difficult to measure resettlement by those countries, since none signed onto the UN Convention on the Status of Refugees. A recent UNHCR report did not list any GCC members as having resettled refugees, but a press release from last week’s event says the Gulf countries have accepted more than two million Syrians over the past five years.

The Saudi government has also fallen under renewed criticism in the Canadian press over its human rights record since the previous Conservative government brokered a deal to send armoured made-in-Canada military vehicles, that could be equipped with guns, to the Saudi national guard, and the new Liberal government upheld that decision. National news sources have run a flurry of news sto-ries and opinion pieces, almost daily at times, tearing into the Gulf kingdom for its treat-ment of women, dissidents and prisoners. The Globe and Mail has repeatedly reported that the country “ranks among ‘the worst of the worst’ by Freedom House on human rights.” The national newspaper reported the Saudi Embassy responded this month after months of silence, criticizing what it called “sensation-alized and politicized” coverage of the $15-bil-lion deal and outside attempts to interfere with internal affairs.

The Saudi government is typically “very, very shy in terms of public diplomacy” in Canada, said Thomas Juneau, a professor of Middle East policy at the University of Ottawa and former Middle East analyst for the Department of National Defence.

The unexpected press event may or may not have been connected to the negative portrayal of the country in connection with the vehicle sale, he said, noting that the Saudi government does support Syrian refu-gees on “many levels.”

The ambassador said the event was an attempt to show the importance of the Syrian refugee issue, given the large number of Syrians in his country.

The ambassador said the embassy has held such events from time to time. Mr. Juneau said public diplomacy events are held more often by the Saudi embassy in the United States and elsewhere.

Mr. Dion defended the Liberals’ decision to follow through on the arms deal in a speech at the University of Ottawa Tuesday, according to speaking notes for the event. Jobs in Ontario and the “credibility of the government of Canada’s signature” were on the line, he said, and “Riyadh does not care if the equipment comes from a factory in Lima, Ohio, or Sterling Heights, Michigan, rather than one in London, Ontario.”

Mr. Dion and chief of staff Julian Ovens arrived at the Saudi embassy shortly after the cheque presentation, and were received warmly by the ever-smiling Mr. AlSudairy. Mr. Dion’s attendance was a surprise to the press, who were only told the minister would attend after arriving at the embassy them-selves. With the guests of honour accounted for—also including Senate Speaker George Furey—Mr. Watson and Mr. AlSudairy led the way to dinner.

Guests funnelled slowly into a large, square room with a high ceiling. Eight tables adorned in white linen surrounded a swim-ming pool, with a pair of VIP tables sitting at the back of the room in a two-storey glass alcove. Members of the press were seated at

the far side of the room. Diners were treated to a buffet of lamb and rice, salmon, salad, humus, breaded shrimp and a variety of veg-etarian dishes.

some embassies ‘more generous than others’

Mr. Watson was the first of the political class to leave, around six o’clock, and also held the longest scrum, fielding as many questions as reporters could think to ask. It was his first visit to the Saudi embassy as well, he said.

Mr. Watson said he didn’t know if that evening’s events and the donation would change the way Canadians perceived the governments of Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states.

“My hope is that it acts as a catalyst for other embassies in Ottawa—we have over 95 heads of mission here—to continue to be generous. Some embassies are more gener-ous than others in terms of their reaching out and helping,” he said.

Mr. Dion was next to go, but he did not take any questions from the press. The

ambassadors eventually followed, making an effort to personally see off each of their VIP guests, while the Navigator crew shep-herded the press into a sitting room for their long-awaited chance to sit down with the Mr. AlSudairy and his GCC counterparts.

Their guests departed, the ambassadors joined the press in the sitting room, stand-ing together in front of a small fireplace. The ensuing Q&A lasted for about two and a half minutes. Mr. AlSudairy deflected questions about human rights and the arms deal, prom-ising to address those issues on another day.

With that, the ambassadors dispersed. A family of Syrian refugees was offered up to the press, if they were interested. Mohamad and Shoq—their last name was withheld at the request of their sponsor for the protection of relatives back home—and their four young children had arrived in Ottawa just five weeks ago via Lebanon, their sponsor and interpret-er said. Mohamad had a fond impression of the Saudi government thanks to the clothing and food aid he received in Lebanon bearing the stamp of the Saudi government.

[email protected]@PJMazereeuw

Guess who’s coming to dinner? A night in the Saudi embassy

Continued from Page 1 Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson poses with a cheque for the Ottawa United Way along with ambassadors from some of the Gulf Cooperation Council states. Left to right: Ambassador Abdulhamid Alfailakawi of Kuwait; Ambassador Fahad Kafoud of Qatar; Ambassador Naif Bin Bandir Al Sudairy of Saudi Arabia; Jim Watson; Ambassador Mohammed Saif Helal Al Shehhi of the United Arab Emirates; Ambassador Abdulla bin Mohammed Al Khalifa of Bahrain; and Ottawa City Councillor Michael Qaqish. Embassy photo: Sam Garcia.

GCC ambassadors take questions in the Saudi ambassador’s residence. Mr. Al Sudairy and Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion dined together in the ambassador’s residence March 24.


News Security

Opinion Budget 2016

Providing protection to diplomats, politicians and other dignitaries in Ottawa is a high-stress gig due in part to unrealistic expectations and

the potential for tedious work, say a former RCMP member and a police researcher.

RCMP Const. Jean-Pascal Nolin, a 10-year veteran, shot himself inside an RCMP Parliament Hill detachment the morning of March 17, media outlets reported. The detachment is at 90 Sparks St., just around the corner from Canada’s Parliament build-ings and the prime minister’s office.

Const. Nolin was a member of the National Capital Region General Duty Protection Policing team and on duty at the time of the shooting, though his death was not directly related to his duties, according to a source cited by the Ottawa Citizen.

General Duty Protection Policing provides security for the prime minister, governor gener-al and other Canadian officials, as well as “inter-national dignitaries and their residences and embassies,” according to the RCMP’s website.

It’s part of the RCMP’s National Division Protective Operations, which also provides security for diplomats, ministers, supreme court justices and others, the website says.

Those familiar with the Ottawa diplomat-ic corps will recognize the RCMP presence at events, or even just patrolling different clus-ters of foreign missions around town.

Valarie Findlay, a research fellow for the Washington-based Police Foundation, said she couldn’t comment directly on Const. Nolin, but that some of the stress associated with policing now stems from a new “milita-rized” policing model.

“Police are becoming more and more phys-ically and psychologically isolated from the communities they serve and are part of what is seen as the police-industrial complex,” she wrote in an email. “This model recruits and trains officers as though they are soldiers.”

Yet officers are expected to act as war-riors, counselors, psychologists and public

servants all at once, she said. These “lofty and misaligned expectations” are restricted by legal and organizational obstacles, lead-ing to an “imbalance.”

Combined with public, political and media scrutiny, said Ms. Findlay, this has led to “sub-stantial day-to-day organizational pressure and workplace stress felt by every officer.”

The Oct. 22, 2014 shooting of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau at the National War Memorial and the struggle inside Parliament that day ratcheted up the intensity associated with providing protection to politi-cal and diplomatic officials in Ottawa.

But a former RCMP member, who would not go on the record in order to speak freely, said some of the most difficult aspects of the job come from how different it is than other positions on the force.

When officers who may have been inves-tigating homicides or doing other high-inten-sity police work elsewhere in the country transfer to Ottawa, they are often expected to do Parliament Hill and embassy patrols for many years, the former member said.

While important work, it’s sometimes seen as disruptive to careers, and the down-

time associated with driving from embassy to embassy can become mind-numbing.

An internal email cited by the Citizen quotes RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson stating that Const. Nolin was alone at the time of the shooting.

Ottawa Police are leading an investiga-tion into the death, working closely with the RCMP, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale indicated in a statement March 17.

“On behalf of all Canadians, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of the RCMP Officer who tragically passed away this morning in Ottawa,” the statement read.

Canada’s suicide rate was 11.3 per 100,000 people for all ages in 2012, the most recent year available in Statistics Canada data.

First responders are twice as likely to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disor-der, the Ontario government has stated.

Reached March 24, Brigitte Mineault, com-munications manager with RCMP National Division, said the RCMP would not be com-menting on this story.

[email protected] @ottawacarl

Somewhere on the campaign trail last fall, after a chat with Justin Trudeau, former Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion was asked about

the Liberals’ plan to run budget deficits in hopes of invigorating the economy.

“People talk about balancing the bud-get,” she observed. “An unemployed person is not interested in whether the budget is balanced.”

Bill Morneau’s economic blueprint marked the first time in decades that a federal finance minister had the nerve to brush aside the country’s long-held deficit fixation and state that Ottawa was going to purposely and unapologetically spend more money than it collected in tax revenues for several years.

It was key to the Trudeau government’s move to reverse the direction of the coun-try after a decade under Stephen Harper—an attempt to reassert the federal govern-ment’s leadership role in the country’s eco-nomic and social life and infuse a renewed sense of generosity and sharing into the national debate.

Many would say that despite the 10 years of Conservative government, these values never dimmed among Canadians. They just seemed to be obscured for a long time by the Republican-style, fend-for-yourself policies favoured by Harper and company. That’s cer-tainly one way to read the stunning results of the October election. Canadians soundly rejected the Harper doctrine and instead joined together against all expectations to vault a youthful, largely untested MP into power because his policies, and his name, held out the hope of a return to a more co-operative, caring Canada.

The Trudeau government’s first budget responded as expected to these aspirations and tried to address many of the glaring, disgraceful problems that the Conservatives didn’t seem to think were really Ottawa’s concern.

The budget included better veterans’ services, a bit of help for seniors stuck in pov-erty, more money to get homeless people off the street, additional support in the so-far los-ing battle to keep cities from falling apart and a long-overdue recognition by Ottawa of the reality of climate change. There was also help for low-income students, the unemployed, indigenous peoples, immigrants waiting to bring their families here—you get the idea.

And the accompanying goal, of course, was to inject more money into the economy in hopes of boosting it out of the slump Canadians have experienced since the 2008-09 global recession. With that would come more jobs, a pick-up in stagnant middle-class earnings and a general improvement in the public’s gloomy outlook. At the same time, the Liberals were trying to slow the phenom-enal rush of society’s riches to the wealthiest few at the very top of the economic pyramid.

This was all a major departure from most of the federal budgets—Conservative or Liberal—going back to the 1980s.

And it was expensive. The Trudeau gov-ernment is looking at a budget shortfall of $29.4 billion this year, with little hope of get-ting back to a surplus anytime soon.

If not exactly the end of civilization as we know it, the unexpectedly large budget shortfall was seen as something close to that by conservative-minded critics. The Harper Conservatives of course recorded budget deficits for most of their years in power. So it becomes an argument about whether your reason for running a deficit is better than the other guy’s reason for running a deficit.

Some also said it’s not up to Ottawa to try to steer the economy, that the federal govern-ment should just get out of the way and let business drive economic growth. But former finance minister Jim Flaherty proved conclu-sively that this is not as easy as it might seem. Enabling business to strengthen the economy by investing more in machinery and equip-ment was one of Flaherty’s central missions in federal politics. He cut billions of dollars in corporate income taxes, trimmed regulations and provided a highly valuable tax break for capital investments. Yet less-than-expected business investment by corporations sitting on billions of dollars in cash has been an enduring weakness in Canada’s economic pic-ture since the recession seven years ago.

Coupled with lower-than-forecast exports, this has left consumers to carry the load when it comes to fuelling the econ-omy. And it is reasonable to think Canadians will be inclined to spend a lot of the extra cash being provided by Morneau through new programs and middle-class tax reduc-tions, which will help.

This budget signalled an end to Canada’s long and unsuccessful embrace of the trickle-down economic theory promulgated by the likes of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

But whether Morneau’s approach, includ-ing impressive but less-than-promised early spending on infrastructure, is enough to get the economy rolling is an open question. Much will depend on whether the longer-term “innovation” strategy expected later this year from the Trudeau government will finally provide some effective ideas and incentives to prompt a much-needed over-haul of Canada’s economic competitiveness.

The federal government obviously can’t fix the problem of unproductive, inefficient industry; only business can do that. But Ottawa can try to provide some urgent, carefully-thought-out leadership in hopes of improving this crucial problem, and it’s high time for that to happen.

[email protected]

RCMP protective work scrutinized after shooting

Beyond the deficit fixation: Morneau reaffirms federal role in Canada

Researcher points to ‘substantial day-to-day organizational pressure.’

But whether his approach is enough to get the economy rolling is an open question.

Carl Meyer

Les Whittington

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau show off the Liberal gov-ernment’s first federal budget, March 22. Embassy Photo: Jake Wright


Opinion Diplomacy

Yesterday, the Rideau Institute and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives jointly released my report, Canadians Abroad: A Policy

and Legislative Agenda, detailing the myriad problems faced by Canadians overseas and the need for numerous changes to the policies affecting the provision of consular services, that is, of assistance to Canadians in difficulty in foreign countries. The report also makes recommendations to improve the assistance Canada provides to such Canadians and the international legal envi-ronment for consular services.

Millions of Canadians are outside Canada at any one time. As daily news reports show, they encounter various and frequent difficulties and dangers as they visit and reside abroad. Hundreds languish in foreign prisons on specious charges, while others need urgent medical attention or evacuation from the world’s trouble spots.

The study charts the development over the past decade of an insidious doctrine,

limiting the responsibility of the Canadian government and forcing many affected Canadians to seek redress through the courts. The historical Canadian approach of the universality of consular services for all Canadians has been undermined. The result has been inequity, unfairness and inconsistency in the provision of these vital services.

The previous government’s emphasis on the discretionary nature of consular ser-vices to Canadians was based on the appli-cation of the Crown prerogative, a constitu-tional convention that they argued overrode the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The government relied on the convention to justify its refusal to seek the return of Omar Khadr from the American gulag at Guantanamo Bay. It was similarly raised in the cases of Abousfian Abdelrazik and Suaad Mohamed when they sought help to return to Canada from the Sudan and Kenya.

The Canadian government was unique in the West in not seeking the return of a citi-zen from Guantanamo. The Khadr case went to the Supreme Court in early 2010. Lower courts ruled that Mr. Khadr’s Charter rights had been violated by CSIS and that the government had an obligation to have him returned to Canada. The government argued that it was within its discretion under the application of the Crown prerogative to abstain from seeking his return.

The Supreme Court of Canada on the one hand agreed that Mr. Khadr’s Charter rights had been violated but, on the other hand,

agreed with the government’s assertion that consular services were discretionary under the doctrine of Crown prerogative. As a result, as matters now stand, the govern-ment can pick and choose which Canadians it will and will not assist when they are in difficulty overseas.

dual citizenship woesThe report also deals with dual citizen-

ship, which has emerged as a significant problem for many Canadians when they travel abroad. In an increasingly migratory world, there are no meaningful norms for the treatment of persons with more than one citizenship. As a result, there are often serious impediments to Canada providing consular assistance for Canadians who are in their country of second citizenship.

Given the dearth of international law on the issue, the report recommends that the Canadian government start talking to other governments to seek bilateral and/or multilateral agreement enabling consular services for such Canadians.

Canadians directly pay for consular services when they apply for a passport. A Consular Service Fee of $25 is added to the cost of the passport and, by law, must be used to finance consular services. The auditor general in 2008 wrote that Foreign Affairs collected more “in consular fees than the cost of providing the related services.” In 2014-15 more than $104 million was col-lected in consular fees, with less than 70 per cent being used directly for consular ser-

vices, according to the government’s own decidedly murky bookkeeping.

In short, Canadians are paying for ser-vices that they may or may not receive, at the government’s whim, and there is no ade-quate accounting of the monies collected.

other issuesMany other issues are detailed in the

report and recommendations made. These include the removal of undue ministerial discretion over the return of Canadian offenders to serve their sentences in Canada; changes to the Elections Canada Act that would permit all Canadians outside of Canada to vote in Canadian elections; agreement to and support for a recent inter-national agreement on improvements in the treatment of prisoners around the world; Canadian legal representation for Canadians imprisoned abroad; implementation of the recommendations of the O’Connor and Iacobucci commissions of inquiry into the role of Canada in the torture of Canadians abroad; the need to give pre-eminence to consular services in cases involving nation-al security; and the release of personal information gathered through the consular process.

The report includes a plea for more polit-ical and administrative oversight of con-sular policy and actions. Many Canadians have made known their disappointment and unhappiness with consular assistance and, apart from going to the media or to the courts, there are no redress mechanisms. The report recommends that the House of Commons foreign affairs committee or a designated subcommittee dedicate time each year to address these issues.

In the longer term, the report calls for the appointment of an independent ombudsman, reporting to Parliament, to receive and investigate complaints from Canadians on consular services.

The report also emphasizes the defi-ciencies and out-of-date international law and practices for consular services. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the primary international treaty governing these issues, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The convention provides only minimal standards for the exercise of consular relations. The report recommends Canada, in 2017, host an inter-national conference to negotiate additional and improved standards so that persons needing consular services can be assured of appropriate assistance.

While the report was written, the govern-ment took action on two important issues. In late February, the government introduced changes to the Citizenship Act that would eliminate the revocation of citizenship for Canadians with a second citizenship should they be convicted of terrorism-related offences. Earlier, Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion announced he was ending the policy of the previous government of not seeking clemency for some Canadians sentenced to death in foreign countries. Henceforth, the government will undertake clemency-based interventions for all Canadians facing execu-tion abroad.

Millions of Canadians travel interna-tionally and reside in other countries. The report notes that about seven per cent of the Canadian population is outside of Canada at any one time. The new gov-ernment has an opportunity early in its mandate to address consular services in a comprehensive and forward-looking man-ner. This is the spirit in which this report is offered.

Before retirement from the Canadian for-eign service, Gar Pardy was head of consular services for more than 10 years. Recently he published Afterwords From a Foreign Service Odyssey, available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and, in Ottawa, Books on Beechwood.

[email protected]

The government can pick and choose which Canadians it will and won’t help. That should change.

Gar ParDy

Clockwise from top left, Canadians Omar Khadr, Abousfian Abdelrazik and Suaad Mohamed were all once caught up in consular battles with the Canadian govern-ment. Handout photo, The Hill Times Photo: Cynthia Münster, Embassy Photo: Laura Payton

Canadians overseas need help


Opinion Human Rights

There is a deadly crisis in Honduras, the tiny but resource-rich Central American country with which Canada is linked via a free trade agreement negotiated in the

violence-filled aftermath of a coup d’état.It’s a crisis that’s been steadily building,

while investor countries like Canada turned a blind eye. But ignoring inconvenient realities is no longer possible with the assassination of cel-ebrated indigenous leader Berta Cáceres.

Berta was a remarkable woman of tremendous courage. Amidst discrimina-tion and aggression, she co-founded the Council of Popular and Indigenous Peoples Organizations of Honduras, known by its acronym COPINH, to defend the lands and livelihoods of downtrodden indigenous peoples. Most recently, she led efforts to stop construction of the Agua Zarca hydro-electric dam on the Gualcarque River, a project with powerful economic backers that was steaming ahead without meaningful consultation or the consent of the Lenca people, in violation of international indigenous rights standards.

Berta’s efforts to protect the river, consid-ered both sacred to the Lenca and essential to their survival, won her the prestigious 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize. It also put her life in danger. On repeated occasions she reported the death threats made against her. She sent her children outside of Honduras because they too were threatened. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights warned Berta’s life was in danger and called on Honduran authorities to protect her from harm. Yet Berta was gunned down on March 3 in her home in La Esperanza, ironically Spanish for “hope.”

The shock waves were palpable. If some-one as celebrated and well-connected as Berta could be murdered at will, then what about others less well-known?

The grim answer came 12 days later. COPINH community leader Nelson García, the father of five children, was shot in the face and killed as he returned from helping victims of a land eviction.

Other members of COPINH and Berta’s children, back in Honduras for her funeral, have reported being threatened and fol-lowed by unidentified armed men and cars without licence plates.

There is no doubt that Berta’s family and colleagues are in grave danger. But they are not the only ones. According to a 2015 report by the organization Global Witness, Honduras is now the most dangerous country per capita to be a land or environmental defender. Amongst the scores murdered in the past five years alone is 15-year-old Maycol Rodriguez, whose body was found in a river with signs of torture.

These atrocities will continue as long as the killers, and those who give the orders, know they will never face justice.

An Amnesty research team has documented a catalogue of failures in the official investiga-tion into Berta’s killing. None of the people who Berta had denounced for threatening her, including representatives of companies working in the area, had been questioned. Instead, offi-cials only called in members of COPINH and the

Mexican environmentalist Gustavo Castro, who was injured and taken for dead during the dead-ly attack on Berta but survived as the sole eye-witness. In a country with a poor record at best with regard to witness protection, it is deeply worrying that Honduras has barred Mr. Castro from returning home to Mexico to recover from his ordeal, elevating fears for his safety.

If anything positive is to come out of this horrendous situation it will only be if it serves as a wake-up call to the international community.

There are some signs it has. The Netherlands Development Finance Company and the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation both suspended financial backing for the Agua Zarca dam project following the killing of Berta Cáceres and Nelson García.

But what about Canada, whose free trade relationship with Honduras creates opportuni-ties and obligations to apply meaningful pres-sure? The Harper government was criticized for taking advantage of the human rights crisis in Honduras to pursue investment goals. Canadian companies are on the ground, advancing dam and mining projects in an operating environment characterized by widespread violence, human rights violations, corruption and impunity.

That must change. The Trudeau govern-ment and Canadian companies in Honduras must speak up vocally and unequivocally. That means condemning the killings of Berta Cáceres and Nelson García; but also vigorously pressing for effective protection of their col-leagues and relatives, and actively supporting their call for credible, independent, interna-tional investigators to ensure justice.

Beyond that, Canada’s engagement with Honduras must change course to put human rights first and ensure no Canadian project advances in Honduras without meaningful con-sultation and the free, prior, informed consent of affected indigenous peoples and certainly without fear of violent reprisals.

The people of Honduras are watching, and waiting.

Alex Neve is secretary general of Amnesty International Canada.

[email protected]

How many more must die in Honduras?Environmentalists’ deaths should be wake-up call to investor countries like Canada.

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alex neve


Opinion Diplomacy

From the late 1940s through the early 2000s, Canada enjoyed a well-deserved reputation as an innovative international policy entrepreneur.

From a central role in the design and construction of the United Nations and Bretton Woods institutions, through the Suez Crisis and invention of peacekeeping, to the North-South Dialogue, Earth Summit and Human Security Agenda, Canada’s much-admired diplomacy of the deed trans-lated into practical political influence and an oversized place in the world.

Although little of that legacy survived the Harper Conservatives’ visceral contempt for all that came before, the adverse consequenc-es of that debilitating interlude just may have given rise to an historic opportunity.

In marked contrast to its finger-wagging, warrior-nation-wannabe predecessor, Justin Trudeau’s government has shown itself more interested in listening than lecturing, and in staying than leaving. The first months have provided clear evidence of a fundamental change in orientation and direction. The

prime minister’s exceptional global and media profile has created high expectations about Canada’s return to liberal internationalism. Between his frequent statements and the indi-cations offered by his advisers, Canadians now have some idea of what may be in store.

That said, if policy pronouncements con-stitute the poetry of international relations, then diplomacy represents the plumbing. In this respect, when it comes to convert-ing ambition into action, we have to date heard far more about the international policy “what” than the diplomatic “how.” Apart from a removal of the gag order and a widely anticipated return to mainstream practices in public and digital diplomacy, remarkably little has been said about the mechanics and retooling necessary to underpin a return to progressive activism.

The end of state-centricity, profusion of new actors and emergence of complex, transnational issues have radically altered the diplomatic operating environment. The days of designated envoys discussing the business of government among themselves have been largely overtaken by events, and major adjustments are required. In an earlier article I set out the some of the structural and process reforms essential to fix Canada’s foreign ministry. But institutional change, the leveraging of social media and otherwise substituting technology for labour, while nec-essary, will not in themselves be enough to address the challenges of globalization.

How, then, to begin to compensate for ongoing resource scarcity, compounded by a decade of mismanagement and neglect? The diplomatic business model requires a comprehensive rethinking and strategic reconstruction from the ground up.

The following recommendations may warrant further consideration:

1. Position Canada as an agile advo-cate of dialogue, negotiation and compro-mise, a champion of diplomatic alternatives to the continuing militarization of interna-tional policy and a practitioner of creative, alternative diplomacy. This must be done across the board, bilaterally and multilater-ally, and at both a reconstructed headquar-ters operation in Ottawa and a more diverse variety of missions abroad.

2. Connect directly with members of burgeoning diaspora communities and har-ness the potential of this largely untapped resource by turning the inside out and bringing the outside in. Ventilate the foreign service through the targeted recruitment of first- and second-generation Canadians and assign political officers to major Canadian cities with a mandate to forge productive and mutually beneficial relationships based upon co-operation and respect.

3. Engage civil society by renewing long-neglected partnerships with universi-ties, think tanks and NGOs at home and abroad. Reinstate sponsored visits by foreign opinion leaders and rebuild interna-tional education programs to dramatically boost the numbers of both foreign students in Canada and Canadians studying abroad.

4. Embrace virtuality and networks by experimenting with collaborative intelligence generation and open-sourced policy develop-ment to lower overheads and improve results. The pursuit of full-spectrum e-diplomacy will generate efficiency gains far beyond those which have been realized to date.

5. Elevate science diplomacy, which remains almost invisible within the current mix of available tools, to top-priority sta-tus, and reallocate resources accordingly. Canada will be unable to achieve its prom-ise as an evidence-driven problem solver

without the robust pursuit of knowledge-based, technologically-enabled solutions to the vexing array of wicked issues rooted in science and technology (from climate change to diminishing biodiversity), which together constitute the new threat set.

Ideas are the lifeblood of diplomacy. In the context of a country as dynamic, diverse and multicultural as Canada, and if combined with the right mix of methods, institutions and resources, they can make a real difference.

Might a commitment to burnishing the diplomatic brand represent the best strate-gy for a government still finding its way for-ward? Perhaps, especially given our strong internationalist traditions. Indeed, showcas-ing diplomacy per se as the contemporary international policy instrument of choice seems ideally suited to bridge from a noble, but increasingly distant Pearsonian past to a still undefined, but quite possibly inspir-ing future. Success at developing a new narrative for diplomacy as a smarter, faster, more effective and, above all, non-violent approach to the management of internation-al relations could prove not only relevant, but transformative.

An occasion to reinvest in diplomatic capacity was missed in last week’s budget. Still, by privileging diplomacy, incubating innovation and reshaping representation, Canada can both advance its interests and make a significant contribution to global security and development.

Former diplomat Daryl Copeland is an educator, analyst and consultant; the author of Guerrilla Diplomacy; a research fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and a policy fellow at the University of Montreal’s Centre for International Studies (CERIUM). Follow him on Twitter @GuerrillaDiplo.

[email protected]

An answer in five uneasy pieces, for the poetry of international relations and the plumbing of diplomacy.

Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion, pictured in January, should position Canada as an agile advocate of dialogue, negotiation and compromise, says Daryl Copeland. The Hill Times Photo: Jake Wright

Daryl coPelanD

Can Canadian

diplomatic leadership

be restored?

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The Uruguayan Embassy and Terra Art hosted a vernissage for Uruguay-Canada: A View from the North, an exhibition of the works of Uruguayan artist Daniel Tomasini, on March 15 at Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts. Embassy Photos: Sam Garcia 1. Colombian

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Canada’s Defence Perspectives 2020-2050: Recapitalization and the Canadian Forces—The Mackenzie Institute presents this second day of a two-day conference featuring a series of expert panels to inform recommendations for future Canadian defence planning. Featuring retired lieutenant-general Mike Day, navy commander Vice-Admiral Mark Norman and more. Fairmont Chateau Laurier, 1 Rideau St. $65-$375. Register via eventbrite.ca/e/canadas-defence-perspectives-2020-2050-re-capitalization-and-the-canadian-forces-tickets-20531084025

Canada in Global Affairs Conference—The University of Ottawa, in collaboration with The Hague Institute for Global Justice, hosts the second day of this two-day conference, featuring speak-ers including former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, former deputy min-ister Huguette Labelle and former foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy. 8 a.m.-12 p.m. Faculty of Social Sciences Building, room 4007, 120 University Pvt.

Arab Day Celebration—The Council of Arab League Ambassadors in Ottawa will participate in this exploration of the rich heritage and culture of the Arab world through history, art, literature and food. Free. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Formal pre-sentations: 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Galleria, University Centre, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Dr. carleton.ca/ci/cu-events/arab-day-celebration

Perspectives on Canada’s Shifting Approaches to Africa: 2003 to 2016—Carleton University’s Institute of African Studies presents this talk by Peter Henshaw, Privy Council Office. 1-2:30 p.m. 433 Paterson Hall, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Dr. Free. [email protected], 613-520-2600 x 2220.

Kingdom Come or Kingdom Gone? Saudi Arabia and the Future of the Middle East—Featuring speakers Bruce Riedel, The Brookings Institution, James Blight, CIGI foreign policy development chair, and Jacqueline Lopour, CIGI. 7-9 p.m. CIGI Campus Auditorium, 67 Erb St. W., Waterloo, Ont. Live webcast available. RSVP for it via cigionline.org/events

THURSDAY, MARCH 31

Canadian Open Dialogue Forum 2016—This two-day confer-ence is meant to advance understanding of open dialogue, a key pillar of open government. Speakers include Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, Treasury Board President Scott Brison and OpenText chair Tom Jenkins. 8:30 a.m.-3:45 p.m. Until April 1. $495-$795. Shaw Centre, 55 Colonel By Dr. codf.ca

Broadbent Institute Progress Summit—Featured speakers at this annu-al progressive politics conference include feminist organizer Gloria Steinem, Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips, Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, writer and activist Desmond Cole and many more. Until April 2. Delta Ottawa City Centre, 101 Lyon St. broad-bentinstitute.ca/summit2016

CADSI 2016 Annual General Meeting—The Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries hosts its AGM followed by a reception. Governor General Ballroom, Westin Hotel, 11 Colonel By Dr. Registration encouraged, via defenceandsecurity.ca

Community Liaison Officer Group—Open to all embassies in Ottawa, this group is a union of people who handle the welcoming and transfer into other postings of employees of their own embassies. Featuring a monthly guest speaker and information exchange. Czech Embassy, 251 Cooper St. 2:30 p.m. Potential members may contact Steffen Ringwald for more info, [email protected]

Contemporary Conversations: Kiki Smith—The National Gallery of Canada in partnership with the US Embassy will host a discussion with American contemporary artist Kiki Smith. 6 p.m. Auditorium, National Gallery of Canada, 380 Sussex Dr. Free. gallery.ca/conversations

FRIDAY, APRIL 1

Juneberry Concert—The Austrian Cultural Forum presents this concert in which poetic soundscapes meet free

improvisation. Featuring Lucia Leena (vocals, guitar) and Judith Ferstl (double bass, vocals). 7 p.m. St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts, 310 St. Patrick St. (side entrance). Free admission. Cash bar.

SATURDAY, APRIL 2

Canadian Muslims: On Identity, diversity and multiculturalism—A seminar by Carleton Centre for the Study of Islam visiting scholar Jasser Auda on the major challenges and opportunities that Muslims in Canada face, includ-ing an exploration of the potential that Canadian Islam can make to Canada and the world. 1-3 p.m. Room 303, Paterson Hall, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Dr. carleton.ca/islamstudies

MONDAY, APRIL 4

Senegal marks its independence day. It gained independence from France in 1960. For information on any celebra-tions, call the embassy at 613-238-6392.

Why Canada Needs an International Justice Ambassador—The University of Ottawa’s Centre for International Policy Studies and Canadian Centre for International Justice presents Stephen J. Rapp, former US ambassador for war crimes. Social Science Building, 120 University Pvt., room 4004. 4-5:30 p.m. cips-cepi.ca

TUESDAY, APRIL 5

CAF Outlook: Army 2016—Hear from Canada’s top military leadership as they discuss their goals for tomorrow’s army. Keynote speaker: army commander Lieutenant-General Marquis Hainse. Shaw Centre, 55 Colonel By Dr. defenceandsecurity.ca

On the Front Lines of Afghanistan after the US Withdrawal—The University of Ottawa’s Centre for International Policy Studies presents journalist Matthieu Aikins, Schell Fellow at the Nation Institute. He visited Kunduz, a city cap-tured by the Taliban for two weeks last fall, in November. He will discuss the challenges facing Afghanistan, as well as the prospects of a renewed US military deployment there. Free. Social Science Building, 120 University Pvt., room 4004. 4-5:30 p.m. cips-cepi.ca

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6

CAF Outlook: Navy 2016— Hear from Canada’s top military lead-ership as they discuss their goals for tomorrow’s navy. Keynote speaker: navy commander Vice Admiral Mark Norman. Shaw Centre, 55 Colonel By Dr. defenceandsecurity.ca

Diplomatic Hospitality Group—The Canadian Federation of University Women’s Ottawa Diplomatic Hospitality Group invites diplomats, their spouses/partners and families to a bus trip to Lanark and Wheeler’s Sugar Bush. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. A nominal fee will be charged to help cover costs.

THURSDAY, APRIL 7

CAF Outlook: Air Force 2016—Hear from Canada’s top military lead-ership as they discuss their goals for tomorrow’s air force. Keynote speaker: Al Meinzinger, deputy RCAF commander. Shaw Centre, 55 Colonel By Dr. defenceandsecurity.ca

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13

Smart Global Development Conference—This event will explore the role of higher education in advancing sustainable development goals. Until April 14. Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat, 199 Sussex Dr. Presented by Aga Khan Foundation Canada and others. $50-$120, if registration occurs before March 4. smartglobaldev.ca

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20

Politics & the Pen—A highlight of the capital’s social calendar, this is a grand celebration of Canadian politi-cal and literary cultures. The climax of the evening will be the presentation of the $25,000 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing. Fairmont Chateau Laurier, 1 Rideau St. writerstrust.com

This is a free listing compiled by Kristen Shane who can be reached at 613-688-8824. Information regarding events should be sent to [email protected] with the subject line “Listings” by Friday at 5 p.m. Our fax number is 613-232-9055. We prioritize events related to foreign policy.

OTTAWA Listings

Irish Ambassador Ray Bassett and his wife, Patricia, hosted a reception to mark St. Patrick’s Day on March 18 at their home. Embassy Photos: Sam Garcia 14. Canadian peace negotiator John de Chastelain greets

Mr. Bassett. 15. Swiss Ambassador Beat Nobs, Austrian Ambassador

Arno Riedel and Konstantin Zhigalov, ambassador of Kazakhstan, in conversation.

16. Karen Eva Abrahamsen, wife of the Danish ambas-sador, Mr. Nobs, Danish Ambassador Niels Boel Abrahamsen and Peruvian Ambassador Marcela López Bravo.

17. US Ambassador Bruce Heyman and British High Commissioner Howard Drake.

18. Japanese Ambassador Kenjiro Monji shows off his Guinness tie, alongside his wife, Etsuko, and French Ambassador Nicolas Chapuis.

19. Liberal MP Terry Sheehan and Mr. Bassett.

Hanna Homonai, wife of Ukraine’s ambassador, and Irina Likarenko, wife of Ukraine’s military attaché, hosted a pysanka Easter egg decoration workshop at the embassy on March 23 for spouses of ambassadors and military attachés. Ulle Baum Photos 9. Angela Son, wife of Korea’s defence attaché. 10. Ms. Homonai and Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Shevchenko. 11. Hedia Toumi, wife of Tunisia’s assistant military attaché. 12. Lerzan Ünal, wife of the Turkish ambassador, with Ms. Likarenko and Ms. Ünal’s daughter, Irmak. 13. Aija Audarina, wife of the Latvian ambassador, and Jurate Zaliene, wife of the Lithuanian ambassador.

Ukraine

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Ireland

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Diplomacy and foreign policy are engaged to marry politics and government on Wednesday, April 13.

You are cordially invited.

The Hill Times is online every day on a new website, call 613-688-8822 for a free trial

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