Report on Conferences
The World of Islam and Its Arts
By Margaret Harman
The Foreign Service Alumni Group met on Wednesday, January 26th at the home of Tudy McLaine. Our guest speaker was Beth Merklinger who spoke on and showed slides of «The World of Islam and Its Arts". Beth has a Ph.D. in Art History and History, as well as degrees in Political Science, Slavonic Studies and Slavonic Languages, and admits to some Arabic. She has taught at many Universities (too numerous to mention) such diverse subjects as Oriental Art, Art and Architecture, Inuit Art, and Russian and German Languages.
This was a slide presentation along with her personal commentary on the architecture and color and its meaning for Islam. The slides were well chosen and sometimes breathtaking. And she had a description or story about each one. Some of the group had been posted to Islamic countries which led to many questions and explanations of the world of Islam as well as their own personal experiences. It was an excellent afternoon.
The Future of the Canadian Foreign Service: a provocative lecture...
By Arthur Menzies
John Hadwen spoke at the home of Margaret and Gary Harman on “The Future of the Canadian Foreign Service”. He began with criticizing the December 2003 decision of Prime Minister Martin to separate the Trade and Foreign Affairs departments which had been joined by the Trudeau Government 22 years ago.
He went on to argue that senior government officials concerned with foreign policy have decided that there is no need to have an identifiable foreign service. He pointed to the cancellation this year of the Foreign Service Officer Entry examination. He added to this reports that 37 Heads of Mission positions were being opened to general competition and that there would be 140 lateral entries at the FS-2 and EX levels.
Hadwen pointed out that most foreign governments still recognize the need for a specially selected career foreign service. He drew on his experience as Director of Personnel Division to emphasize the need for a career foreign service that accepted rotational service to difficult as well as attractive posts. Hadwen urged that Foreign Service Alunmi follow these disturbing developments and make their views known.