Report on past meetings
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.