‘Ottawa’ Diplomatica: Women Sweep Canadian Foreign Service Officers’ Awards
al Association of Foreign Service Officers held its annual awards evening June 9 at the Shaw Centre. From left, former prime minister Joe Clark, Mona Yacoub, Citizenship Minister John McCallum, Jacqueline Kalisz, Brigitte Fournier and Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion. (Photo: Gordon King) Gordon King
From the wilds of Kabul security to the uncertainty of the Greek financial crisis, and from the overwhelming challenge of processing and accepting 25,000 Syrian refugees to the crisis in Burundi, the Canadian Foreign Service Officers’ annual awards event highlighted the biggest challenges of the past year, each of them met by Canada’s diplomats abroad.
And this year, for the first time, all of the award recipients were women.
Karen Bongard, who was unable to attend the awards but who accepted on the phone from Kabul (in the middle of the night, incidentally), is the mission security sector specialist in Kabul, Afghanistan. She received the award for her “exemplary work during Canada’s term as co-chair of the influential Afghanistan Oversight and Co-ordination Board.”
That work meant keeping five Afghan ministries, four multilateral bodies and dozens of donor countries informed of the security situation. It also meant overseeing a group that was drafting complex technical documents and working to achieve consensus within the board.
A U.S. general described her work as “nothing short of phenomenal” and an Afghan general praised her for advocating for women in the security sector.
Brigitte Fournier, the evening’s second recipient and a management and consular officer in Athens, Greece, faced the challenge of having to lay off eight of 28 locally engaged staff as a result of a deficit-reduction plan in the midst of Greece’s financial crisis. She sought good legal advice to ensure the termination complied with Greek law, and ensured that each terminated employee was personally informed by the ambassador. By creating an in-embassy banking system, she also made sure the staff didn’t miss any pay in spite of the Greek economic meltdown. The loss of two accounting positions meant she also had to re-organize the section, which she did after wide consultation with staff, and after ensuring buy-in from them.
It was fortunate that Jacqueline Kalisz was on the job when the Liberal government decided to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada in four months. She’d mastered Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s global case management system (GCMS), and for 11 weeks she generated lists of visas requiring issue and prioritized cases between those needing attention and those ready to travel. “Her data provided ministers and managers with hard information on progress and problems,” her award citation said, and added: “Recognized as a “GCMS wizard,” (Kalisz) embodies the qualities that make the foreign service great — initiative, dedication and profound expertise.”
Finally, Mona Yacoub, head of the office of the Canadian High Commission in Kigali, Rwanda, received an award for the way she juggled political, consular, trade, development and administrative responsibilities in Rwanda and in neighbouring Burundi, which has been politically fragile since the crisis sparked by the controversial re-election of President Pierre Nkurunziza.
“During the Burundi crisis, her well-planned missions gained information to report on a very complex situation,” her citation states, and adds: “Consular readiness depends on a network of voluntary consular wardens. When several wardens fled the country, Yacoub recruited replacements, ensured they were trained and addressed their security worries.” She also relocated Canada’s honorary consul’s office in Bujumbura and convinced Rwandan authorities to allow evacuated Canadians visa-free entry to Rwanda.
The awards celebrated their 25th anniversary this year, and Tim Hodges, president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, noted that this was the first year in which management consular officers, which officially joined the foreign service community a year ago, were included.
The awards event took place at the Shaw Centre earlier this month. Judges, who picked the winners from a selection of nominations, included Denis Comeau, Serge April, Andrew Cohen, Claudette Deschênes and Linda Duxbury.
— Jennifer Campbell is the editor of Diplomat magazine. Email editor@diplomatonline.com to reach her.