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PAFSO Awards
Ron Willson
Ron Willson - le 12 juin 2003
Distinguished Guests, chers collegues,
Ce prix a été vraiment une surprise totale. Je n’avait aucune idée que j’étais même un candidat. Je dois vous avouer aussi que de faire le trajet d’un jour à l’autre d’Abuja à Ottawa a été un peu stressant. De plus, let podium est loin d’être mon habitat favori. Tut ceci pour vous dire que le seul fait d’être ici têmoigne a quel point je vous suis reconnaissant de ce grand honneur.
Ma première impression fut de croire que vous me faisiez l’honneur pour avoir réussi a garder mes distances de l’Édifice Pearson pendant quinz années consécutives. Je said que cet exploit suscite beaucoup d’envie et d’admiration. Bon, je vous revele le secret. C’était le fruit d’un complot magistral consistant en deux détachements et cinq affectations. Un vrai defi. Maintenant je sais que le prix est pour toute autre chose mais je vous en suis tout de même profondement réconnaissant.
Another enviable achievement, if I may be so bold, is to have got personnel to give me every assignment I’ve ever asked for. However, the suspicion is starting to dawn on me that they may have seen me coming. Take Abuja, for example. For some reason, I’ve always wanted and asked for postings to "hotspots" for which the queue can sometimes be a little shorter. So it was that I asked to go to Zimbabwe, which turned out to be a bit hotter than I’d expected.
Often in Zimbabwe I had the feeling of being caught up on a drama of Biblical proportions. Only in this version it was Pharaoh who visited famine on his own people for daring to defy him. After the February 2000 referendum, came the orchestrated and violent land seizures masquerading as land reform. Shades of the cultural revolution, the government called it the third chimurenga or war of liberation. Today seven million out of twelve million Zimbabweans face starvation, kept alive by international aid. The Supreme Court became an early casualty when it had the temerity to call the state-sponsored lawlessness "wicked". The rule of law has since been all but extinguished.
Today, "warvets" and youth militias - the green bombers, the police and the military, terrorize the population on a daily basis. The economy is the fastest shrinking in the world and the hopes of a whole generation have been blighted. I’m convinced, though, that justice will prevail and that a new day will soon break over Zimbabwe. But when it does it will be no thanks to the Catholic, Anglican and other church leaders in Zimbabwe, with the shining exception of Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo.
Zimbabwe was not one of those postings where it was hard to tell what was really going on, nor did you have to be a soothsayer to see where it would all lead. Yes, we worked hard at exposing the lies and the deceit, and even took a few risks, but it was deeply gratifying work. And I was by no means alone. I really don’t know how I would have managed without Lisette Ramcharan. This was her first posting and she rose magnificently to the challenge. My first posting was to Argentina during the time of the disappearances, so I was at least operating on familiar moral terrain. We were also working for Jim Wall, a person of great integrity, among his many other qualities. And we also had Sean Sunderland and Kathryn Dunlop to support us in the work we were doing. There were many others but I’m sure they’ll forgive me if I don’t mention their names.
Receiving this award has made me reflect a little on the meaning of morality in foreign policy. And if there’s one point I’d like to make tonight, that would be it. Most people think of morality an diplomacy as being nodding acquaintances at best. How much more moral can a diplomat be than the country he or she represents. Diplomacy is supposed to be all about real politick. Certainly the penalty for naivete is high out there in the real world. Yet our great privilege is to represent a country which is profoundly decent and caring. The International Criminal Court, for example, represents the coming together of our values and our diplomatic skills. While not religious myself, I’ve found that growing up in Canada, and being a Canadian, is just about all the moral compass I’ve ever really needed.
But I hope that I’m a little less naïve now than when I started in this line of work. I remember when our Personnel Officer Jean-Paul Hubert gave me my first assignment and it was to DFR, now called IDR (Defence and Security Relations Division). A child of the sixties, I pleased with hi to give me something that didn’t involve war-mongering. Il n’a pas bouge. (I think I just contradicted myself about always getting my way with Personnel, but anyway). Jean-Paul seemed to think my time in the Coast Guard suited me to the job. He assured me it woulnd’t be as bad as all that and I guess he was right. My last job in Ottawa, one that I asked for, was in DNATOPOL in NDHQ at the time of Kosovo.
My first job when I came to Ottawa many moons ago was for Public Works knocking ice and snow off the roofs of the Parliament Buildings. So you could say I’ve comedown in the world. But tonight I feel on top of the world. Merci beaucoup. Thank you very much.
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