Since the release of the series The diplomat on Netflix at the end of April, the profession of ambassador is living a moment of glory. Magnified on the small screen, this essential role is highlighted. Finally.
Of course, the life of the majority of diplomats does not resemble that of Kate Wyler, the gifted and disheveled heroine of the series. Part-diplomat, part-intelligence expert, she is suddenly thrust into the helm of the United States Embassy in London in the midst of an international crisis. His residence is literally a palace.
Several US ambassadors were quick to explain that they have neither stylists to choose their clothes nor gargantuan breakfasts prepared by embassy staff every morning. And even less direct and on-demand access to the prime minister and foreign minister of a major power.
Despite its exaggerations to feed the fiction, the series reminds us that in these troubled times and warlike speeches, diplomacy and its mission of appeasement are more essential than ever.
It was therefore with great curiosity that last Tuesday evening I attended a public interview with the Ukrainian ambassador to Canada, Yuliya Kovaliv. Hosted by broadcaster Marie-Josée Gagnon, the interview is part of a series entitled Brave.
The word left me wondering. In the context of the Ukrainian conflict, one can think of a thousand and one classic examples of bravery. President Volodymyr Zelensky and all his close guard who decided to stay in Ukraine at the start of the war despite threats of assassination from Russia, the fighters who embarked on a fight that many thought lost in advance, civil defence. But in the role of Ukraine’s ambassador to Ottawa? The link is not made automatically.
However, this would be to forget that in the army necessary to resist the invader, there are not only soldiers.
“I didn’t hesitate before taking on this role. In times of war, each person must do what they can. Being an ambassador now to unite our allies is both a huge honor and a great responsibility,” Ms.me Kovaliv after the interview.
The response was predictable, diplomatic, but relevant nonetheless.
In Ottawa, Mr.me Kovaliv has a good reputation. His pre-war career had a direct impact on his new diplomatic profession. A shooting star in the energy industry – she was the financial director of a gas distribution company, Gazeks, at 23 – she was active in the Maidan uprising in 2014. She then responded to the appeal of the Ukrainian government which asked its citizens working in the private sector to put their talent at the service of the country.
When Volodymyr Zelensky was elected in 2019, Yuliya Kovaliv worked in his cabinet while joining the management of Naftogaz, Ukraine’s largest oil and gas company.
Today, she still has her entries in the office of the president and the first lady, which makes her an excellent bridge between Ottawa and Kyiv, where she goes regularly.
“It’s a job seven days a week, 24 hours a day. I have meetings with Kyiv at 3 am. I have to be comfortable with court cases, but also with military issues and weapons terminology. Sometimes it’s exhausting, but then I remember that there are people on the front line. My uncle is there and he tells me that the best days are when they receive reinforcements,” explains the ambassador, who is not yet 40 years old.
In Canada too, diplomacy and bravery have often gone hand in hand.
It is hard to forget, in particular, that Ambassador Ken Taylor and diplomat John Sheardown put their lives in danger to hide in their residence American diplomats who had managed to escape being taken hostage by the United States Embassy in Iran in 1979.
Recently, we can also think of Robin Wettlaufer, who when she was Canada’s special envoy for Syria, played a crucial role in the exfiltration in 2018 of nearly 422 people linked to the White Helmets, a group of rescuers civilians who were targeted by Bashar al-Assad and his Russian ally.
Unfortunately, over the past two decades, Canadian diplomacy has too often been held back. Under Stephen Harper, our representatives abroad, who once played the role of public intellectuals, have been kept on a leash.
This extreme control has left its marks, as even the Minister of Foreign Affairs admits, who today wants to “restore wings” to her diplomatic corps. To achieve this, she launched a major project on the issue. The results of the consultations should be known soon.
We shouldn’t be late. As the tectonic plates of the world order move at breakneck speed, we need diplomacy that is both agile and brave.
In a report released last fall, Canada’s former ambassador to Iran, Ulric Shannon, summed up Canada’s potential in this area well in one sentence.
“Given its unique advantage of being able to recruit talent from one of the most diverse populations in the world, we have no excuse for the Canadian foreign service not to become one of the most cross-culturally savvy, best informed and best-connected in the world. »