Canada’s diplomatic network needs to ‘look in the mirror’, says Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, who asks her dissatisfied employees their opinion on how she can better see ‘what’s happening on the ground’ and increase presence of the country in the world.
“I am very aware that there are frustrations within Global Affairs Canada. We must take note […] and you have to do this exercise with a lot of humility and audacity,” explained Minister Joly to the To have toafter a meeting with more than 150 of its officials on Monday.
She presented her plan to “build a modern diplomacy”, “adapted to today’s challenges”, and which essentially consists of consulting her employees as well as an independent committee of experts to “find the best practices in around the world” and draw inspiration from it to improve Canadian diplomacy.
“We no longer live in a unipolar world. Old alliances are being tested, and new alliances are taking shape, the minister said in her bilingual speech. In order to maximize our impact in all respects, strong, strategic, diversified and agile diplomacy remains a sine qua non. »
Understand social media
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a similar speech to his diplomats last fall, in which he announced a 10% increase in the international aid budget and the establishment of a channel of communication for “professional dissent” within his ministry. Mélanie Joly, for her part, promised no such thing, but took up some of the major themes of her counterpart Blinken’s reform, such as the need for the country to acquire better “digital tools” to understand social media and to take more place in multilateral institutions.
“I realized that several of my G7 colleagues are also wondering how they can develop their diplomacy,” she said. The aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also the migration of populations and climate change are so many examples of “challenges” to which diplomacy will necessarily have to find a solution.
Democratic countries must aim to “better organize themselves” among themselves so as not to leave the field open to authoritarian countries within institutions such as the United Nations (UN), explains the minister. “We need to be even more strategic. Mélanie Joly also talks about having “eyes and ears” everywhere Canada has an embassy. She wants us to come to her with “new ways of doing things”.
“If we were in Kazakhstan, or in Chile, maybe 50 years ago, everything happened from the capital. However, protest movements can come from […] from different parts of the country, and we can see them by understanding Telegram better, or by watching what is happening on TikTok. And our ministry must be able to read these phenomena. »
Anglophone Ministry
The department that manages Canadian diplomacy is Global Affairs Canada (GAC), an administrative juggernaut that also manages international trade and which swallowed up the Canadian International Development Agency in 2013, whose management was deemed to be more French-speaking. AMC has since been criticized in particular for allowing only English speakers to access the most prestigious positions in diplomacy and for making promotions to executive positions easier for the English-speaking majority.
Mélanie Joly pledges to implement the proposals for French abroad contained in her white paper unveiled last year, and announces that two new GAC assistant deputy ministers are Francophones. “We can’t take the girl out of Official Languages,” she adds jokingly, referring to her old portfolio. The minister also establishes a “social contract” with the department based on three “pillars”: official languages, diversity and reconciliation.
“It’s important to me, it’s fundamental, that Francophones here at Global Affairs feel comfortable working in French. That they don’t feel obligated to switch languages either […] and that they have access to promotions even though they are French-speaking. »
Towards new directions
The transformation of Canadian diplomacy proposed by Minister Joly is above all organizational in nature and does not constitute a review of Canada’s foreign policy as such. The Trudeau government is the target of criticism in this area, whether for having had several foreign ministers succeed one another, for the constant alignment of its decisions with those of the United States or for its weak ambition in general. Diplomats themselves want to see change, as the minister herself admits.
Canada’s last real foreign policy plan was crafted in 2005 under Paul Martin. He then proposed to center diplomacy on the North American partnership, to concentrate foreign aid in a handful of countries, to invest multilateral institutions like the UN or to include more federal departments in decision-making. .
The Trudeau government intends to improve this foreign policy with an “Indo-Pacific strategy” shortly, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to whom the Prime Minister entrusted this mission after his appointment, made last fall. “I will have the opportunity over the next few weeks to present the main orientations of Canadian foreign policy,” she promises.
The date for the official start of the consultations has not been announced. AMC will have to choose former diplomats or university professors to form its expert panel, whose final report and recommendations are expected in the spring of 2023.
“It takes time to transform an organization. Me, what I want is to give impetus for change,” concludes Mélanie Joly. Besides, she is counting on her diplomats to tell her how to do it.
It’s important to me, it’s fundamental, that francophones here at Global Affairs feel comfortable working in French. That they don’t feel obligated to switch languages either […] and that they have access to promotions even though they are French-speaking.