Newly-arrived diplomats from 42 countries and the United Nations gathered at Carleton for a “Welcome to Ottawa Orientation” session Nov. 5.
Organized by the Carleton Initiative for Parliamentary and Diplomatic Engagement, the event included a lecture on Canadian governance and an opportunity to engage with former minister of foreign affairs Lawrence Cannon.
It also featured senior diplomats, officials from the department of foreign affairs and international trade and members of think-tanks and political media outlets.
The session focused on useful tips and techniques for diplomats to get noticed and gain access to a political system that will mostly ignore them unless they have the “preferred status of the [United States],” Cannon said.
The sentiment was echoed by the High Commissioner of Zambia Nevers Mumba.
“I assumed that Canada would listen to me as they listen to everyone else,” he said, adding it was far from the truth.
Part of the discussion also focused on non-diplomatic duties like the extreme winter conditions new diplomats need to expect.
“I realized the cold was serious business when I couldn’t recognize my Canadian friends in the winter,” Mumba said. “They were completely covered.”
The ambassador from China’s wife urged fellow spouses to not be “mean” and to “give your wife enough money to go shopping” for warm winter clothes.
The event was important to Carleton because it signals the importance of “internationalization” for the university, said Fen Hampson, director of Carleton’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs.
Carleton is ideally situated to help provide an important forum for the diplomatic community, Hampson said.
And next year, there are plans to make the event even bigger.
“I believe once the word from this event spreads, next year will be much bigger,” said Enock Aroni, the second secretary for the Kenya High Commission in Cana