This page is intended to provide a place where the views of interested members on current policy issues might be posted, as well as to publicize such policy positions as RHOMA itself may adopt.

Letter to Ministers from Marc Faguy, President of RHOMA's Directing group concerning the Foreign Service, December 14, 2004.

December 1, 2004

Dear Ministers,

The Retired Heads of Mission Association (RHOMA) is composed of approximately 270 former Canadian Ambassadors, High Commissioners and Consuls General. Our Association which was established in 1987 is already well known to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) as we cooperate with our former colleagues on a number of matters of mutual concern. Also as former diplomats and officials of DFA, International Trade, Immigration and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), international affairs remains, you will understand, a subject of continued, keen interest for our members. I should add, however, that one of RHOMA’s guiding principles from its inception has been to act as a supporter rather than a critic of the Department of Foreign Affairs. We do appreciate very much the fact that it belongs to the Government of the day to set out the broad parameters of the country’s foreign policy.

My purpose in writing to you today is to express our Association’s deep concern about the future of Canada’s Foreign Service (FS) which, we fear, is being gradually dismantled. Our Association strongly believes it would be disastrous if the present trend continued as we are convinced that the effective conduct of a country’s foreign policy requires the existence of a smooth-running, experienced and highly professional diplomatic or foreign service. Our major partners on the world scene possess such diplomatic services and Canada should be no exception. Indeed, since the Second World War, we have succeeded in building up one of the best and most effective Foreign Services on the planet and it should remain so.

Unfortunately, a simplistic view of globalization and the world seems to have gained credence in our country which undermines the very idea of a corps of professional diplomats. We are not deploring here the lack of popularity of diplomats amongst Canadians but contesting what we fear is the emerging notion that the recruiting, training and strengthening of our Foreign Service is no longer needed nor a priority of the Canadian Government. We recognize that Canada’s Foreign Service, as it is constituted today, may need to be reformed but this must be done properly with a view to reinforcing it, not diluting it. Otherwise, Canada will soon lose an essential tool of Government.

To put in doubt the future of Canada’s Foreign Service may appear alarming to some, but this assessment is based on developments which have taken place recently and also go back many years. Let me list a few of them.

1. First and foremost, we have witnessed the rapid erosion of the concept of a professional career foreign service. The direction is unmistakable and, in our view, the process started years ago with the gradual discarding of the department’s policy of “rotationality”, even within the Foreign Service itself. This policy entailed the obligation for FS members to go on postings abroad regularly. Our contention is that already in the 1970s, External Affairs then allowed its own FS officers too much leeway in accepting or refusing postings abroad. There may have been good reasons for such a state of affairs e.g. family considerations such as spouses’ careers, children’s education etc. Whatever the cause, good or bad, the management of the Department of Foreign Affairs failed over several years to enforce “rotationality” which opened the door much too wide to ad hoc staffing decisions, including a steady increase in single assignments and lateral entries. These developments undermined the very foundation of the Foreign Service. I should add that we do not oppose all single assignments and lateral entries but these should be the exception not the rule as seems to be the case now.
     
   For instance, DFA announced recently its intent to conduct a lateral entry exercise in the Foreign Service at both the FS-2 and EX levels. Although the Foreign Service includes three broad streams - political, trade and immigration - one third of Canada’s immigration program is already run using domestic employees. There is also a growing number of trade commissioner positions staffed through single assignments and DFA announced recently that it was opening up several Heads of Mission positions to the Public Service at large. Each of these measures constitutes in itself a serious disincentive to new FS recruits, to seasoned FS officers and therefore a threat to the continued existence of a professional career Foreign Service. The separation of International Trade from Foreign Affairs a year ago is another example of a measure which can only weaken the Foreign Service and make its management more incoherent.
     
2. A second critical point is that the recruitment process of FS officers has degenerated over the last 15 years. The program review of the early 90s and the budget cuts which ensued damaged the Foreign Service seriously. As a direct result, there was a failure to recruit FS officers in sufficient numbers and to face a major problem of retention of personnel. An important part of the problem was that conditions of eligibility were constantly changing, including the academic and language requirements. Until recently, post graduate degrees were required. Last year, undergraduate degrees were sufficient. Also, the FS recruitment drives were not held regularly and the latest FS exam competitions, although fiercely competitive, were unrelated to establishing the qualifications or interest of candidates in international affairs. On the contrary, a major effort seems to have been underway over recent years to recruit candidates “interchangeable” between the Public Service and the Foreign Service. These various developments or measures all tended to negate the necessity of a professional career Foreign Service.
     
3. A final point concerns the conditions of employment of Canadian FS officers which have deteriorated appreciably in relation to those of Canada’s domestic Public Service and of their colleagues from other countries. According to a compensation study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Canadian Foreign Service officers were amongst the lowest paid in comparison with other professional groups in Canada’s own Public Service. Similarly, out of 16 countries including the U.S.A. and the U.K.,Canada ranked 12th or in the last quartile on the salary comparison. Again a situation that leads to a persistent erosion of our Foreign Service.

We are convinced that it is possible to reverse the situation. To do so, we would like to propose for your consideration the following points which, in our view, would allow the Foreign Service to play fully its role as an essential tool of the Government’s foreign policy. These are:

I) The reinstatement of a separate recruitment process for foreign service officers which would seek candidates of high quality interested specifically in international affairs and ready to envisage a long-term career living abroad. The process should be separate from the recruitment of the Public Service at large. It is worth noting that there continues to be a wide interest in a FS career amongst the young population of the country. Seven thousand (7,000) applied to participate in the last Foreign Service recruitment drive. Unfortunately the examinations in recent years were not geared to the recruitment of candidates qualified for and interested in foreign affairs. Also the number of candidates hired were too small as a consequence of budgetary cuts.

II) It is essential to revisit the policy of “rotationality”. A professional career Foreign Service cannot survive against the present policies of single assignments and lateral transfers. The Government cannot on one hand recruit FS officers through a fierce and competitive process, oblige these same FS recruits to live under a set of difficult conditions and, at the same time, open up large numbers of the FS positions to outsiders who do not have to play by the same rules. Again, there is room for occasional single assignments (including political ones) and lateral transfers but these should remain the exception not the rule.

III) The conditions of employment and prospects of advancement or promotion must be made to correspond to the demanding qualifications of the recruiting process and also to the often difficult conditions of life abroad. The world has changed. Spousal employment and child education are all crucial matters to be considered, especially against the prospects of multiple assignments abroad. The Canadian Government must provide support accordingly if it is to maintain the Foreign Service as a solid and effective instrument of its foreign policy.

In brief, our Association hopes that it will be possible for you and your colleagues of the Cabinet who hold special responsibilities for Canada’s international programs to address rapidly the current precarious situation of the Canadian Foreign Service. I am sending a copy of this letter to the President of the Treasury Board and the Chairman of the Public Service Commission. In addition, RHOMA will be contacting the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs which will soon be reviewing the on-going International Policy Review, so that it can take our concerns into account.

Yours sincerely,

Marc Faguy
President