DFAIT marks its centennial: 1909-2009).

• Author: Donaghy, Greg
• Position: DFAIT marks its centennial: Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade 1909-2009 - Organization overview

Canada did not have a foreign ministry (or a foreign policy) when it was created by an act of the British Parliament in July 1867. A semi-autonomous part of the British Empire, Canada relied on London to protect its welfare. However, as Sir John A. Macdonald quickly discovered advancing Canada's national interests required some representation abroad, starting in Britain itself. In 1880, the prime minister established a high commission in London and added a commissioner to France two years later. In 1892, Macdonald created the Department of Trade and Commerce, shortly thereafter sending John Short Larke to Australia as Canada's first trade commissioner. These arrangements were hopelessly inadequate for handling the country's growing international responsibilities. The British ambassador to Washington, James Bryce, distracted by the time he spent on Canada's affairs in the US, suggested that Canada needed "a sort of Foreign Office." Encouraged by the under-secretary of state, Sir Joseph Pope, Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier took up this idea and established the Department of External Affairs in June 1909. This article looks at the evolution of the Department over the last one hundred years.

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The new department began life in pokey offices above a barber shop at the corner of Queen and Bank streets in central Ottawa. Both Joseph Pope, the under-secretary of state and the Governor General, Lord Grey, had wanted it in the East Block, close to the centre of power--"it might as well have been in Calcutta," Grey bitterly complained. But space could not be found. Nor was it needed. In 1909 the tiny department consisted of only six people: its first minister, Secretary of State Charles Murphy, his undersecretary, and four clerks. It functioned primarily as a glorified colonial post office.

"A Sort of Foreign Office" 1909-1939

The department's role changed significantly in 1912, when it was placed directly under Laurier's Conservative successor, Prime Minister Robert Borden. Two years later, Borden moved External Affairs into the East Block. Anxious to playa greater role in imperial affairs, Borden turned to the department and its first legal advisor, the brilliant Loring Christie, for advice and arguments to support his demands for a stronger voice in imperial councils. After the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Borden increasingly insisted that Britain consult the Dominion prime ministers on the course of the conflict. Christie helped Borden get his way through membership in the Imperial War Cabinet, and, in 1919, at the Paris Peace Conference, where Canada gained independent membership in the new League of Nations.

Elected in 1921, Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King wanted even more autonomy for Canada. Supporting him was his under-secretary of state for external affairs, O.D. Skelton, appointed in 1925. A modest and kindly man, Skelton had a keen eye for talent and among those he recruited were five future deputy ministers: Hume Wrong, L.B. Pearson, Norman Robertson, Jules Leger, and Marcel Cadieux.

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King opened legations in Washington, Paris, and Tokyo, while Skelton moved to build a department that could support them. He began by appointing Jean Desy from the Universite de Montreal as the first senior francophone officer at headquarters. From 1927, recruits entered the department on the basis of competitive examination. Skelton wanted, and obtained, well-qualified officers--only men were able to apply until 1947--with postgraduate degrees who could immediately undertake important duties. Too small to afford specialists, the department favoured generalists, a preference that it was to sustain for many years.

When Hugh Keenleyside arrived at the East Block headquarters of the Department of External Affairs in September 1928, he was given an office on the top floor of the East Block, tight under the eaves. For the next year, Keenleyside shared the cramped attic space--cold in the winter, "hot as hell" in the summer--with Lester Pearson. Products of the rectory, the trenches of the First World...