Policy eDiscussion on Canadian culture and know-how abroad

Foreign Affairs Canada is holding a series of eDiscussions on key foreign policy issues. The current international policy eDiscussion topic is “Showcasing Canadian culture and know-how abroadâ€

I checked out the site but have not yet opted to add my thoughts to the discussion. I'm not sure if I will.

What I did learn from a posting by a woman at Canada House is that it is estimated there are around 200,000 Canadians in the UK.

Hi Brenda, I’d be interesting to know why you’re considering not inputting. From our stats it shows that many are visiting the site but yet we don’t have the same engagement as our last eDiscussion on Security: www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/cip-pic/current_d ... ity-en.asp

Granted Security grabs more people’s attention, but with all of the Canadians doing interesting things in the world, I’m surprised not more have joined in. There’s a lot of interest in the department in getting input on this and also supporting Canadians abroad. Any feedback you (or anyone else in the group) have would be useful. Thanks!

Mark McLaughlin
eCommunications Strategist
Foreign Affairs Canada

Honestly, I just don't find the questions posed to be relevant.

Is this because you don't see a role for Foreign Affairs here, or is it how we framed the issue?

Hi Mark,

I have taken a while to respond to your post because I needed the time to collect my thoughts and figure out how to best express them.

To answer your last query, I think how the issue was "framed" is problematic. All of the people interviewed did not and would not share the same concerns or perspective or experience as someone like me and many others on this board.

The people offering their opinions for comment seem to be, what I will refer to as, non-official expats. They may have moved from Canada, but they are 1) still employed by the Canadian government and have all the support that that entails 2) in such a position that they have a ready made network of people to call on for assistance (co-workers or classmates)3) not forced to adapt to the degree that others have, because they know that they will be returned to Canada in x amount of months or years.

The one resource that looked like it could be relevant to me was that of Debra Davis, entitled "The importance of keeping Canadians connected abroad", however, upon reading it, it became plain that it was irrelevant. And I was little more than annoyed with my inability to interpret what she meant by her last sentence: "It's a two-way communication. It's not just us keeping Canadians connected, but it's also keeping Canada connected to real Canadians that have moved abroad."

Real Canadians? As opposed to all those fake ones Canada has exported? It was all just too fake-smiley for me.

I think a worthwhile question to ask Canadians abroad is one you didn't need to ask the people interviewed which is "Why did you leave Canada?"

Thanks Brenda, I really appreciate your insight. Your reaction to our interviews is interesting. We were hoping to post more interviews (perhaps some you would have identified a bit more with) however time simply ran out.

Perhaps one of the recommendations I would see coming from your comments here would be better support for Canadians away from home for the long term?

Thanks again for taking the time to consider this.

All the best!

Mark