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<title>MINISTERS CONGRATULATE 1999 FOREIGN SERVICEAWARD WINNERS</title>
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<p><font face="Arial"></font><font face="Arial" size="+1"></font><font face="Arial" size="+1">June 11, 1999 <em>(4:15 p.m. EDT)</em> No. 140</font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial Bold" size="+1">MINISTERS CONGRATULATE 1999 FOREIGN SERVICE</font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial Bold" size="+1">AWARD WINNERS</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy, International Trade Minister Sergio Marchi, and Citizenship
and Immigration Minister Lucienne Robillard today congratulated the five winners of the Professional
Association of Foreign Service Officers' 1999 Canadian Foreign Service Officer Awards.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial"><strong>Kathryn Aleong</strong>, Canadian Embassy, Washington, D.C., received an award for an exceptional
record in promoting Canadian environmental services and technologies in the U.S. market, leading
to enhanced levels of trade, investment and business partnerships; for her creation, development
and implementation of the <em>US Environmental Market Newsletter</em>, which attracted 1000 subscribers;
and for her pivotal role in the staging of the highly successful, first-ever Canada-United States
Businesswomen's Trade Summit.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial"><strong>Éloi Arsenault</strong>, Canadian Embassy, Paris, France, received an award recognizing that over a
career of more than 25 years, he has been the embodiment of all the qualities that make up the ideal
Foreign Service Officer in the immigration field, exhibiting strong leadership qualities, impeccable
judgment about people and<strong> </strong>issues, and the highest standards of integrity, while at the same time
always keeping Canada's interests at heart.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial"><strong>Don Myatt </strong>and <strong>Jim Bissett</strong>, Business Immigration Program, received a joint award for their
remarkable achievement in building an integrated and effective Division with limited resources
during a rigorous downsizing period, from a group of persons of widely differing backgrounds and
skills, and thereafter going on to design and launch a new immigrant investor program that has found
acceptance from federal, provincial and private-sector interests alike.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial"><strong>Shelley Whiting</strong>, Canadian Embassy, Bangkok, Thailand, received an award for her outstanding
performance in securing support for the Anti-Personnel Mines Convention in Thailand and Laos, and
for her dedication to Canada and Canadians by spearheading the efforts in locating and recovering
the remains of six Canadian airmen who died in a plane crash in northern Burma in the final days of
the Second World War.<strong></strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers (PAFSO) is the official bargaining agent
for Foreign Service Officers. PAFSO maintains a deep commitment to diplomacy and foreign policy
issues, and to the foreign service as a profession. The Canadian Foreign Service Officer Awards
were instituted in 1990 by PAFSO to acknowledge exceptional achievements by career Foreign
Service Officers.</font></p>
<p align="CENTER"><font face="Arial">- 30 -</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">For further information, media representatives may contact:</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Debora Brown</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">(613) 995-1851</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Leslie Swartman</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Office of the Minister for International Trade</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">(613) 992-7332</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Eric Tetrault</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Citizenship and Immigration Canada</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">(613) 954-1064</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Media Relations Office</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">(613) 995-1874</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial">This document is also available on the Web site of the Department of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade: http://dfait-maeci.gc.ca</font></p>
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