Pamela Ann McDougall (9 May 1925 – 4 October 2015) was a Canadian diplomat.[1][2]
McDougall attended Glebe Collegiate in Ottawa and went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Mount Allison University and a graduate degree from the University of Toronto.[3] McDougall elected not to pursue a career in chemistry, accepting, instead, a position as a grade 3 clerk in the Department of External Affairs.[3] McDougall rose through the ranks of the department, becoming a grade 1 foreign service officer in 1952.[3]
In 1958 and 1959 McDougall represented Canada on the trilateral International Control Commission for Vietnam (the other members being India and Poland).[3] Her rapport with these two countries served her well in her subsequent appointments.[4] Between 1961 and 1963 she served as first secretary and later counselor at the Canadian High Commission in India.[3] In 1968, she was appointed ambassador to Poland, becoming the second Canadian woman to serve as an ambassador.[4] Her tenure in Warsaw coincided with a number of crises in the Middle East, including the Six Day War and crises in the Eastern Bloc, including the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.[3]
McDougall returned to Ottawa in 1971, joining the Privy Council as an assistant secretary.[3] In 1974, she returned to External Affairs as a bureau director general.[3] She then served as Chair of the Tariff Board from 1976 to 1979.[5] In 1979 she was appointed deputy minister the Department of National Health and Welfare by Prime Minister Joe Clark.[3]
In 1980, McDougall reached the peak of her career in the civil service when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau picked her to lead the Royal Commission on Conditions of Foreign Service.[3][6] Trudeau specifically directed McDougall to consider "the aspirations of women in Canadian society".[3] In writing her report, McDougall traveled around the world and interviewed sixty percent of the Canadian foreign service and their spouses.[3]
After presenting her report in 1981, McDougall retired from public service.[3] She served for some years on the boards of Carleton University and the Royal Ottawa Hospital.[3] In 1987, she married Paul Mayer, a retired Lieutenant Colonel whom she had met in Vietnam three decades earlier.[3]
References
edit- ^ Holmes, John W. (2012). "Pamela Ann McDougall". Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Dominion Institute. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
- ^ "Pamela Ann MCDOUGALL Obituary". The Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Weelers, Margaret K. (1995). Envoys Extraordinary. Dundum. pp. 62–72. ISBN 9781550022414.
- ^ a b "Canada names Ottawa woman new ambassador to Poland". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. Canadian Press. 20 January 1968. p. 16. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
- ^ "Appointments". Canada Gazette. Vol. 110, no. 18. Government of Canada. 1 May 1976. p. 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
- ^ "Former female diplomat heads enquiry into the foreign service". The Leader-Post. Canadian Press. 20 October 1980. p. 43. Retrieved 7 April 2013.