Diplomatic Career
In 1922 he joined the department of External Affairs, working in Paris as secretary for the office of the then Canadian Commissioner General. When, in 1928, that office became a formal legation, he was promoted to second secretary and then, in 1938, to first secretary.
During World War II, Canada, unlike Britain, did not break off its diplomatic relations with the Vichy regime in France. The ambassador, Georges Vanier, fled to London, but technically he was still accredited with the French government. Dupuy became the chargé d'affaires for the Canadian legations for France, Belgium and the Netherlands. On 2 November 1940, the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax, asked the Canadian government to allow Dupuy to visit Vichy so as to "make an informal report on present situation which would be of considerable value". Mackenzie King, the Canadian prime minister, quickly agreed "in the hope that such a visit would aid in some measure in throwing light on the present uncertainty and in establishing more friendly relations between the Government of France and the British Commonwealth".
Dupuy thus visited France three times between November 1940 and August 1941, and reported back to the Allies. He stayed on even after his superior, General Vanier, resigned, in May 1941, as minister to France out of "his increasing disgust with the Vichy regime". British Prime Minister Winston Churchill noted that he was deeply grateful for Dupuy's "magnificent work", adding that "the Canadian channel is invaluable and indeed, at the moment, our only line." However, on November 9, 1942, after the Allied landings in North Africa, Canada finally severed relations with Vichy. Dupuy nevertheless stayed in London to represent Canada's interests with the Allied governments-in-exile.
In September 1944, he accompanied the Belgian government on its return to Brussels and, in January 1945, he was appointed minister to the Netherlands, where he served until 1952. He then became Canada's ambassador to Italy until finally, in 1958, he was named ambassador to France, where he served until his retirement in 1963.
Read more about this topic: Pierre Dupuy (diplomat)
Famous quotes containing the words diplomatic and/or career:
“The admission of Oriental immigrants who cannot be amalgamated with our people has been made the subject either of prohibitory clauses in our treaties and statutes or of strict administrative regulations secured by diplomatic negotiations. I sincerely hope that we may continue to minimize the evils likely to arise from such immigration without unnecessary friction and by mutual concessions between self-respecting governments.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
““Never hug and kiss your children! Mother love may make your children’s infancy unhappy and prevent them from pursuing a career or getting married!” That’s total hogwash, of course. But it shows on extreme example of what state-of-the-art “scientific” parenting was supposed to be in early twentieth-century America. After all, that was the heyday of efficiency experts, time-and-motion studies, and the like.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)