Théodore Jean "Ted" Arcand (June 25, 1934 – April 16, 2005) was a Canadian diplomat. He was Ambassador of Canada to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, during the 1982 Lebanon War. He later served as the Canadian ambassador to Hungary and to the Holy See.
Théodore Arcand | |
|---|---|
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| Ambassador of Canada to the Holy See | |
| In office 1989–1993 | |
| Ambassador of Canada to Hungary | |
| In office 1982–1983 | |
| Ambassador of Canada to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan | |
| In office 1979–1982 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 25, 1934 Bonnyville, Alberta, Canada |
| Died | April 16, 2005 (aged 70) Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
Early life and career
editThéodore Jean Arcand was born on 25 June 1934 in the town of Bonnyville, Alberta, Canada.[1] He attended Université Laval in Quebec City from 1955 to 1956, then McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1957.[1] From 1957 to 1958, he worked in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration.[1]
Diplomacy career
editHis foreign policy career began in 1958 in the Department of External Affairs, now Global Affairs Canada.[1] Over the course of the following two decades, he assumed various roles in several Canadian embassies in Africa and Europe.[1]
In 1979, he was appointed as the Canadian ambassador to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.[1] In the 1982 Lebanon War, during the Israeli siege of Beirut, the Canadian embassy headed by Arcand became the only Western embassy still operating in west Beirut.[2] For this reason, the embassy played an important role in receiving information from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and sharing it with other Western nations, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France and West Germany.[2] On 28 July, a unanimous resolution at the House of Commons of Canada commended Arcand and his staff for their commitment.[2] After Arcand's apartment was bombed by Israeli jets, the embassy was finally evacuated on 2 August.[3]
In 1982 and 1983, Arcand was Canadian ambassador to Hungary.[1] From 1989 to 1993, he was the ambassador to the Holy See.[1] He received the Order of Knight Commander of St. Gregory The Great from Pope John Paul II.[4] Arcand died suddenly on 16 April 2005 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, at the age of 70.[5]
Personal life
editArcand was married to Jennifer Marjorie Garner-Ashmore.[5] They had a son, Jean-Louis.[5] A polyglot, Arcand had studied Czech, Danish, Swahili, Italian, Arabic, and Hungarian.[4]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h "Fonds Théodore Jean Arcand" (in French). Government of Canada. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
- ^ a b c Robinson, Andrew N. (2 January 2021). "Talking with the PLO: Overcoming political challenges". Canadian Foreign Policy Journal. 27 (1): 21–30. doi:10.1080/11926422.2020.1869052. ISSN 1192-6422.
- ^ Watson, Laurie (12 August 1982). "Canada's ambassador to Lebanon, the last Western diplomatic holdout..." UPI. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
- ^ a b "ARCAND, THEODORE "TED" J." McMaster University. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
- ^ a b c "ARCAND, Théodore Jean". Le Devoir (in French). 21 April 2005. Retrieved 23 October 2024.