The attached note by Mr. Malania raises the question of whether the Canadian Government should nominate candidates for the United Nations Secretariat and should screen' applications from' Canadian nationals. Mr. David Owen has given Mr. Pearson the impression that the United Nations favours the screening process and Mr. Owen regretted that no Canadian, applications for high posts had been received from Ottawa.

I am disturbed to learn that Mr. Owen is taking this line. Certainly in the Executive Committee stage and I think in the Preparatory Commission stage there was general agreement on the undesirability of governments screening applications from their nationals and the representatives from the British and Western European countries were insistent that national governments should not screen applications from their nationals. The representatives of these countries also took the line that governments should not nominate nationals for posts.

It is clear that it is going to be much more difficult to establish a truly international Secretariat for the United Nations than for the League of Nations. Our hope in London was that we could protect the Secretary General against political pressure by the rules and regulations and recommendations adopted by the Assembly on the Secretariat. However, these rules are not going to be of much value to a Secretary General who refuses to act in accordance with their spirit.

I suggest that Mr. Ritchie be asked to inform Mr. Owen that we stand by the position which we took in San Francisco and London and which we considered was supported by the great majority of the Members of the United Nations, that we realize the difficulties which the Secretary General must en-counter in recruiting his staff, but that we do not think the way out of these difficulties is to ask governments to make nominations.

E. REID

[PIÈCE JOINTE/ENCLOSURE]

Mémorandum de la deuxième direction politique²
Memorandum by Second Political Division²

CONFIDENTIAL

[Ottawa,] April 4, 1946

The attached correspondence with Mr. Pearson regarding our policy with regard to appointments to the Secretariat of the United Nations raises a difficult problem.

There was also some feeling among certain members of our delegation that we were rather backward in pressing our claims. If it should be felt, when most of the Secretariat appointments have been made, that Canadians have not secured their fair share of them, especially of the higher posts, the Government may be criticized for not having done enough.

Before we do anything about it we should probably hear what Mr. Ritchie has found out in New York, but we should perhaps begin to think now of what our policy should be if in fact appointments are not being made on as virtuous a basis as we would wish. In particular, we might think of suitable candidates we could suggest to the Secretary General for the intermediate posts of Directors and Assistant Directors.

L. M[ALANIA]

[PIÉCE JOINTE/ENCLOSURE]

L'ambassadeur aux États-Unis au sous-secrétaire d'État associé aux Affaires extérieures
Ambassador in United States to Associate Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs

Washington, April 1, 1946

Dear Mr. Wrong,

I have received your letter of March 26th† regarding Canadian applications for the Secretariat of the United Nations. I note that such applications should be sent direct to UNO and not through any Canadian authority. I think that this is the proper procedure, and my only reservation in regard to it is that other countries do not seem to be following it.

I discussed this matter last week in Atlantic City with David Owen, and he told me that other members of UNO had begun to make nominations and forward applications. He gave me the impression that in such forwarding a screening process had been adopted. He also gave me the impression that UNO had no objections to this; in fact rather favoured. it. I am afraid that the result will be that Canadian applications may not get the same considera-tion as those which are sent semi-officially from other countries. Owen, in fact, mentioned to me his regret that no Canadian applications for higher posts had been received from Ottawa.

I suggested to Mr. Robertson from Atlantic City that this matter was developing in an unsatisfactory way so far as Canada was concerned, and that Mr. Ritchie should take advantage of his presence in New York to discuss the matter with Mr. Owen. I understand that 'he has done so and I shall be interested to hear the result.

¹A N. A. Robertson, E. Reid, G. Ignatieff and S. D. Hemsley.
¹To N. A. Robertson, A. Reid, G. Ignatieff et S. D. Hemsley.