Doors Open Ottawa - Lester B. Pearson Building
Lester B. Pearson Building: Global Affairs Canada Headquarters
125 Sussex Drive
Saturday, June 3, 2017 - 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday, June 4 - CLOSED
Global Affairs Canada (GAC) is pleased to participate in Doors Open Ottawa.
Come join us on June 3 to learn more about Canada's diplomatic presence around the world, take in our exhibit of the Canadian embassies abroad, sign up for our Human Library, and visit our kiosks.
Activities
Human Library
What is the Global Affairs Canada Human Library?
Similar to the popular Ottawa Human Library, the Global Affairs Canada Human Library will provide visitors with the opportunity to have a one-on-one conversation with a select departmental employee.
Here's how it works:
We have nine Human Books available. You, the reader, can "borrow" a book for a 25-minute conversation. Have a look at our bios below sign up to discuss with the person you prefer.
We recommend pre-registration to ensure you get the book and time you want. To do, see the availability timesheet below. Subsequently, please send an email with your name and the time chosen for the discussion. Reservations will be made on a first come, first served basis.
Exhibit of our Canadian embassies abroad
Learn about our Canadian embassies abroad, and how we ensure our buildings represent Canada at our missions around the world.
Kiosks
Visit our kiosks and learn more about historic treaties, on our library services, how Global Affairs Canada is using virtual reality as an innovative tool to showcase its work at home and abroad, travel.gc.ca, and more.
Kids Zone
Make sure to stop by our Kids Zone for extra fun and surprises. Use Lego to build and recreate our embassies abroad! We'll have crayons, pencils and everything else you'll need for children to showcase their talents and construct a Canadian art masterpiece!
Canada’s Sustainable Buildings Abroad
Come and discover the latest accomplishment on how the department is implementing innovative Canadian technologies in clean energy at our missions.
10-10:25 a.m. | 10:30-10:55 a.m. | 11-11:25 a.m. | 11:30-11:55 a.m. | 12-12:25 p.m. | 12:30-12:55 p.m. | 13-13:25 p.m. | 13:30-13:55 p.m. | 14-14:25 p.m. | 14:30-14:55 p.m. | 15-15:25 p.m. | 15:30-15:55 p.m. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abdel Munem Amin | ||||||||||||
Danyu Bai | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | |||
Greg Donaghy | X | X | ||||||||||
Elissa Golberg | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Kerry Goodfellow | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||||
Édouard Huot | X | |||||||||||
Gabriel Jean-Simon | X | X | X | X | ||||||||
Elise Racicot | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | ||||
Sarah Taylor | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
Legend: The "X" indicates timeslots which are not available.
Human Library
Abdel Munem Amin
Architect
Since graduating from McGill University’s School of Architecture, Abdel has worked in the architectural field within both the public and private sectors. After working at a multinational architecture firm in Vancouver, he worked as a project manager for the Capital Projects Group at the University of Toronto. He began his public sector experience as an infrastructure architect with the Department of National Defence, in Petawawa, Ontario. He has since worked for Public Services and Procurement Canada, formerly Public Works and Government Services Canada, in the Architecture and Engineering Centre of Expertise in Edmonton. The western region is responsible for delivering federal projects in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories and Nunavut —covering over 50 percent of Canada’s land mass.
Abdel is currently a member of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia and a senior architect at Global Affairs Canada. As an advisor and leader for design professionals around the world, his most recent work includes the department’s building projects in New York City, Berlin, Tokyo and Vienna. Come ask Abdel about the challenges of designing and building embassies in distant and often difficult environments or just about architecture in general.
Danyu Bai
Senior Innovation Officer (Greater China) - Sector Focus: Clean Technology
Danyu Bai is a senior innovation officer in the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Division, currently covering the Canada-China STI relations. He joined Global Affairs Canada in 2014 and worked on STI relations with the European Union, the United States and India. Previously he spent five years with Industry Canada, where he worked on programs, policies and planning. Before joining the federal government, he was a manager with the Canada-China Business Council.
He holds an MBA from John Molson School of Business, Concordia University. His interests are many, including but not limited to skiing, snowboarding, reading, wine, food and martial arts.
Greg Donaghy
Diplomatic Historian
Greg is one of Canada’s leading diplomatic historians, and is the author of more than fifty books and articles on Canadian diplomatic history, from the late 19th century to the present.
Was Prime Minister Mackenzie King really all that spooky? Whatever happened to the atomic bomb the United States dropped in the St. Lawrence River? Were Canadian diplomats spying for Washington in Vietnam? Book him for the real deal from the archival vaults on Canada’s unknown diplomatic past.
Elissa Golberg
Assistant Deputy Minister - Partnerships for Development Innovation Branch
Elissa Golberg was named assistant deputy minister, partnerships for development innovation at Global Affairs Canada in February 2015. She is also currently the department’s champion for innovation.
A career foreign service officer, Ms. Golberg has successfully pioneered complex policy and multi-million dollar program initiatives and led multidisciplinary teams working on significant international peace and security, human rights, emergency management and sustainable development challenges. From 2011 to 2015, Ms. Golberg served as Canada’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva and to the Conference on Disarmament, where she chaired several important global groups, including those dealing with a fissile material cut-off treaty, polio eradication, violence against women, human rights special procedures, humanitarian action and forced displacement. Other recent roles have included director general of the Canadian government’s Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force (2009 to 2011), representative of Canada in Kandahar, Afghanistan, (2008 to 2009) and executive director of the Independent Panel on Canada’s Future Role in Afghanistan (the “Manley Panel”) at the Privy Council Office (2007 to 2008).
Born in Montréal, Ms. Golberg holds a master’s degree in International Relations and a bachelor’s with a specialization in Political Science and History. She is a recipient of the NATO ISAF General Service medal, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, the Public Service Award of Excellence and (three times) the Minister of Foreign Affairs Award for Foreign Policy Excellence. She has been named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and is a member of the Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Violence, Fragility and Conflict. She has published articles on humanitarian, fragile-state and public policy-related matters.
Kerry Goodfellow
Curator for the Art Collection
Kerry is passionate about promoting Canadian art and fine crafts through their display in representational areas of Canadian embassies and at headquarters in Ottawa, evoking strong impressions of Canadian culture and values, as well as providing a dynamic backdrop for international business and trade.
The department’s art collection, started in the 1930s, showcases original artwork from emerging to mid-career living artists from all regions of Canada to reflect our rich and diverse cultural and linguistic heritage. The collection contains more than 6,000 pieces of Canadian art, with nearly every major art form represented.
Come speak to Kerry about the history of the department’s art collection.
Edouard Huot
Foreign Service Officer
Edouard Huot joined Global Affairs Canada in 2011 and the Canadian Foreign Service in 2015.
At headquarters, Mr. Huot worked in the Trade Import Control Bureau, was involved with the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations and later, employed as the UNESCO Desk Officer. He participated in a two-month training for international diplomats in Germany in 2015 and recently completed a temporary duty to the Permanent Mission of Canada to the UN in New York in fall 2016. Mr. Huot will join the Berlin office of Global Affairs Canada, this summer, for his first posting.
Prior joining the Department, Mr. Huot held several internships including Export Development Canada, a winery in Germany, the Mission of Canada to the European Union in Brussels and the Quebec Delegation in Paris. He also worked as an Export Advisor in Quebec and in France.
Mr. Huot holds a MBA in Agribusiness from Université Laval. His hobbies include scrabble (national and international competitions), soccer and tango.
Gabriel Jean-Simon
Senior Trade Policy Officer and a/Deputy Director
Trade agreements and NAFTA Secretariat
Gabriel has been a federal public servant since 2005. He worked for Service Canada at headquarters (Gatineau) and in a regional office (Nunavut) as well as for the Treasury Board Secretariat before joining the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2011. As a trade policy officer, Gabriel took part in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) negotiations with the European Union. After the conclusion of these negotiations in 2014, Gabriel joined the Trade Agreements and NAFTA Secretariat, where he helps administer Canada’s in-force trade agreements. His current work also includes research and development of innovative ways to apply gender-based analysis to trade agreements. In addition to his regular job, Gabriel is a volunteer member of the department’s Standing Rapid Deployment Team (in the event of a crisis abroad). His candidacy was recently approved for a posting in Paris as trade commissioner. Gabriel is an Action Canada Fellow.
Elise Racicot
Deputy Director/Program Manager – Regional Network and Intergovernmental Relations
Elise Racicot (BA [Public Relations Communications], Université du Québec à Montréal, 2001; MPA (International Administration), École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP), ongoing) joined the Canadian foreign service in 2002.
Ms. Racicot took on the challenge of launching the only contribution program at Global Affairs Canada directly helping Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises develop their exports. She spent more than five years in Brazil, first as a consul and trade manager at the Consulate General of Canada in São Paulo from 2009 to 2012, then as head of mission and director of the Bureau du Québec in Brazil, in an assignment under the Interchange Canada program, from 2012 to 2015. Her first diplomatic posting, in 2004, made her the first woman trade commissioner at Canada’s embassy in the Islamic Republic of Iran. As a deputy director in Montréal, Ms. Racicot took part in the transfer of the department’s regional offices to the Trade Commissioner Service; she has also worked at Headquarters. Before she entered the foreign service, she worked in communications for inter-American non-governmental organizations, among other things promoting education in the Americas and women’s rights in Central America. She speaks French, English, Portuguese, Spanish and Persian.
Sarah Taylor
Director General North Asia and Oceania
Dr. Sarah Taylor is the director general for North Asia and Oceania at Global Affairs Canada. She was deputy head of mission and minister for political-economic relations and public diplomacy at the Embassy of Canada to China from August 2011 to July 2015 and special advisor to the Assistant Deputy Minister for Asia Pacific at Global Affairs Canada from July 2015 to June 2016.
Prior to her assignment in China, she worked from 2006 to 2011 in the Privy Council Office, the department supporting Canada’s prime minister. Within the Privy Council Office, she served as acting executive director of the International Assessment Staff and, before that, as deputy executive director and director of the Asia Division.
From 1990 to 2006 she was a foreign service officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. In that capacity, she served abroad at Canadian missions in Jakarta (2000 to 2003), Beijing (1992 to 1995) and Hong Kong (1991 to 1992). At headquarters, she held positions including liaison officer and speech writer for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Director of the Southeast Asia Division and Director of the Development Policies and Institutions Division.
Dr. Taylor holds a doctorate (1990) and a master of philosophy degree (1984) from Cambridge University, both in East Asian Archaeology. She spent a year at Beijing University (1982 to 1983), under the auspices of the Canada-China Scholars’ Exchange Program, and has also studied for shorter periods in Korea and Japan. She holds a BA (Honours) from the University of Toronto.