Pamela Ann McDougall

Pamela Ann McDougall (9 May 1925 – 4 October 2015) was a Canadian former 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] 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][5] 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]

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Norman Berlis		 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Poland
1968-1971		 Succeeded by
John Alexander McCordick

References
  1. Holmes, John W. (2012). "Pamela Ann McDougall". Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Dominion Institute. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  2. "Pamela Ann MCDOUGALL Obituary". The Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  3. Weelers, Margaret K. (1995). Envoys Extraordinary. Dundum. pp. 62–72. ISBN 9781550022414.
  4. "Canada names Ottawa woman new ambassador to Poland". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. Canadian Press. 20 January 1968. p. 16. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  5. "Former female diplomat heads enquiry into the foreign service". The Leader-Post. Canadian Press. 20 October 1980. p. 43. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
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