Brendan Kelly JW Dafoe Book Prize Online Event
Tuesday Nov 24 2020 7:00 pm, Virtual, Online Book Launch
Join us as we celebrate the 2020 J.W. Dafoe Book Prize winning book, The Good Fight: Marcel Cadieux and Canadian Diplomacy (UBC Press), written by Dr. Brendan Kelly. Presented by the J.W. Dafoe Foundation.
Registration is required to participate directly in the Zoom webinar. It will be simultaneously streamed on YouTube and available for viewing thereafter.
The Good Fight tells the story of Marcel Cadieux, arguably the most important francophone diplomat and civil servant in Canadian history. His story provides “a unique window to domestic and foreign events and personalities whose legacies are still being debated”. Dr. Kelly will begin the conversation with a presentation on his book, followed by time for questions and discussion with the audience. Dr. Christopher Adams, Chair of the J.W. Dafoe Foundation Board, will moderate the discussion.
Dr. Brendan Kelly has taught courses in History and International Relations at the University of Toronto. He is a continuing Fellow at the U of T’s Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History and serves as the Book Review Editor of International Journal. He recently accepted a position with the federal government in Ottawa as Head of Historical Section and Deputy Director of the Foreign Policy Research and Foresight Division at Global Affairs Canada.
See:
The Good Fight
- Brendan Kelly 
Hardcover
$45.00
Reader Reward Price: $40.50
Before official bilingualism was established in 1969, francophones were scarce in the Canadian public service. Marcel Cadieux was one of the few, becoming arguably the most important francophone diplomat and civil servant in Canadian history.
Brendan Kelly's insightful, entertaining biography draws on extensive archival research and interviews to reveal a complex figure. Cadieux held the nationalist views of many young French Canadians in the 1930s, yet he made the distinctly unconventional decision to join the Department of External Affairs in 1941. Public service became the vocation of this blunt, funny, strong-minded, and sometimes undiplomatic diplomat. Against the backdrop of rising Quebec separatism and the Cold War, he headed the department from 1964 to 1970 and served as Canada's first francophone ambassador to the United States from 1970 to 1975. Cadieux's profound belief in the dignity of service speaks eloquently to readers today, when professionalism and expertise are often undervalued.
