A conversation with Her Excellency Paula Caldwell St-Onge, Canada's Ambassador to Haiti, will be much like a warm reunion with an old friend.
After all, before Ambassador Caldwell St-Onge took up her post in Port-au-Prince in October of 2014, she'd spent the four previous years as the Consul General of Canada in Dallas and had become a familiar face at Council events and in the North Texas community. She is a career diplomat -- Canada's first female ambassador to Haiti -- who has held senior positions in Canada's top environmental offices, served as a senior trade commissioner for International Trade Canada in Sao Paulo and as Minister Counselor of trade in Mexico City.
Her ambassadorship in Haiti has provided experiences in many areas. Canada is the second largest donor in Haiti after the United States. In early March, as part of International Women's Day, she joined top Haitian officials in launching Haiti’s first national policy on Gender Equality Policy--Women's Empowerment. She told the audience, "Equality between women and men is one of the fundamental principles of human rights and a priority for Canada's engagement in the world and in Haiti." Rights to basic health care are also a priority and she has inaugurated three different hospitals and training centers in the short time she has been there.
In mid-March she hosted Haitian athletes at an event in honor of their competition in the upcoming Pan American Games (July 10-26) and the Parapan American Games (Aug. 7-15) in Toronto. And, she is able to speak of a Haiti before the catastrophic earthquake of 2010 -- she spent part of her youth in Port-au-Prince where her father represented the Royal Bank of Canada.
Additionally, Ambassador Caldwell St-Onge is a recipient of the Head of the Public Service Award (Excellence in Policy) and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal. A 1987 graduate of Queen's University, she began her public service career in 1989.
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