The Association of Canadian Diplomats believes the authorities are underestimating the risks of serving in the neighboring United States.
harald.henmo@lomedia.no
– If we were talking about a deployment in an African country, where there had been a number of curfews in the past year due to people with weapons shooting wildly around them, then you would have had a fairly strict assessment of the security risk there, says Pamela Isfeld .
She is head of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Workers – the organization for Canadian diplomats – and says that it is difficult to get career diplomats to apply for positions in the United States.
– The authorities like to say that this is because people want to be deployed to more exotic places, but that is not true. Great emphasis is placed on how important the relationship with the USA is, and that you want the best people deployed there. But no provision is made for that. You don’t get enough help, says Isfeld in an interview with the news agency The Canadian Press.
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Difficult to recruit for the embassies
In addition to its embassy in Washington DC, Canada has consulates and trade delegations in 15 other cities in the United States.
And it is difficult to get people to do these – since the USA is considered a problematic country to live in, Isfeld believes.
One of the problems is that no additional compensation is provided for the risks and inconveniences.
– I know of a diplomat who is trying to be moved, since the police where he serves have far too low a budget, and crime is increasing. The workplace has been evacuated several times, and he has personally witnessed five shooting incidents, says Isfeld.
Problems with health insurance
– Another problem is that we have a new system for health insurance for our expats. It can cause major problems in a country like the United States, where the public health system is virtually non-existent. In several cases, this has led to our expats, or their families, having to wait for the necessary treatment, says Isfeld.
The Canadian authorities did not want to answer questions from The Canadian Press about whether it is true that people do not want to work in the United States.
2024-01-25 12:06:39
#Diplomats #risk #allowance #working
