Review – Planet Canada: How Expats are Shaping the Future
This article is contributed by Dr. Kevin Goheen, Canadian coordinator, Commonwealth Scholars and Fellows Alumni Association.
“A leading thinker on Canada’s place in the world contends that our country’s greatest untapped resource may be the three million Canadians who don’t live here.”
Entrepreneurs, educators, humanitarians: an entire province worth of Canadian citizens live outside Canada. Some will return, others won’t. But what they all share is the ability, and often the desire, to export Canadian values to a world sorely in need of them, and to act as ambassadors for Canada in industries and societies where diplomatic efforts find little traction. Surely a country with people as diverse as Canada’s ought to plug itself into every corner of the globe, and yet we often don’t, sometimes not even when our expats are eager to help”.
John Stackhouse’s new book “Planet Canada: How Our Expats are Shaping the Future”, (Random House of Canada, 2020) was of interest to me because, as the above quote indicates, Canadians living abroad have much to offer. I picked it up in hopes it would provide more insights into a phenomena I have experienced when recruiting members to the Canadian Commonwealth Scholars and Fellows alumni association - people don’t always return to their home country after they are supported in Canada, the UK, or other host Commonwealth countries. We list in our membership Canadians who have studied abroad, primarily in the UK, and other Commonwealth citizens who studied in Canada, and despite suasion from the ACU to return to their home countries after graduation, not all do. I would estimate that among the 1100 Canadians in our alumni organization, about 30% would be called expats, living away from their country of nationality. I was also interested to see which alumni would be featured in this book.
Mr. Stackhouse started this project when he was working at University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, when then-Director Stephen Toope, a CS alumnus and now Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University, wanted to study the supposed large but unknown Canadian diaspora.
Mr. Stackhouse features a number of Canadians who have moved to pursue better opportunities, including a number of our alumni (including Dr. Toope, Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England, and Les Greene, legal philosopher at the University of Oxford) and many others who have pursued careers in film, music, business, and international development. He surmises that they have been successful because we have good educations and the ability to listen.
Mr. Stackhouse’s main thesis is that Canada’s small global influence is getting smaller because of other countries’ ambitious efforts to advance their causes and because our historical laurels of blue helmets and moral leadership have long expired. However, the Canadian government is missing a major opportunity to use our talented and plentiful diaspora. These individuals very often want to help their country and are never asked. He cites Israel and Ireland as two small countries who have formal programmes to contact and enlist their citizens abroad and argues that Canada should do the same. As a start, Canada should census these individuals before supporting its expats in advancing the global Canadian agenda. I believe this is a very achievable goal. And perhaps the goal should also include not only Canadians as advocates world-wide, but also those who have studied in Canada. Every week we find another Commonwealth scholarship alumna with a connection to Canada, and they are so grateful for the start they got in their careers because of their Canadian education.
Kevin Goheen and the Commonwealth ScholarS and FellowS Alumni
Meet Kevin Goheen: In the spotlight this week is Kevin Goheen, who moderates the Alumni Association of Canadian Commonwealth Scholars and Fellows. He connected with us last year as part of his efforts to create greater relations between networks of scholars and supporters who have enjoyed and appreciated Commonwealth exchanges. We were delighted to link with him and have committed to exploring options for building a broader Canada-UK alumni community.
Kevin earned engineering degrees at Queen’s University (Kingston) and University College London (UCL), where he held a Commonwealth Scholarship. He has worked with entrepreneurs as an investment banker and venture capitalist. He was the Executive Director of the Canadian Academy of Engineering during a period of significant growth for that organisation. Most recently, he has returned to Carleton University, where he teaches systems engineering courses and leads a team with the Registrar’s Office promoting academic integrity in remote examinations.
Kevin’s role with the Association of Commonwealth Universities and the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK – moderating the Canadian Commonwealth Scholar and Fellow Alumni Association – is an essential part of keeping past scholars connected to each other, and to an important network of expertise and influence. He and his volunteer team in the alumni association have formed a sort of “clearing house” of Canadian Commonwealth scholar information, with their regular newsletter providing enjoyable updates on alumni. We know that many of our readers and supporters are also Commonwealth Scholars, and the potential for synergies is being explored.
About the Commonwealth Scholarship: Since its inception in 1960, nearly 30,000 Commonwealth citizens have been granted these scholarships and fellowships. Canada also played a leadership role in the establishment of the Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship Plan (CCSP) and was the largest contributor to this program after the United Kingdom. The CCSP’s goal was to promote Canadian values and identity around the world and to help meet the human capital needs of developing countries.
Canada remains a significant supporter of Commonwealth schemes through the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth Foundation and the Commonwealth of Learning. In addition to this, Canada has made available an updated programme titled Study in Canada. The Study in Canada Scholarships program provides students from post-secondary institutions located in the new eligible countries/territories with short-term exchange opportunities for study or research in Canadian post-secondary institutions at college, undergraduate and graduate levels. The UK is not included as an eligible country, and the support of private foundations has therefore been an essential component of the funding picture in making Canada-UK exchanges possible.