U.S. ambassador tells of Canadian experiences

Against a backdrop of pale gray light flooding through the window of the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, the Honorable Gordon Giffin-U.S. ambassador to Canada-painted a brilliant picture of Canadian society and the United States-Canada relationship for an audience of 17 Tuesday afternoon.

Giffin, Trinity '71, began his presentation by marveling at the changes that have occurred at the University since his graduation. He discussed his pleasure at returning to the South, where he had spent most of the last 20 years of his life before moving to Ottawa.

Giffin then related a humorous anecdote of the advantages of a Southern background in his capacity as ambassador. Although fluent in English and French, the ambassador was stunned by the language barriers that still exist during one of his first duties as ambassador. An ice storm in Eastern Canada had caused massive power outages throughout the region, and an official of the Department of Water Affairs contacted Giffin for his assistance in obtaining utility poles from a distributor in Alabama.

"The official got in touch with the proprietor, but he complained to me, 'We're using English, he's using English, but for some reason, we're not communicating'," Giffin said. "I didn't think they needed someone in Canada who speaks Southern."

After briefly outlining the evolution and magnitude of U.S.-Canada relations, Giffin discussed some current conflicts between the two nations-including disputes over salmon fishing and wheat trading. Giffin stressed, however, that the main concern at this time remains the cultural conflict.

"Canadians are concerned that their culture is being overtaken by American culture," Giffin said. "We're definitely a large economic engine to the south of Canada. [American officials] do spend a great deal of time talking about how to integrate aspects of American culture without overexposure and thus causing cultural decay.

"One of things I want to work on is broadening the perspective of both nations to more than just how much wheat crosses over or how much salmon we should catch."

Giffin encouraged students to consider taking American government internships in Canada, stressing their frequent battles with under-staffing.

"Technology has overwhelmed public policy," Giffin said. "Canadian cable systems which carry TSN, which is the Canadian analog to ESPN, cannot carry ESPN. But for anyone in Canada who has a satellite dish, they can pick up ESPN anytime." In this case, he explained, technology overrides Canada's attempt to separate itself from American culture.

Other technology also poses a problem. "How do you police the Internet?" he continued. "We've got to accelerate policy-making to match the brains of the technical people, but I think the traditional sovereignty is going to erode with technology."

Giffin began serving in his current position last September at President Bill Clinton's request. After spending most of his first 18 years of life in Montreal and Toronto, Giffin came to Duke as an undergraduate in 1967.

Upon graduating, Giffin studied law at Emory University before moving on to practicing law. Giffin also served as chief counsel to former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn in the late-1970s and as the chairman of the Clinton-Gore election campaign in 1992.

"I'm very impressed by his encyclopedic knowledge of Canada," said John Thompson, director of the Canadian Studies Program at the University, which co-sponsored Giffin's visit with the North American Studies program. "He's somebody that really knows the country, he's by far the best-qualified ambassador we've ever had. I've said it before, and I wasn't wrong."