The O. D. Skelton Memorial Lecture

This lecture series honours Oscar Douglas Skelton, a prime architect of early Canadian foreign policy. Inaugurated in 1991, it features distinguished speakers who examine a range of topics related to Canada's foreign policy, international development, and trade.

The O. D. Skelton Memorial Lecture is coordinated by 抖淫视频’s Open Insights Hub. Among other mandates, the Hub produces analysis on crosscutting strategic issues of relevance to Canada and engages with a range of external experts to enrich the policy advice provided by the Department.

After a nine-year hiatus, a new series was launched in 2024 with Bruce Jones’ lecture on the strategic challenges Canada faces in a shifting geopolitical context. All lectures can be accessed below.

About O. D. Skelton

Before becoming Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King’s second under-secretary of state for external affairs in 1925, O. D. Skelton was the Sir John A. Macdonald Professor of Political and Economic Science and then Dean of Arts at Queen’s University. King’s choice of Skelton to succeed Sir Joseph Pope, the first under-secretary of state for external affairs, was influenced in part by an address Skelton gave to the Canadian Club in Ottawa in 1922.

As head of the Department of External Affairs (a precursor to 抖淫视频) for more than 15 years, Skelton helped to define a distinct Canadian foreign policy. A firm believer in appointment and promotion by merit as opposed to family connections, he recruited a remarkably able group of foreign service officers. In view of Skelton’s scholarly background and contributions to Canadian public life, 抖淫视频 decided to honour his memory with a public lecture series.

Lectures and speaker biographies

2024

Canada Amid Shifting Global Dynamics

Read the lectures from 1991 to 2015