King Gordon
Tribute to co-founder of the Group of 78
Dr. Shirley Thomson, director of the Canada Council for the Arts and a long-time
member of the Group of 78, addressing the G78 in its 20th anniversary
year (2001), paid this tribute to King Gordon. Gordon, a former senior public
servant with the United Nations, and former MP Andrew Brewin of the NDP were
the principal co-founders of the Group.
One of the reasons that I am delighted to be here today is to pay tribute to
King Gordon. King was a Moses-like figure - but a Moses with a wide grin, a
deep chuckle and a magnanimous embrace of humanity and world issues. His qualities
of thought and character, including his deep respect for human rights, his belief
in a just world community and his concern for peaceful change through world
law and world organizations, were compelling not only for me in my youthful
grappling with international issues but for my colleagues working with the Canadian
University Service Overseas (CUSO) and the World University Service (WUSC).
We believed King and we believed in him. We knew that he had been at the founding
of the United Nations in San Francisco in 1945, had worked on front-line operations
in the Middle East from a base in Cairo with the UN Information Service, and
had witnessed the disorder and violent disintegration in the Congo after the
withdrawal of the Belgians in the I960s. In the face of insurmountable problems,
he invariably displayed compassion for the victims and a sardonic wisdom in
assessing and responding to the efforts and foibles of human beings.
I retain joyful memories of his frequent visits in the early eighties to the
offices of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, then as now under the mandate
of the Canada Council. We'd retire to the bar of the Lord Elgin hotel, King
with scotch, me with gin, where he would begin to enquire with enthusiasm about
UNESCO plans in any number of areas - literacy campaigns, world heritage sites,
biosphere reserves. What role was Canada playing and where might we do more?
Our discussions were always wide-ranging - Coptic religion in Ethiopia, Roman
ruins in Baalbeck, literary translation into Mandarin. These were also the early
years of the Group of 78 and he brought all his talents and vision to the Group's
development.
