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Published on: 6/16/2004
Last Visited: 2/9/2005
The warm weather that has finally come to Ottawa will hopefully not be in short supply where Donald Smith is headed.Mr. Smith has been appointed as Canada's Ambassador to the Holy See, otherwise known as the Vatican.The world's smallest independent state , measuring approximately one square mile in the middle of Rome, Italy , is the seat of the Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic church.Mr. Smith studied arts and law at the University of Alberta and joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1969, working mainly on legal matters.He gained diplomatic experience at many of Canada's overseas missions, including Cairo, Dublin and London.In 1991 Mr. Smith became Director of the Legal Advisory Division and worked there until 1997 when he was assigned as ambassador to Croatia.He returned to Ottawa in 2000 to become Special Coordinator for Reconstruction of the Balkans.Until his appointment to the Holy See, Mr. Smith directed the Southeast Europe Division of Foreign Affairs.