Evadne Coye, Jamaica's high commissioner to Canada. - File

With a declaration to the community that she was just a country girl from Trelawny, and that the words 'Your Excellency' were not written on her birth certificate, Evadne Coye began her tenure as Jamaica's 12th high commissioner to Ottawa just over a year ago.

At that function welcoming her to the Ottawa community, it was noted that Ottawa had been almost exclusively a sort of training ground for previous Jamaican envoys, since it was their first posting as head of mission in all but one case.

"Dare we hope," one community member remarked then, "that the arrival of our new high commissioner, a woman of vast experience at headquarters and in the field, is signalling a reawakening on the part of Kingston as to the importance of Ottawa in the diplomatic scheme of things? I hope that is the case, for our new high commissioner is the right envoy to lead that renaissance."

To begin with, there is the experience factor; only one of the 11 members of the Jamaican foreign service who preceded her since the Ottawa mission was opened in 1962, had ever headed a mission before, and in that case only one mission. By the time Ms Coye came to Ottawa she had been ambassador to several countries.

In addition, she had seen service at the Jamaican missions to the UN in New York, Caracas and the OAS in Washington, plus her vast experience where her last assignment was Under-Secretary for International Organisations and Non-resident Ambassador to Argentine and Uruguay.

In 2002, she was awarded the Commander of the Order of Distinction for excellence in the Jamaica Foreign Service.

Closing act

Just recently, she gave a demonstration of how rooted she was in Jamaican culture at a fund-raiser put on by the National Institute of Jamaican Canadians for Black History Month. She became the closing act in 'What a Sinting!' a delightful evening devoted to Miss Lou and the Jamaican language that she placed so firmly on the map. Calling all the children in the audience to sit on the stage around her, á la Miss Lou, she then replicated in its entirety one of Louse Bennett's Ring Ding television shows, complete with the opening song, 'Moonshine tonight, come mek we dance and sing'.

None of which would be surprising to those who know that she shared with Miss Lou the nurturing of A. Wesley Powell at his Excelsior School.

In the words of Althea and Donna, she "naa pop no style, a strictly roots."

Yet, while her easy native connectedness with Jamaican culture endears her to the community and beyond, this is but one dimension of the multi-dimensional woman who brought with her the reputation of being one of Jamaica's top diplomats.

For it is her unique ability to connect these and every other occasion to her principal purpose of promoting Jamaica, especially to official Ottawa, that has attracted attention and impelled positive comment.

Jamaica Ottawa Community Association president, Chris Harris, commends Ms Coye for her ability to bring disparate elements of the community together.

For Dr Karl Smith, the indefatigable Evadne Coye promotes Jamaica and Jamaicans incessantly while displaying great skill, wit and grace in getting her message across with dignity, without either offence or grovelling.

"She encourages Jamaicans to action while fostering unity among all factions, and harnesses the energy of everyone, not least of which are the younger members of the community."

Full of praise

Retired federal public servant and Kingston College old boy, Lloyd Stanford, who has lived in Ottawa from the early 1960s and has observed Jamaican-Canadian relations closely, was full of praise.

"She has proven to be an envoy whose action surpasses her words. The speed and sensitivity of her reaction to even small possibilities for advancing Jamaica's cause has been remarkable. Her dynamism has been further fuelled by that rare quality in civil servants - imagination. In the old saying 'no grass grows under her feet'.

"In her quick and nimble response to approaches from NGOs, she was able to focus attention on challenges and opportunities facing the Caribbean Commonwealth. Her support of the Jamaica community organisations' celebrations of Jamaica's 45th anniversary of independence across Canada enhanced her bonding with the diaspora.

"In October, her astute collaboration with the 'Canada-Caribbean Parliamentary Friendship Group' and the Speaker of the House of Commons to mark the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Canada and Jamaica, did much to raise Jamaica's profile in political and official circles, while pleasing the Jamaican community."

Ms Coye had effectively drawn a group of parliamentarians into the 45th anniversary celebrations. This rippled into reaching other parliamentarians, thus firmly re-establishing the presence and importance of Jamaica in the minds of official Ottawa at a time when Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper was re-engaging Canadian interest in the region.

New opportunities have been identified for Jamaicans to work in Canada, especially in the western provinces of British Columbia (BC) and Alberta, which latter has been enjoying a boom and is in desperate need of workers. Shortly after her arrival, Ms Coye travelled to these provinces for exploratory talks.

Those contacts and her collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and its Liaison Services in Canada have resulted in Jamaican youth being placed in the construction sector in BC, with agreements for hundreds of tradespeople to be employed in both provinces within this year. With the labour market now opened beyond the traditional seasonal agricultural workers, the MLSS officers in Canada are ably pursuing other opportunities, leaving the high commissioner to now turn her attention to trade and investment promotion.