The Good Fight

Before official bilingualism was established in 1969, francophones were scarce in the Canadian public service. Marcel Cadieux was one of the few, becoming arguably the most important francophone diplomat and civil servant in Canadian history.

Brendan Kelly’s insightful, entertaining biography draws on extensive archival research and interviews to reveal a complex figure. Cadieux held the nationalist views of many young French Canadians in the 1930s, yet he made the distinctly unconventional decision to join the Department of External Affairs in 1941. Public service became the vocation of this blunt, funny, strong-minded, and sometimes undiplomatic diplomat. Against the backdrop of rising Quebec separatism and the Cold War, he headed the department from 1964 to 1970 and served as Canada’s first francophone ambassador to the United States from 1970 to 1975. Cadieux’s profound belief in the dignity of service speaks eloquently to readers today, when professionalism and expertise are often undervalued.

"[B]y centering the French-Canadian perspective and focusing on the figure of Marcel Cadieux, The Good Fight enriches our understanding of Canadian international history in the mid-twentieth century."

"Une excellente biographie consacrée à un haut fonctionnaire francophone d’une grande valeur, d’une grande intégrité professionnelle, et dont la contribution fût marquante au service du Canada et qui, à certains égards, demeure toujours d’actualité."

This excellent biography should be required reading for foreign policy practitioners and academics alike. Kelly has deeply mined his primary sources in both official languages and has offered up a narrative that convincingly challenges some existing precepts of this period in Canadian diplomatic history. He offers us a convincing portrait of one of the greats in Canadian public service. In his Marcel Cadieux we see a selfless diplomat of firm and fearless skill, as well as a Canadian and Quebecois patriot deeply devoted to national unity. Through Brendan Kelly’s rendering, we also see Cadieux as the epitome of the human, networked, and connected diplomat.

"This is an excellent biography of one of Canada’s most important diplomats and civil servants during a pivotal period in Canada’s international affairs."

"[An] absorbing political biography."