 ID: 107397
Added: 2007-01-03 10:25
Modified: 2007-01-03 11:33
Refreshed: 2012-02-09 21:13
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Document(s) 6 of 10
Ivan Leigh Head, IDRC’s second president, was an accomplished diplomat, lawyer, and scholar. Through his role as foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Head had a deep influence on the formulation and conduct of Canadian foreign policy in the 1970s. His dedication to the social and economic development of the poorest regions of the globe and his contribution to Canada’s position in the world led to his appointment as Officer of the Order of Canada in 1990.
Born in Calgary on July 28, 1930, Head started his career as a lawyer after graduating with an LLB from the University of Alberta. He later attended Harvard Law School, where he obtained his LLM in 1960. In 1960, Head joined Canada’s Department of External Affairs, serving as a foreign service officer in Ottawa, Kuala Lumpur, Rangoon, and Bangkok. He moved to Edmonton in 1963 to teach law at the University of Alberta.
In 1968 Trudeau, who was then the Federal Minister of Justice, invited Head to serve as an associate counsel for constitutional matters. When Trudeau became Prime Minister, Head was invited to serve as his legislative assistant. Head’s experience in the foreign service and expertise in international law led to his appointment as the Prime Minister’s special assistant, advising on matters related to foreign policy and the conduct of international relations, a position which he held until 1978. During this time, Head wrote Trudeau’s foreign affairs speeches, participated in meetings with numerous heads of state, and was senior advisor on several official visits, including Trudeau’s historic visit to China in 1973.
Ivan Head was appointed president of IDRC in 1978, after the Centre’s founding president, Dr. David Hopper, resigned to take a senior position at the World Bank. The new president began to implement a series of reforms to enhance the Centre’s effectiveness. One of his most successful reforms was the creation, in 1979, of the Office of Planning and Evaluation, which in 1991 was split into the Policy and Planning Group and the Evaluation Unit. Head’s emphasis on planning reflected his awareness of the changes and challenges in the field of international development. “Just as in the past 10 years developmental theory has proved to be critically flawed,” he wrote in 1980, “so will the next 10 open new avenues of research, new techniques of research management, new methods of coordination and cooperation. Forecasting and planning will become essential elements in Centre processes.” Head perceived evaluation as a critical function of IDRC, one that would serve as an assurance to the Canadian government and public that the funds allocated to the Centre are spent effectively.
In addition to his focus on planning and evaluation, Head took steps to ensure that IDRC programming was interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary. He understood the complexity of development and believed that for research to translate into real changes in people’s lives, scientists had to work cooperatively with experts from fields other than their own. His insistence on the need to pool the talents of a wide variety of experts to help solve development problems was one of his most notable contributions to IDRC.
Head encouraged IDRC’s support for researchers in countries that were undergoing periods of profound social, political, or economic challenges. He played a significant role, for instance, in IDRC’s decision to support agents of change in South Africa during the apartheid regime. Furthermore, during his tenure IDRC supported social science researchers living under political dictatorship in Chile. IDRC’s ability to manoeuvre internationally was facilitated by Head’s experience and connections in international political spheres.
In the words of IDRC President Maureen O’Neil, under Head’s leadership, “IDRC became a byword for effectiveness, compassion, courage, and results – changing lives and possibilities.” Head left IDRC in 1991 to accept a position as Chair in South-North Studies at the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia. In an interview with the Globe and Mail that same year, he expressed his disillusionment with the developed world’s indifference to developing countries: “We in the North are not aware, because our leaders are not allowing us to become aware, of the immense impact the events in the South are having upon us – population, environmental degradation, social instability, political turbulence, economic dropoff… We are turning over to our children a world which is more degraded, more turbulent and less economically stable than the world we inherited…” He wanted Canadians to understand that their present and their future are closely connected to events that take place in the developing regions of the world.
Ivan Head received many honours during his lifetime and honorary degrees from 11 institutions, including Notre Dame University, the Beijing Forestry University, and the University of the West Indies.
Gordon Smith, Chair of IDRC’s Board of Governors, described Ivan Head as a “global citizen.” “His vision,” Smith concluded, “affected a Prime Minister, a Government, and a generation.” Ivan Head passed away on November 1, 2004, in North Vancouver at the age of 74.
Document(s) 6 of 10
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