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The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Korea will host an online seminar, March 11, to discuss how Canada can capitalize on its citizens abroad to help project the country's influence worldwide.
The chamber said it will invite Canadian Ambassador to Korea Michael Danagher and John Stackhouse, the author of "Planet Canada: How Our Expats Are Shaping the Future," who is also vice president of the Royal Bank of Canada.
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| John Stackhouse, the author of "Planet Canada: How Our Expats Are Shaping the Future," will join an online seminar to be hosted by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Korea, March 11. Courtesy of Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Korea |
Accordingly, Stackhouse argues in the book that the number of expats who collectively are "an entire province's worth of Canadian citizens" share ability and often desire to export Canadian values to a world sorely in need of them.
They also often serve as unofficial "ambassadors" for Canada in industries and societies where diplomatic efforts find little traction.
Stackhouse continues by saying that a failure to put such desires into action is "a grave error for a small country whose voice is getting lost behind developing nations of rapidly increasing influence," and therefore, Canada needs expats' "special claim on the 21st century."
Yoo said Korea as a middle power country may want to heed the same message given that there are Koreans living abroad.
"These oversea Koreans could also form a potentially powerful network to assist Korea in the age of globalization," Yoo said.
The book was published in October 2020.
Before joining the Royal Bank of Canada, Stackhouse was editor-in-chief of the Globe and Mail newspaper and for most of the 1990s a foreign correspondent for the newspaper in Asia.
