JAMAICANS in Canada will shortly be bidding farewell to Jamaica’s High Commissioner to Canada, Carl Marshall, whose tour of duty ends on July 7.

Marshall, who previously served as Jamaica’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, assumed duties in Canada in July 2003. President of the Jamaican Diaspora-Canada Foundation (JDCF), Philip Mascoll, had high praises for Marshall.

“His unshakable standards of excellence and expectations of excellence are constant reminders of the Jamaica we know and love,” Mascoll told JIS News.

Calling the high commissioner a friend, a mentor and an unswerving supporter and coach of the Diaspora movement in Canada, Mascoll said the resounding success of “our delegation at the recent second Diaspora conference was due in no small part to his encouragement and fostering”.

President of the Jamaica Foundation of Hamilton, Bill Delisser, said the high commissioner was a true patriot who usually implored other Jamaicans not to turn their backs on their island home.

“He brought an awareness of the need for Jamaicans in Canada to get together, not only to assist Jamaica, but also to rekindle our relationship with each other and to preserve our Jamaican identity,” he said.

Farewell receptions are being planned for the departing high commissioner and his wife by the Jamaican communities in Toronto and Montreal, and by Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) in Ottawa.

Marshall was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1993 to 1997; Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of National Security from 1990 to 1992 and Member of Parliament for the constituency of Northwestern Clarendon from 1989 to 1997.

A former educator, he taught at Papine Secondary School and Campion College in Kingston, and Kemps Hill All-Age School in Clarendon, where he also served as vice-principal and principal.