Meet Canadian High Commissioner Emina Tudakovic

WHEN Emina Tudakovic was in the final year of her political science bachelor’s degree, her father, an engineer, sat her down and said to her, “Political science… nice. But what will you do for work?” Her dad couldn’t see it at the time, but the young woman knew that in order to change the world, countries needed to work together to put life-changing policies in place. Her political science degree would lay the foundation for Tudakovic to now have the honour of serving as the Canadian high commissioner to Jamaica.

“I’m super lucky in the fact that Canada and Jamaica already have a very good bilateral relationship — everybody I’ve met so far has either been to Canada, or they know someone, or several people, in Canada,” Tudakovic, who succeeds former Canadian High Commissioner Laurie Peters in the role, shared with All Woman excitedly, ahead of Canada Day celebrations on Thursday.

“In some ways it has been a steep learning curve, but I’m starting to get my thoughts about what I want to do and where Canada and Jamaica should engage bilaterally.”

Tudakovic has been climbing that learning curve since last November when she and her family moved to Jamaica. She presented her credentials as high commissioner in March, and has so far been enjoying the immersion in the Jamaican culture, albeit a socially distanced version.

“Everything has been new. I love that everyone speaks English, and I like that people talk and make jokes. They engage you in random conversation,” she gushed cheerfully. “It’s hard to really gauge how our experience has been so far because of COVID, because we haven’t really been around much.”

Though the wheels have been turning slowly, they have been turning nonetheless. She has already identified several key areas in which she is hoping to make her mark.

“When I applied to be an ambassador or high commissioner, Jamaica was on my list because I wanted a place that had everything — a defence programme, a police programme, migration, trade, development, and so on — and Jamaica has all those things,” she commended. “And Jamaica and Canada already have a great relationship.”

Although the promising alliance between the two countries was a pull factor for her, Tudakovic knows that she cannot be complacent in her role to help strengthen the bond.

“I think Canada risks losing some of our relationship with Jamaica because there are other players here, they’re investing, and they have a lot of influence,” she said frankly. “We need to be more strategic with how we work with Jamaica, and I’d like us to work more together on things at the multilateral side, in Geneva and in New York. A good example is with vaccines.”

Gender affairs is another area that has got the new high commissioner’s attention since her arrival in the country.

“I’m not shy about calling myself a feminist,” she said unapologetically. “In Jamaica I was struck by a few things. The first is the amazingly strong women I meet here, and the interesting social dynamic between the men and the women.

“The other thing that strikes me is the violence against women and children. I do feel there needs to be really strong, unequivocal statements against violence against women. There is no excuse. I meet these super powerful women who know their place and they can take their place, and they have power and they have their voices. I wish there was a lot more of that concentrated speaking out for women’s rights.”

While she did not get to raise her rainbow flag for Pride Month this year due to logistics issues, it is definitely something she has in mind.

“I know this is not a popular subject in Jamaica, but LGBTQ+ rights are also important to me,” she said. “I suspect it will cause a stir when we raise our pride flag as well, but we want to signal that the international community is supportive. We believe that some rights are universal.”

Tudakovic also has the sizable task of leading the staff at the Canadian High Commission — many of whom are still working remotely.

“A lot of work in diplomacy is just the administrative things that you have to do to run an embassy, like the finances and human resources,” she noted. “I’m slowly starting to get a little bit out to visit some of our development projects. We’re also not back full time at the High Commission, so it has been kind of difficult just getting to know the team.”

Tudakovic walks the diplomatic tightrope while also juggling her responsibilities as a wife and mother. Also living here with her are her daughters, eight and 12, and her very supportive husband. While she admitted that relocating every few years can take a toll on her family, she also expressed gratitude for their resilience and support through it all.

“It’s really hard work, and it has been really hard to settle, but I’m so lucky in that fact that I get to have a job that I find rewardingly interesting,” she said.

Tudakovic first became interested in foreign affairs during an internship while she studied at The University of British Columbia. Before then, she had wanted to be a journalist.

“I did the internship at a peacekeeping centre, and I loved it,” she recalled. “I loved that concrete work — working with humanitarian organisations. It was really fun, and stuff moved along. So I wrote the exams to join the foreign service in Canada and I got in. I spent a year learning French in Vancouver, and then went to Ottawa.”

Her first international posting was to New Delhi, India, in 2001.

“My first year there was mainly processing temporary resident visas for visitors, students and temporary workers,” she remembered. “Then the second year I was there, I processed refugees. I was head of a refugee resettlement unit, and I really loved that because I loved to hear about the stories, and there is something very satisfying about taking someone and helping them to have a new life in Canada.”

After returning home to Canada in 2003, Tudakovic got married and continued working in international policy coordination until 2006, when she was offered a post in Geneva, Switzerland. She migrated there with her husband and they returned to Canada in 2010 with a 15-month-old baby in tow.

“We stayed in Canada for six years, for a lot of reasons, and in that time I got promoted quite a bit,” she said. Her most recent international posting was in Ankara, Turkey since 2016, where she worked as the area director for migration programmes for the Middle East before coming to Jamaica.

“At the end of my tenure, I want to not only strengthen the great relationship that Canada has with Jamaica, but I also want the staff at the High Commission to think of me as a fair boss,” she said earnestly. “I want to see Canada become a bigger player here in Jamaica, and to raise more awareness of the work that we are doing. I do want our governments to support each other on multilateral things, like human rights resolutions, as well, but most importantly, I want people to think of Canada as an ally of Jamaica.”