Arthur Kroeger passed away Friday May 9, 2008 in Ottawa
Visit the online Book of Condolences, Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs, Carleton University
Arthur was a distinguished passenger on
our inaugral Mennonite Heritage Cruise in 1995, and again with his two
daughters, Alix and Kate in 2006.
On the 2006 cruise Arthur gave two lectures based on his forthcoming 2007 Book, "Hard Passage" - A Mennonite Family's Long Journey from Russia to Canada.
(note from Marina and Walter Unger)
Civil servant's civil servant'
ANDREW THOMSON, Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008
OTTAWA - One of Canada's great public service mandarins was eulogized as a "civil servant's civil servant" who left his mark on family, friends and the entire country.
More than 400 people filed into Christ Church Cathedral for the funeral of Arthur Kroeger, the longtime deputy minister and Carleton University chancellor who died last Friday after battling cancer.
The 75-year-old's memorial attracted a wide cross-section of official Ottawa, from students and public servants to former prime minister Paul Martin and onetime cabinet ministers.
A Rhodes Scholar, Mr. Kroeger held the No. 2 job at several ministries between 1975 and 1992, when he retired after 34 years in the federal government. He served in several diplomatic posts, including Washington, Geneva and New Delhi, worked in government departments ranging from the Treasury Board and Indian Affairs to Regional Industrial Expansion and Employment and Immigration.
He was Carleton's chancellor between 1993 and 2002, after which he served as chancellor emeritus.
The Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs was created in 1999 in tribute to his government career. Mr. Kroeger was also named a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2000, and received several honorary doctorates of law from Canadian universities.
These accomplishments left a parade of friends and colleagues taking the microphone to salute the "dean of deputy ministers" and "wisest of the old mandarins."
When prime minister Brian Mulroney needed someone to review Canadian implications of the proposed American "Star Wars" strategic missile defence in 1985, Mr. Kroeger got the nod for his reputation as an independent thinker, said Gordon Osbaldeston, a former deputy minister and Clerk of the Privy Council between 1982 and 1985.
"He had standards that you could rely on, that would not bend when the going got tough," he said. "He was trusted by prime ministers, ministers and parliamentarians of all parties."
Another former clerk, Jocelyne Bourgon, said Mr. Kroeger helped many women break gender barriers in the federal bureaucracy. "He believed in the important role of public servants, elected and unelected. He was a builder of public service institutions."
He was a private, unassuming, and humble man who never forgot his Western roots, said Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, a friend and member of the Kroeger Round Table: informal lunches at the Rideau Club where an invited guest would speak and field questions from Mr. Kroeger and his colleagues.
She said he lived a fulfilling life, from a rural Alberta upbringing during the Great Depression, to his pursuits after leaving the public service.
"His reputation for honesty and good management was legendary," Chief Justice McLachlin said, also remembering him as an avid gardener. Her voice quivered as she spoke of planting a trillium in his memory on the day he died.
She also pointed to Mr. Kroeger's 2007 memoir, Hard Passage: A Mennonite Family's Long Journey from Russia to Canada, as a vital work on the immigrant family experience on the Prairies.
The memoir won an Alberta Book Publishing Award for non-fiction the day of Mr. Kroeger's death.
"He had retired when I went into the cabinet," said former Ottawa South MP and Liberal minister John Manley after the service. "But he was always very willing to offer his advice and I think he was one of our best public policy experts.
"He was deeply devoted to Canada."
Mr. Kroeger is survived by his wife, Huguette Labelle, daughters Alix and Kate, stepchildren Chantal and Pierre, and one granddaughter, Catherine. His first wife, Gabrielle, died in 1979.
Arthur Kroeger claimed, with professional modesty, that he did no more than offer "choices" to the politicians he served. He knew well, however, how much depended on the way those choices were presented.
He was the 'wisest of the old mandarins'
Top public servant remembered as 'great leader' who was always thinking of others
Mohammed Adam, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Sunday, May 11, 2008
He was one of the last great Canadian mandarins, a public servant extraordinaire whose "high ethical compass" and professionalism was a symbol of the plain-speaking, independent and non-partisan public servant.
Now his death, colleagues and commentators say, marks the end of the era of the truly remarkable public servants, who helped define the country and left their mark as "co-architects" of Canada.
Arthur Kroeger, perhaps the "wisest of the old mandarins," died Friday after a battle with cancer. He was 75.
Companion of the Order of Canada, Mr. Kroeger was deputy minister of numerous federal departments in a distinguished career spanning 34 years. From 1993 to 2002, he was also the chancellor of Carleton University.
As the accolades and tributes poured in yesterday, colleagues and commentators remembered a great Canadian who served his country with honour and distinction. He was ahead of his time in many ways, and one of his defining legacies, colleagues say, was his role in advancing the rights of women in the public service. He was fearless and not afraid to go against the grain even in retirement, if he felt the cause was right.
While most of the country fell in line with Justice John Gomery's recommendations for a sweeping overhaul of government in the wake of the sponsorship scandal, Mr. Kroeger was one of the few voices to oppose the judge. He said Judge Gomery's proposal to hand more power to senior bureaucrats as a counterweight to ministers would open the door to "government by the unelected." Those recommendations have still not been implemented.
"I think it is fair to say that he was the last of a great and extraordinary generation of public servants who, you could say, were co-architects of the new Canada," said Gilles Paquet, senior research fellow at the University of Ottawa's school of public and international affairs.
"He was probably the wisest of the old mandarins. He represented the ultimate wise mandarin who was capable of working with any government."
Jim Roche, who was a senior official in the office of the Minister of Transport when Mr. Kroeger was deputy minister, said his death leaves a massive void in the world of Canadian public service.
"He was a great leader and public servant. He had a great belief in the good the government can do for the country and he inspired a whole generation of public servants," Mr. Roche said.
"Before it was even fashionable, he opened the door to women in the public service. He sought them out, he nurtured them and he promoted them. It is one of his defining legacies."
Arthur Kroeger was born in 1932 in Naco, Alta., the son of Russian Mennonite immigrant farmers who came to Canada in 1926 to escape communist persecution. But the Kroegers faced discrimination in Canada and life was tough for a family trying to make a living out of farming in a region that had inferior land and minimal rain. But life grew harder still during the Great Depression and the lessons of the time left a deep impression on Mr. Kroeger. He wrote a book about the family's travails and Katherine Graham, dean of the Faculty of Public Affairs, said his "challenging youth" growing up in the Prairie dustbowl defined his strong ethical character.
"Despite his great accomplishments, he was never one to put on airs and I attribute that to his Alberta farm background. He was very proud of his Prairie roots," Ms. Graham said.
A Rhodes Scholar, he studied at Oxford University, returning to Canada to marry the late Gabrielle Jane Sellers, with whom he had two children, Nina Alexandra and Kate Megan Jane. He joined the Department of External Affairs in 1958, the beginning of what would become a stellar career during which he served as deputy minister for 17 of his 34-year service. He served in several diplomatic posts, including Washington, Geneva and New Delhi, worked in government departments ranging from the Treasury Board to Indian Affairs, Regional Industrial Expansion and Employment and Immigration. He sat on numerous committees and boards, including president of the Canadian Association of Rhodes Scholars, chairman of the National Statistics Council and the Canadian Centre for Management Development.
In 1989, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and became Companion in 2000. He received the Public Service Outstanding Achievement Award in 1989 and received honorary Doctorates of Law from several Canadian Universities. In recognition of his distinguished public service career, Carleton University named one of its colleges after him -- the Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs.
"The only time I saw Arthur Kroeger blush was when he was asked if he'd lend his name to the college," recalled Ms. Graham, dean of the faculty.
"There was nothing about Arthur Kroeger that was about Arthur Kroeger. Almost everything he did, he did for the benefit of others," added Chris Dornan, director of the College.
"He was an extraordinarily kind individual. His concern was not for himself, his concern was for others and what he could do to help them, particularly young people."
Ms. Graham, who had known Mr. Kroeger for 15 years, said while his death is a tremendous loss, his legacy will live on. "We've lost a great public servant of the old school who had a strong ethical compass, someone who had a powerful mind and was not afraid to speak his mind," she said, adding that we've also "lost an exemplar of the public service of tomorrow."
Gordon Ritchie is a retired public servant whose job track roughly paralleled that of Mr. Kroeger for about a decade. One of Mr. Ritchie's responsibilities at the economic development department was to advise the secretary of the cabinet on the performance of deputy ministers. He said Mr. Kroeger was the best of the bunch, "the quintessential senior public servant" who had minimal public profile, but was "very forceful and effective" in giving his ministers straight advice.
A telling example of the delicate balance Mr. Kroeger struck between serving his political masters while sticking to his convictions occurred in the lead up to the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, Mr. Ritchie said.
As deputy minister of the Energy Department, Mr. Kroeger testified before parliamentary committees on the trade deal. The deal was much favoured by western Canadian energy producers and reviled by those in favour of a national energy program, Mr. Ritchie said.
"Arthur's testimony was absolutely masterful. He managed to not say a word that would undermine the position of the government, but leaving no doubt to anybody who could read between the lines that he really didn't like the agreement.
"That is really the epitome of a fine public servant. He's always respectful of the political authorities and does not undermine them, but that doesn't mean he's given up his soul or that he has no opinions of his own."
On the 2006 cruise Arthur gave two lectures based on his forthcoming 2007 Book, "Hard Passage" - A Mennonite Family's Long Journey from Russia to Canada.
(note from Marina and Walter Unger)
Civil servant's civil servant'
ANDREW THOMSON, Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008
OTTAWA - One of Canada's great public service mandarins was eulogized as a "civil servant's civil servant" who left his mark on family, friends and the entire country.
More than 400 people filed into Christ Church Cathedral for the funeral of Arthur Kroeger, the longtime deputy minister and Carleton University chancellor who died last Friday after battling cancer.
The 75-year-old's memorial attracted a wide cross-section of official Ottawa, from students and public servants to former prime minister Paul Martin and onetime cabinet ministers.
A Rhodes Scholar, Mr. Kroeger held the No. 2 job at several ministries between 1975 and 1992, when he retired after 34 years in the federal government. He served in several diplomatic posts, including Washington, Geneva and New Delhi, worked in government departments ranging from the Treasury Board and Indian Affairs to Regional Industrial Expansion and Employment and Immigration.
He was Carleton's chancellor between 1993 and 2002, after which he served as chancellor emeritus.
The Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs was created in 1999 in tribute to his government career. Mr. Kroeger was also named a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2000, and received several honorary doctorates of law from Canadian universities.
These accomplishments left a parade of friends and colleagues taking the microphone to salute the "dean of deputy ministers" and "wisest of the old mandarins."
When prime minister Brian Mulroney needed someone to review Canadian implications of the proposed American "Star Wars" strategic missile defence in 1985, Mr. Kroeger got the nod for his reputation as an independent thinker, said Gordon Osbaldeston, a former deputy minister and Clerk of the Privy Council between 1982 and 1985.
"He had standards that you could rely on, that would not bend when the going got tough," he said. "He was trusted by prime ministers, ministers and parliamentarians of all parties."
Another former clerk, Jocelyne Bourgon, said Mr. Kroeger helped many women break gender barriers in the federal bureaucracy. "He believed in the important role of public servants, elected and unelected. He was a builder of public service institutions."
He was a private, unassuming, and humble man who never forgot his Western roots, said Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, a friend and member of the Kroeger Round Table: informal lunches at the Rideau Club where an invited guest would speak and field questions from Mr. Kroeger and his colleagues.
She said he lived a fulfilling life, from a rural Alberta upbringing during the Great Depression, to his pursuits after leaving the public service.
"His reputation for honesty and good management was legendary," Chief Justice McLachlin said, also remembering him as an avid gardener. Her voice quivered as she spoke of planting a trillium in his memory on the day he died.
She also pointed to Mr. Kroeger's 2007 memoir, Hard Passage: A Mennonite Family's Long Journey from Russia to Canada, as a vital work on the immigrant family experience on the Prairies.
The memoir won an Alberta Book Publishing Award for non-fiction the day of Mr. Kroeger's death.
"He had retired when I went into the cabinet," said former Ottawa South MP and Liberal minister John Manley after the service. "But he was always very willing to offer his advice and I think he was one of our best public policy experts.
"He was deeply devoted to Canada."
Mr. Kroeger is survived by his wife, Huguette Labelle, daughters Alix and Kate, stepchildren Chantal and Pierre, and one granddaughter, Catherine. His first wife, Gabrielle, died in 1979.
Canada's debt to Arthur Kroeger
JOHN POLANYI (1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry)
May 13, 2008, The Globe and Mail, TorontoArthur Kroeger claimed, with professional modesty, that he did no more than offer "choices" to the politicians he served. He knew well, however, how much depended on the way those choices were presented.
In the case of (then) prime minister Brian Mulroney's decision in September, 1985, to decline president Ronald Reagan's insistent request that Canada endorse the U.S. Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI, better known as Star Wars), Mr. Kroeger played a vital role behind the scenes, yet to be publicly acknowledged.
Having canvassed scientific opinion here and in the U.S., Mr. Kroeger made a confidential report to the PM in which he presented the "choice" in a light different from that prevailing in some high government circles. (The Department of External Affairs had characterized SDI as "a prudent hedge" against supposed Soviet advances in missile defence.) In an act that has helped shape Canadian policy for more than two decades, Mr. Mulroney rejected the U.S. invitation, despite the fact virtually all our European allies signed on. History has proved Mr. Mulroney right.
But today we should acknowledge our debt to a public servant, Arthur Kroeger, who had the patience in the midst of confusion to listen, and then the courage to speak his mind.
He was the 'wisest of the old mandarins'
Top public servant remembered as 'great leader' who was always thinking of others
Mohammed Adam, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Sunday, May 11, 2008
He was one of the last great Canadian mandarins, a public servant extraordinaire whose "high ethical compass" and professionalism was a symbol of the plain-speaking, independent and non-partisan public servant.
Now his death, colleagues and commentators say, marks the end of the era of the truly remarkable public servants, who helped define the country and left their mark as "co-architects" of Canada.
Arthur Kroeger, perhaps the "wisest of the old mandarins," died Friday after a battle with cancer. He was 75.
Companion of the Order of Canada, Mr. Kroeger was deputy minister of numerous federal departments in a distinguished career spanning 34 years. From 1993 to 2002, he was also the chancellor of Carleton University.
As the accolades and tributes poured in yesterday, colleagues and commentators remembered a great Canadian who served his country with honour and distinction. He was ahead of his time in many ways, and one of his defining legacies, colleagues say, was his role in advancing the rights of women in the public service. He was fearless and not afraid to go against the grain even in retirement, if he felt the cause was right.
While most of the country fell in line with Justice John Gomery's recommendations for a sweeping overhaul of government in the wake of the sponsorship scandal, Mr. Kroeger was one of the few voices to oppose the judge. He said Judge Gomery's proposal to hand more power to senior bureaucrats as a counterweight to ministers would open the door to "government by the unelected." Those recommendations have still not been implemented.
"I think it is fair to say that he was the last of a great and extraordinary generation of public servants who, you could say, were co-architects of the new Canada," said Gilles Paquet, senior research fellow at the University of Ottawa's school of public and international affairs.
"He was probably the wisest of the old mandarins. He represented the ultimate wise mandarin who was capable of working with any government."
Jim Roche, who was a senior official in the office of the Minister of Transport when Mr. Kroeger was deputy minister, said his death leaves a massive void in the world of Canadian public service.
"He was a great leader and public servant. He had a great belief in the good the government can do for the country and he inspired a whole generation of public servants," Mr. Roche said.
"Before it was even fashionable, he opened the door to women in the public service. He sought them out, he nurtured them and he promoted them. It is one of his defining legacies."
Arthur Kroeger was born in 1932 in Naco, Alta., the son of Russian Mennonite immigrant farmers who came to Canada in 1926 to escape communist persecution. But the Kroegers faced discrimination in Canada and life was tough for a family trying to make a living out of farming in a region that had inferior land and minimal rain. But life grew harder still during the Great Depression and the lessons of the time left a deep impression on Mr. Kroeger. He wrote a book about the family's travails and Katherine Graham, dean of the Faculty of Public Affairs, said his "challenging youth" growing up in the Prairie dustbowl defined his strong ethical character.
"Despite his great accomplishments, he was never one to put on airs and I attribute that to his Alberta farm background. He was very proud of his Prairie roots," Ms. Graham said.
A Rhodes Scholar, he studied at Oxford University, returning to Canada to marry the late Gabrielle Jane Sellers, with whom he had two children, Nina Alexandra and Kate Megan Jane. He joined the Department of External Affairs in 1958, the beginning of what would become a stellar career during which he served as deputy minister for 17 of his 34-year service. He served in several diplomatic posts, including Washington, Geneva and New Delhi, worked in government departments ranging from the Treasury Board to Indian Affairs, Regional Industrial Expansion and Employment and Immigration. He sat on numerous committees and boards, including president of the Canadian Association of Rhodes Scholars, chairman of the National Statistics Council and the Canadian Centre for Management Development.
In 1989, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and became Companion in 2000. He received the Public Service Outstanding Achievement Award in 1989 and received honorary Doctorates of Law from several Canadian Universities. In recognition of his distinguished public service career, Carleton University named one of its colleges after him -- the Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs.
"The only time I saw Arthur Kroeger blush was when he was asked if he'd lend his name to the college," recalled Ms. Graham, dean of the faculty.
"There was nothing about Arthur Kroeger that was about Arthur Kroeger. Almost everything he did, he did for the benefit of others," added Chris Dornan, director of the College.
"He was an extraordinarily kind individual. His concern was not for himself, his concern was for others and what he could do to help them, particularly young people."
Ms. Graham, who had known Mr. Kroeger for 15 years, said while his death is a tremendous loss, his legacy will live on. "We've lost a great public servant of the old school who had a strong ethical compass, someone who had a powerful mind and was not afraid to speak his mind," she said, adding that we've also "lost an exemplar of the public service of tomorrow."
Gordon Ritchie is a retired public servant whose job track roughly paralleled that of Mr. Kroeger for about a decade. One of Mr. Ritchie's responsibilities at the economic development department was to advise the secretary of the cabinet on the performance of deputy ministers. He said Mr. Kroeger was the best of the bunch, "the quintessential senior public servant" who had minimal public profile, but was "very forceful and effective" in giving his ministers straight advice.
A telling example of the delicate balance Mr. Kroeger struck between serving his political masters while sticking to his convictions occurred in the lead up to the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, Mr. Ritchie said.
As deputy minister of the Energy Department, Mr. Kroeger testified before parliamentary committees on the trade deal. The deal was much favoured by western Canadian energy producers and reviled by those in favour of a national energy program, Mr. Ritchie said.
"Arthur's testimony was absolutely masterful. He managed to not say a word that would undermine the position of the government, but leaving no doubt to anybody who could read between the lines that he really didn't like the agreement.
"That is really the epitome of a fine public servant. He's always respectful of the political authorities and does not undermine them, but that doesn't mean he's given up his soul or that he has no opinions of his own."