Ken Taylor, 1934-2015

The Academy Award winning film "Argo" was on television the other night and I was again reminded of the drama that unfolded in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in the 444 days between November 4, 1979 and January 20, 1981.

"Argo" was certainly entertaining, but it was also a disappointingly U.S.-centric tale of an elaborate ruse to smuggle six American hostages out of Iran. "Argo" only makes the briefest of mentions of what is known in Canada as the "Canadian Caper." The fact is, Ken Taylor and the entire Canadian diplomatic mission in Tehran played a far riskier and important role than "Argo" gives credit for.

Ken Taylor died October 15.


I want to acknowledge his passing by suggesting you pick up "Our Man in Tehran" by Robert Wright. It's a great thriller and depicts more fully the pivotal role played by Ken Taylor.

One of the things certainly not depicted in "Argo" but noted in Wright's book is how the "Canadian Caper" contributed to the end of Joe Clark's government. In December 1979, Canadian Foreign Minister, Flora McDonald, was in Europe for meetings with NATO allies, but eager to return to Ottawa for a snap confidence vote in Parliament on December 13. McDonald never made it for that vote, in part, because she was delayed by consultations with U.S. Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, about the "Argo"/Canadian Caper plot.

Prime Minister Clark has been criticized for making a series of rookie mistakes that made his government vulnerable to a confidence vote that day, among them, making sure there were enough caucus members in the House. While Clark's government may have fallen over some other issue, McDonald was among those caucus members stuck outside the country, triggering the election campaign which again made Pierre Trudeau Prime Minister.

The Quiet Canadian

Taylor himself was understandably irked at the way "Argo" downplayed the Canadian role. Yet, Taylor was the quintessential Canadian diplomat. After a decade of Prime Minister Harper's muscular version of Canadian foreign policy, remembering Taylor is an important corrective that reminds us of years in which Canadian diplomacy operated effectively, quietly, often in conjunction with the US, but without the without the baggage that comes with being the 500lb hegemonic power on the global stage. It's a role a different Prime Minister Trudeau has said he wants to reclaim for Canadians.

Let me suggest Ken Taylor as a bit of a role model.