H.E. Gaston Barban High Commissioner of Canada
DS: Last country where you were based before coming to South Africa
HE: Before my appointment to South Africa, I was the Chief Information Officer and Director General of the Information Management and Technology Bureau at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development in Ottawa, Canada. My last posting abroad was as Deputy High Commissioner to Canberra, Australia.
DS: Most interesting place in South Africa
HE: I have yet to truly explore what South Africa has to offer, but I have found the Apartheid Museum to be my interesting place thus far
DS: Your impression about South Africa in 3 words
HE: Interesting, contradictory and warm
DS: One place you would like to be posted to or visit
HE: Japan
DS: Most memorable appointment thus far
HE: Rome, Italy as it was my first overseas assignment and Italy is the country of my birth. The posting also coincided with the first four years of my marriage and saw the birth of our son.
DS: Most challenging situation that you had to handle thus far
HE: Accreditation and access issues for Mr. Nelson Mandela’s memorial
DS: Favourite part of your own country
HE: The province of Prince Edward Island (PEI)
DS: Favourite place to visit elsewhere
HE: Venice, Italy
DS: Favourite dish of your country
HE: BBQ’ed cedar plank salmon, preceded by Malpeque oysters and PEI blue mussels
DS: Favourite dish of another country
HE: Vitello saltimbocca
DS: Favourite book
HE: “Monsignor Quixote” by Graham Green
DS: At the moment I am reading
HE: I have three books on the go: 1. “The Universe Within”, Neil Turok (a South African who is currently the director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada); 2. “Things Fall Apart”, Chinua Achebe and 3. “Marshall McLuhan”, Douglas Coupland
DS: I spend my leisure time
HE: Tennis, movies, reading
DS: One sentence describing a lesson that you have learnt from being a diplomat
HE: You are only as good as your network