A new Ghana High Commissioner to Canada, Dr. Richard Benjamin Turkson, officially assumed office on Monday November 23, 2009 when he presented his Letters of Commission to the Governor General of Canada, Her Excellency Michaelle Jean, at her official residence at Rideau Hall, Ottawa. He is the first High Commissioner to Canada since the Mills administration came into office nearly a year ago.

A number of High Commissioners from Ghana have had the honor of serving in Canada over the past twenty-five years. Some have been progressive, others not so progressive, some have been open, others not so open. And others have worked quite closely with the Ghanaian communities across Canada while others did the exact opposite, being close and secretive in their business dealings and interactions with the Ghanaian communities in Canada. Some have cooperated and collaborated with the community media headed by yours truly, the versatile Ghanaian News in the dissemination of information and news while others have at best just tolerated the media.

In his new role as Head of Ghana’s Diplomatic Mission in Canada, which is among the top five in Ghana’s Diplomatic postings (London, Washington, Ottawa, Bonn and Paris are the top five), the new High Commissioner assumes a very heavy responsibility. As mentioned before, there have been others before him who set quite impressive and not so impressive records. Much is therefore expected of him. We expect his maturity and experience to come into play during his tenure of office.

We welcome His Excellency into office with the hope and expectations that he will rise to the occasion and be a worthy ambassador of the Land of Our Birth. We expect him and his office to be more open. We expect him to reach out more to the Ghanaian communities outside his mission offices in Ottawa and Toronto. Gone forever should be the days when members of the Ghanaian community in Canada were mistreated and disrespected at their own High Commission in Ottawa and their satellite Consulate offices in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. The High Commissioner should strive to be the representative of ALL Ghanaians in Canada. The days when Ghana’s High Commissioners to this country and their staff were seen and regarded to be covertly and overtly looking after the interests of their political party members only should be over. We hope that he will chart a new course of interaction with the local community media and most importantly in his relations with the wider Ghanaian communities across Canada.

There are large Ghanaian communities outside Ottawa and Toronto. Instead of being present at every social and religious event to which he will definitely be invited to in Toronto, he should make every effort to stay in frequent touch personally with other Ghanaian communities in Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, Regina/Saskatoon, Edmonton/Calgary and Vancouver. And his forays into the Ghanaian communities should not be limited only to national day celebrations, religious and social events. They should be on-going and sometimes initiated by the Mission itself.

We hope His Excellency will work hard to improve on the excellent relationship between our two nations. Once again, we welcome His Excellency Dr. Richard Benjamin Turkson to Canada and to his new position as the High Commissioner of the Republic of Ghana to Canada. We look forward to working closely with him and wish him all the best.