David Sproule

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David Sproule is a civil servant in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of the Government of Canada currently serving as Canada's Ambassador to Afghanistan.

[edit] Family background

David William Sproule was born in 1956 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is the second son to Cecil and Margaret Sproule, and the younger brother of John. His father Cecil, born at Carrivetragh House in County Monaghan, Ireland as the second of seven brothers, grew up farming outside of Calgary, Alberta, served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, and subsequently became an officer in the Edmonton Police Service until retirement. His mother, born Margaret Stapleton, whose family farmed near Fort McLeod, Alberta, died in 1959 when David was three. Cecil later married Selma Komant and together they had David's only sister, Celma "Gwen".

In 1976 he married Doreen Smith, also a native of Edmonton, Alberta. They moved to Ottawa, Ontario after David was offered a job with the Government of Canada. In 1983 they had their first child Graham. David's career in DFAIT took his family abroad to Singapore, where their second child Sarah was born in 1984. After remaining in Ottawa, Ontario for some years, they would move to Thailand. Doreen's charitable work with Thai orphans led them to adopt three Thai children in 1991, 1992, and 1993. This included two girls whom they named Laura and Leigha, and one boy whom they named Thomas. In 1994, his family would come to live in Rockville, Maryland. Upon being recalled back to Ottawa, they finally returned to Ottawa, Ontario in 1998.

(More information about David Sproule's genealogy may be found in A Sproule Family of Ireland and Canada by Albert Frederick Sproule.)

[edit] Education and career

A graduate of the University of Alberta (BA & LL.B), in 1981 he joined the Department of External Affairs, now renamed the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade or DFAIT. His first foreign appointment as a diplomat was to the Canadian High Commission in Singapore. His second appointment was to the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand where he served a four-year tenure from 1989 to 1993. His third appointment was to the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C., U.S.A., where he served another four-year tenure as 1st Secretary from 1994 to 1998. Upon returning to Ottawa, Ontario, he briefly served in the Privy Council Office before returning to DFAIT as Director of the Oceans and Environmental Law Division. He was transferred eventually to the Directorship of DFAIT's Human Rights, UN, and Economic Law Division.

In 2004, he was appointed Canada's High Commissioner to Bangladesh. In 2005, he was appointed as Canada's Ambassador to Afghanistan. Canada built and expanded its new embassy in the Afghani capital of Kabul after the American-led Operation Enduring Freedom ousted Afghanistan's Taliban government in 2001 from Kabul and its northern regions. His appointment came towards the end of 2005 as Canada's civilian participation both in rebuilding Afghanistan and military participation in Operation Enduring Freedom expanded from Operation Athena to Operation Archer, centred in the more dangerous southern region and former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. Highlighting the increased danger of this mission, his colleague and senior diplomat Glynn Berry was killed by a suicide car bomber while serving as an attaché to Canadian soldiers in southern Afghanistan in January of 2006. David Sproule continues to serve as the Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan until the end of his appointment in 2007.