James Byron Bissett
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James Byron Bissett is a former Canadian diplomat. He was High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago and concurrently Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Yugoslavia, Albania, and Bulgaria.
[edit] Career
James Bissett joined the public service upon obtaining his Master's Degree at Carleton University in 1956. He spent the next 37 years as a public servant in the Departments of Citizenship and Immigration and of Foreign Affairs. In 1974 he was appointed Head of the Immigration Foreign services. During the early 1970s he had served as Canadian High Commissioner in London, England. In 1980 he became the Assistant Under-Secretary of State for Social Affairs. Two years later he was appointed the Canadian High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago, which he remained until 1985. He was then seconded to the Department of Employment and Immigration as Executive Director, to help steer new immigration and refugee legislation through the Parliament of Canada. In 1990 he was then appointed Canadian Ambassador to Bulgaria, Albania, and Yugoslavia. In the summer of 1992 he was recalled from there and retired from Foreign Service, to eventually take a job as the head of an International organization in Moscow, helping the Russian Government establish a new immigration agency and implementing settlement programs for other Russians returning to Russia from other parts of the Soviet Union. He returned in 1997 and is currently in retirement, enjoying life in Ottawa. He writes articles now and then and occasionally appears on news programs concerning immigration and refugee issues.
[edit] Personal life
Bissett was born in Deloraine, Manitoba, a small village in the south west of the province, in March 1932. During World War II he and his family moved to Winnipeg, where he received his secondary and post-secondary education. It was at that time he became interested in Eastern European history. He won a fellowship after pursuing postgraduate studies in history and political science to Carleton University in Ottawa, to study Public Administration. It was in Ottawa that he met his first and current wife.
Bissett lived in west Ottawa until he was transferred to London when he became the High Commissioner. After that he returned, though left repeatedly on trips to Europe. In the 1990s from 1992 to 1997 he lived in Moscow, and returned in 1997. He currently lives in west Ottawa now with his wife, in retirement, but occasionally writes articles and appears in television interviews concerning immigration topics. He has also written the forwards to a few books on immigration and foreign topics. He has four sons and one daughter, Roshell Bissett, who directed the Canadian film Winterlilly. He currently has eleven grandchildren. He owns a portion of land in near Wakefield, Quebec.
[edit] External links
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Paul-Eugène Laberge |
High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago 1982-1985 |
Succeeded by James Calbert Best |
| Preceded by Terence Charles Bacon |
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Yugoslavia 1990-1992 |
Succeeded by Dennis Snider |
| Preceded by Terence Charles Bacon |
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Albania 1990-1992 |
Succeeded by Rodney Irwin |
| Preceded by Terence Charles Bacon |
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Bulgaria 1990-1992 |
Succeeded by Rodney Irwin |
