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A publication of the Thai-Canadian Chamber of Commerce 08 / 2010

Corporate PartnershipPremier Sponsors

Executive Sponsors

CelebratingCanada – Thailand Relations

Follow-UpEdition

August 2010 3

Calendar

2010/2011 TCCC Executives

Patron:His Excellency Ambassador Ron Hoffmann

President – John Casella Vice President – Sranyoo Chanate

Vice President – Ali FancySecretary – Dr. Tim Cornwall Treasurer – Michael Howard

Executive Board:John Casella

Sranyoo ChanateNeil Chiu

Dr. Tim CornwallKobsak Duangdee

Ali FancyMichael HowardRon Livingston

Sukanya RattanavadeeNiccolo SozziJohn StevensDerek Van Pelt

Embassy Representative:Greg Goldhawk

Advisors:Raymond Bodemer

Sam CohenSurachit Chanovan

Don LavoieLuc Métivier

Executive Director:Randy Shockley

Thai-Canadian Chamber of Commerce139 Pan Road, Sethiwan Tower

9th floor, Bangkok 10500Tel: +66(0) 2266-6085-6Fax: +66(0) 2266-6087

Email: tccc@loxinfo.co.thWebsite: www.tccc.or.th

The Voyageur is the monthly magazine of the Thai-Canadian Chamber of Commerce,covering all Thai-Canadian business, legal

and social news of interest to the membersand others who are active in expanding

Thai-Canadian bilateral trade.

Editor: Randy Shockley, Executive Director,

Thai-Canadian Chamber of Commerce

Publisher:Scand-Media Corp., Ltd.

4/41-2 Moo 3, Thanyakarn Village, Ramintra Soi 14, Bangkok 10230

Tel: +66(0) 2943-7166-8 Fax: +66(0) 2943-7169

Design: Disraporn YatpromEmail: disraporn@scandmedia.com

Advertising Contact:Mr. Finn Balslev, Marketing Director

Scand-Media Corp., Ltd.Tel: +66(0) 2943-7166 ext.151 or 08-1866-2577

Email: finn@scandmedia.com

TCCCCalendar of events:

CCBAUpcoming events in the region:

WHEN: Wednesday, August 18, 2010; 6:30 pm to 8:30 pmWHAT: Canuck Connections Networking Night & Shuffle Board TournamentWHERE: Roadhouse BBQ, 942.1-4 Rama IV Rd, SuriyawongePRICE: 200 baht – Members; 400 baht – Non Members

WHEN: Wednesday, August 25, 2010; 11:30 am – 2:00 pmWHAT: Speaker Luncheon - Mr. Vincent Milton, MD and Mr. Patchara Sarayudh, Associate

Director of Fitch Ratings (Thailand) will co-present on "Thailand in Crisis - What's Next for the Thai Economy, Corporate and Bank Sectors?"

WHERE: Conrad Bangkok HotelPRICE: 700 baht – Members; 850 baht – Non Members

VIETNAM: www.canchamvietnam.orgWHEN: Thursday, August 5th, 2010WHAT: Seminar on "Foreign Contractor Tax"WHERE: Legend Hotel Saigon

HONG KONG: www.cancham.orgWHEN: Thursday, August 26, 2010WHAT: CSR Workshop Series: Environmental PerformanceWHERE: Richard Ivey School of Business / Asia, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre,

Level 3, Phase I, 1 Harbour Road, WanchaiPRICE: HK$250 for members, HK$300 for non-members

CHINA: www.expo.cnWHEN: May 1 – October 31, 2010WHAT: Expo 2010 Shanghai ChinaWhere: ShanghaiPRICE: Standard day admission �160, 3 day admission � 400, 7 day admission 900

Thai-Canadian Chamber of Commerce

20th Anniversary Maple Leaf BallThis Year marks 20 years since the Chamber’s official registration in 1991, so make sure you’re available to

share in this great anniversary celebration.

Saturday, October 2, 2010Nai Lert Park Bangkok Hotel Ballroom.

We have a lot to celebrate!

Coming soon!

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Chamber News

The TCCC recently celebrated its Business Excellence Awards at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Hotel. John Stevens, the Group MD of Point of View Media, did a wonderful job as Master of Ceremonies for the TCCC’s 14th annual event. John started off the evening by acknowledging the BEA’s sponsors for their generous support and sustained commitment through both good and bad economic times.

This year, the Chamber maintained its low ticket price and provided a free flow of drinks throughout the evening. Instead of a formal banquet, there was an upscale

cocktail reception, allowing plenty of time for members to try different foods, drinks, and socialize with friends and business as-sociates. The awards presentation itself was split into two separate 30-minute segments with a 20-minute intermission between segments. John’s first guest on stage was TCCC President John Casella, who is also the Director of Business Services at Baker Tilly (Thailand) Limited. John welcomed Kiat Sit-theeamorn, President of the Thailand’s Trade Representative Office, to the awards cer-emony (Khun Kiat, himself is one of only two Thais to ever be president of the TCCC). John also welcomed other dignitaries in attendance including: H. E. Mr. Ron Hoff-mann, Canada’s Ambassador to Thailand; Mr. Nandor von der Lueher, Chairman of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand (JFCCT), & Vice Chair of the Board of Trade; Suphadej Poonpipat, Chairman of the Executive Committee and CEO of Thanachart Bank; and Greg Goldhawk, the Canadian Embassy’s Senior Commercial Counselor (recently posted to Mongolia). Mr. Casella said, “Given all of the chal-lenges of last the last 12 months, it's events such as the Business Excellence Awards that remind us of the many opportunities that exist for companies and business leaders, who are willing to rise to the occasion and lead change in the most difficult economic and political environments. “A crisis, be it economic, or otherwise, is always a hotbed of opportunity for creative and committed companies and our current business environment is certainly ripe with opportunity.” John then invited the evening’s guest speaker Khun Kiat to the podium. Kiat, actu-ally founded the Business Excellence Awards

during his tenure with the Chamber, so it was good to have him back. Kiat acknowledged the excellence and capability of Canadian companies, saying the trade between the two countries was up 31%, but he chided us for maintaining such a low profile. Kiat noted the Thai government has made a commit-ment using renewable energy as 20 percent of its power source by 2022, and Canadian companies, and their innovative technolo-gies, could help achieve that goal. He also reminded us that Canada was one of the 29 nations visited by His Majesties, the King and Queen of Thailand. Kiat then addressed the economic situa-tion in Thailand, saying that in the first quarter of this year, before the political troubles, the country had a 12.2% economic growth rate, 3rd in Asia. He said that the next decade will be the decade of Asia and that Thailand is perfectly positioned within ASEAN with its 600 million people. He cited the growth of trade between South Korea and ASEAN over the last five years – from 90 to 150 US$ bil-lion – as an example of the type of dramatic growth this region is witnessing.

Best Thai Partner It was then time for the first award of the evening, which was the “Best Thai Partner Award” and President Casella returned to the stage to hand out the honour. The award recognizes a Thai company who over the years has made a significant contribution to the promotion of trade relations between Thailand and Canada. This year’s winner was fittingly, Thanachart Bank. The Thanachart Group is one of the most reputable and fast growing financial conglom-erates in Thailand providing a wide range of financial services. It consists of Thanachart Capital PCL as the holding company and

Thanachart Bank as its core business. With nearly a 50/50 shareholding be-tween Thanachart and Scotiabank, as well as a strong shared vision for a larger share of the Thai banking & financial services market, these two partners most recently moved to acquired Siam City Bank. The merger be-tween Thanachart Bank and Siam City Bank will create the 5th largest bank in Thailand with total assets of more than THB 800 billion and a 670 branch network across Thailand. Scotiabank has invested more than 36 billion baht in this Thai corporate marriage. This investment is Scotiabank’s largest in-vestment in Asia and one of its largest invest-ments globally. Thanachart has been a strong supporter of the TCCC since 2003 and has provided numerous professional speakers for the TCCC’s Speaker Luncheon Series. The TCCC President summed up the ra-tionale of the award by saying it was, “based on the demonstrated relationship between Thanachart and Scotiabank over almost 20 years. This evolving partnership has provided Scotiabank with a great opportunity to ex-pand its global experience, products, and know-how in the Thai market and served as a critical medium for Scotiabank to meet the needs of Thai corporate and retail customers without the restrictive designation of a foreign bank branch.” Suphadej Poonpipat, Chairman of the Executive Committee and CEO of Thanachart Bank accepted the award on behalf of his company.

Best Company for Eco-Friendly Products & ServicesJohn Stevens then returned to the stage and invited Greg Goldhawk to the podium to present the second award of the evening, “Best Company for Eco-Friendly Products &

14th Annual Business Excellence

BEA winners and presenters

August 2010 5

Services”. This honour recognizes a com-pany for its demonstrated leadership within its community in building awareness for the need to protect the environment and foster the development of an environment-friendly culture. The winner was The Early Learning Cen-ter, no stranger to the Business Excellence Awards, and it was appropriate that Greg delivered the award as his daughter had studied at the ELC. The Early Learning Centre Family of Schools consists of four Centers of Excel-lence for early childhood education. The school’s philosophy is inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to learning. The award specifically went to two ELC KII classes who worked on a project called “A Dialogue with Materials”, which started with a story about how sea-life was affected by human rubbish, and led to an understand-ing of how waste is dumped and a creative recycling program set up by the students. Mrs. Jacqueline Alexander-Piazza, owner & operator of The Early Learning Centre Fam-ily of Schools, took to the stage to receive the award on behalf of her school and invited three key members of her program to the stage to share in the honor.

Best Professional ServicesThe third award of the evening was for “Best Professional Services” and this was present-ed by one of the newest TCCC Directors, Mr. Derek Van Pelt. The honor recognizes a com-pany that provides professional services,and demonstrates vision, and entrepreneurship for the betterment of their profession. The winner was Manulife, who consis-tently strives “to be the most professional Financial Services company in the world…offering the best financial protection and investment services tailored to customers in every market where they do business.” The company’s core value system, PRIDE, stands for professionalism, real cus-tomer value, integrity, demonstrated financial strength and employer of choice. Given the great “pride” Manulife has taken in the de-velopment of its people, products, services and business processes, it has become one of the most professionally managed financial services companies in Thailand. Mr. Chris Teo, President and CEO of Manulife Insur-ance Thailand accepted the award on behalf of his company.

Company of the YearJohn Stevens then returned to the stage and stayed there as he presented the last award of the evening, the prestigious “Company of the Year”. The Criteria for this award is three-fold: one, the company must demonstrate outstanding growth, innovative management, marketing, production, customer service, vi-sion, strategic thinking and human resource

development; two, the company must have achieved business excellence in its industry; and three, the company must add to the social well-being of its community. And the winner this year was Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian designer and manufacturer of the award-winning BlackBer-ry® smartphone, used by millions of people around the world. The company also creates solutions for the worldwide mobile commu-nications market, including the software that allows the BlackBerry smartphone to provide mobile access to email, applications, media and the Internet. BlackBerry products and services were first introduced in Thailand in October 2005, and are now available from three leading car-riers in market – AIS, dtac and True Move. The first prepaid BlackBerry service plan was introduced by AIS to the market last year. Currently, the BlackBerry smartphones that are available in Thailand include BlackBerry Bold 9700, BlackBerry Storm2 and BlackBer-ry Curve 8520 which is also available in white from dtac. In April this year, RIM launched BlackBerry App World in Thailand, bringing to BlackBerry® smartphone customers a broad mix of free mobile applications. The company has been ranked 1st by Fortune magazine in the 100 Fastest Growing Companies list. In summing up, the company John Stevens said, “In today’s highly competitive and challenging operating conditions, RIM’s continued leadership and innovation in the global smartphone and wireless industries is second to none.” Dany Bolduc, Regional Director of Research In Motion, accepted the award on the behalf of his company. Ambassador Ron Hoffmann then took to the stage to provide the closing remarks for the evening and gave a toast to the win-ners. Last, but not least, John Stevens invited Khun Thanet Slub, Sales Manager of Thai Phum Skylights, and the General Sales Agent for Air Canada, to the stage to conduct the Lucky Draw for two round-trip air tickets from Hong Kong to Canada. The winner was ELC teacher, Payal Kogar. Randy Shockley and his assistants Tam-my and Yui again did a wonderful job of orga-nizing the event as did the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit of staging the ceremony.

BEA Diamond Sponsors: Air Canada, Canadoil, LEVCO, Quality Control Services and The Early Learning Centre Family of Schools.

BEA Emerald Sponsors: Bangkok Hospital, BNH Hospital, Deloitte, Manulife, Thanachart Bank and SNC-LAVALIN.

Chamber News

e Awards

H. E. Mr. Ron Hoffmann, Ambassador of Canada to Thailand leading a toast to the Business Excellence Award winners.

H. E. Mr. Kiat Sittheeamorn, President of the Thailand’s Trade Representative Office speaking on the economic future of Thailand and the Region.

Mr. John Casella, TCCC president presenting the “Best Thai Partner” award to Khun Suphadej Poonpipat, Chairman of the Executive Committee and CEO of Thanachart Bank.

Mr. Dany Bolduc, Regional Director of Research In Motion (RIM) receiving the “Company of The Year” award from Mr. John Stevens, TCCC Director.

(L-R) H. E. Mr. Ron Hoffmann - Ambassador of Canada, Mrs. Pailin von der Lueher and Mr. Nandor von der Lueher - Chairman of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce in Thailand (JFCCT) & Vice Chair of the Board of Trade.

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During the Tuesday, June 22nd BEA Ceremony, Scotty Murray received a special recognition award from the

Thai-Canadian Chamber of Commerce. As many of you may be aware, Scotty has been an ardent supporter of the Chamber for the last 15 years. Scotty was also recognized for his ongoing contributions to the Canadian community in Thailand and indeed for being an “Ambassador” of the Canadian spirit. Scotty’s efforts in building hockey in Thailand (both of the puck and ball varieties) was high-lighted as was his commitment to supporting a range of charitable organizations, such as Father Joe’s Mercy Center and the Phuket tsunami relief effort. Scotty was not expecting this award...in fact an elaborate ruse was required just to get him on stage. But his unprepared ac-ceptance speech was delivered with moving sincerity - the best of the night, bar none.

Congratulations Scotty Murray!

John StevensTCCC Director

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Special Recognition for Mr. Scott Murray

1. H. E. Mr. Kiat Sittheeamorn, President of Thailand’s Trade Representative Office talking with Khun Sukanya Rattanavadee, TCCC Director.

2. The Thanachart Bank team with their award for “Best Thai Partner”. Thanachart was recognized for its evolving 20 year business relationship with Canada’s Scotiabank.

3. (Center) Khun Thanet Slub, Sales Manager of Thai Phum Skylights (Air Canada’s General Sales Agent), presents Ms. Payal Kogar with the Lucky Draw prize of two round-trip tickets to Canada. Joining the presentation are Mr. John Stevens, TCCC Director (L) and Randy Shockley, TCCC Executive Director (R).

4. Manulife Insurance (Thailand) Team with Ambassador Mr. Ron Hoffmann after winning the “Best Professional Services” award.

5. Mr. Greg Goldhawk, Counsellor (Commercial) - Embassy of Canada presenting the ‘Best Company for Eco-Friendly Products & Services’ award to Mrs. Jacqueline Alexander-Piazza and the ELC teachers

6. Mrs. Jacqueline Alexander-Piazza (center) and The Early Learning Centre team give a big thumbs up to winning “Best Company for Eco-Friendly Products & Services 2009”.

TCCC Business Excellence Awards 2009Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Hotel, Tuesday June 22, 2010

Diamond Sponsors:

Emerald Sponsors:

BEA Sponsor:

August 2010 7

Chamber News

Thursday July 1st was a special night for Canadian-Thai relations as the two countries celebrated their partnership while jointly celebrating Canada’s 143rd birthday at the Grand Ballroom of the Four Season’s Hotel on Ratchadmari Road. Guests in attendance could forgive themselves for thinking they were transported back to Canada for the evening.

Research in Motion, Thanachart Bank, Four Season Hotel and Bombardier all set up display booths informing people about their latest products and ser-

vices. There was also an ongoing slide show on two big screens, which displayed photos of Canada’s most historic and beautiful sites. And there was an ice sculpture in the middle of the floor of “Inshuksuk”, the logo used for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Adding a touch of class was a Thai classi-cal quartet playing in front of a large Canadian flag at the end of the ballroom. Canadian white wine (Peninsula Ridge) and Canadian red wine (Chateau de Charmes) were on offer as well as wide variety of hors’ d’oeuvres and appetizers. How fitting it was for Canada to renew its commitment to Thailand at this particular venue. Not only is the Four Seasons a Ca-nadian hotel chain, but just weeks before it was besieged by the red-shirt protests and couldn’t take in any guests. But this night it was teeming with VIPs, both Thai and Cana-dian, and you would be hard-pressed to see any sign of the recent political unrest. The evening’s receiving line featured Am-bassador Ron Hoffman and his wife Andrea as well as TCCC President John Casella and Defense Attache Colonel Romas Blekatis (in full dress regalia) with his wife, Heather Leia-Blekatis. After greeting the guests, Ambassador Hoffman took to the stage and said “It’s time for Canada to stand up and send an unam-biguous message that we have confidence in Thailand, we are committed to Thailand and we after here to help.” Ambassador Hoff-man also made special mention of Khun Nit Wangwiwat, the Canadian Honorary Consul in Chiang Mai, who was in attendance, for all the help he has offered Canadian citizens over the years.

TCCC President Casella joined Ambassa-dor on stage and thanked the Thai members of the TCCC, the Thai partners of Canadian companies and the Royal Thai government for its support as well as the evening’s spon-sors. He then invited on stage His Excellency M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, the Governor

A special night for Celebrating Canada - Thailand Relations

(L-R) Madame Heather Leia-Blekaitis, Col. Romas Blekaitis, Mr. John Casella, TCCC Presi-dent, M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, Governor of Bangkok, H. E. Mr. Ron Hoffman, Ambas-sador of Canada and Madame Andrea Hoffmann

L-R) Dr. Rashid Bouzennoun, H. E. Mr. Alongkorn Ponlaboot, Deputy Ministry of Commerce, H.E. Mr. Ron Hoffmann, Ambassador of Canada, M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, Governor of Bangkok, Madame Andrea Hoffmann, Mr. Vanchai Chirathivat, Chairman, Central group of companies, Mr. Apinan Pavanarit , Former Ambassador, Deputy Secretary-General to the Prime Minister and Dr. Suvit Yodmani, Former Minister of Tourism Development

of Bangkok, who reminded us that he had a soft spot for Canada because while serving as Deputy Foreign Minister in the second Chuan Leekpai government, his first foreign

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Chamber News

trip as a diplomat representing Thailand was to Canada. Governor Sukumbhand said he had recently met with Toronto mayor David Miller and was hoping in time to meet with mayors of other major Canadian cities. He thanked Canada for its friendship in these troubled times, mentioning that expats were key stakeholders in Bangkok’s future and thank-ing those who participated in the “Big Clean-ing Day” on May 23rd, when many Bangkok citizens joined forces to clean up the mess left by the recent political protest. He also stressed that Bangkok must provide a good example on the road to national reconcilia-tion. Ambassador Hoffman then toasted the King of Thailand and introduced the Lertlah choir who not only sang the Thai national an-them, but “O Canada” in English and French as well. The evening was a great occasion for networking and you can always tell how suc-cessful an event is by how many people linger after the official ceremonies are over – there was lots of lingering on this night. Other dignitaries in attendance included Trade Commissioner Greg Goldhawk, former Canadian ambassador to Thailand Denis Comeau and the acting Thai Chief of Police, Pol General Pateep Tanprasert. Principal sponsors for the evening were Bombardier, the Four Seasons Hotel, RIM and Thanachart Bank. Contributing sponsors were Pan-Orient Energy, SNC Lavalin, Levco Holdings Ltd., & Sasin (the Graduate Institute of Business Administration at Chulalongkorn University).

1. (L-R) H. E. Mr. Alongkorn Ponlaboot, Deputy Ministry of Commerce and H. E. Mr. Ron Hoffman, Ambassador of Canada. 2. (L-R) Dr. Wangviwat, Consulate of Canada in Chiangmai, H. E. Mr. Ron Hoffman, Ambassador of Canada and Mr. John Casella, TCCC President.3. Reception receiving line.4. (L-R) Mr. Anthony Finch, Second Secretary (Commercial) – Embassy of Canada, Mr. Uta i Amnueypol, Managing Director, U-Sastek Co., Ltd., Mr. Pichien Amanij- Vara- Vresert, Advisor to Ministry of Industry, Mr. Surin Thanalertkul, Embassy of Canada, Mr. Ramjitti Indaraprasert, The National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) and Ms. Orawan Chandarangsu, Embassy of Canada.5. (L-R) H. E. Mr. Ron Hoffman, Ambassador of Canada, Madame Sophia John, Madame Andrea Hoffmann and Mr. Eric John, Ambassador of the United States of America.6. The Canadian flag was proudly displayed on this night.7. M. R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, Governor of Bangkok, addressing the Canada – Thailand Partnership Reception audience.8. H. E. Mr. Ron Hoffmann, Ambassador of Canada and Madame Andrea Hoffmann greet M. R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, Governor of Bangkok upon his arrival.9. Embassy of Canada staff posing with Ambassador Ron Hoffmann.10. Spouses from Bangkok’s diplomatic Community. 11. Lertlah School Choir.12. Chilling the reception wine Canadian style.

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Canada-Thailand Partnership Reception Sponsors:

Principle Sponsors:

Contributing Sponsors:

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Canada’s struggle managing complex majority/minority conflicts makes us uniquely positioned to share both our success and our failures with our Thai colleagues.

By Chandler Vandergrift

Since late 2001, Thailand’s southern border provinces have experienced renewed separatist-oriented conflict that has claimed approximately

4000 lives. While efforts have been made to find a solution, unrest continues and a political resolution has proved elusive. The paramount issue that needs to be solved is how the minority Malay-Muslim citizens in the southern border provinces can find meaning-ful political and social participation within the majority Thai-Buddhist country. And while this core issue remains difficult to find, Canada’s own struggle managing complex majority/mi-nority conflicts makes us uniquely positioned to share both our success and our failures with our Thai colleagues. Nowhere is Canada’s experience more relevant than in the recent and growing in-terest by Thai politicians and academics in exploring alternative forms of governance and increased decentralization as a means of mitigating the southern conflict. Such interest is a positive step towards a long term reso-lution to the southern conflict yet a political solution based upon a unique adjustment to local governance is going to be complex, contentious, and time consuming. Canada’s most prominent example of a search for political accommodation is the French-speaking province of Quebec. While Quebec was one of the founding provinces of the Canadian Confederation, the threat of secession has often dominated the province’s politics. In 1970s, the so-called October Crisis witnessed bombings, kidnapping, and murder conducted by the separatist Front de Libération du Québec. The Canadian govern-ment responded with the controversial War Measures Act which suspended some civil liberties and resulted in mass arrests. In ad-dition, referendums on independence were held in 1980 and 1995 in which the choice to secede from Canada was narrowly defeated. Despite this, the challenge of separatism has largely remained in the political arena and is characterized by negotiation and debate rather than armed conflict. While there are a number of important characteristics from the Quebec example that resonate in Thailand, one particular instance is the debate over language. In the province of Quebec, the majority of residents speak French while the majority of Canadians speak English. In Thailand’s southern border provinces, the majority of residents speak a Malay dialect called Pattani-Malay while the

nation’s majority speaks Thai. Arguments, in both Quebec and Thailand’s southern border provinces, maintain that language is a core component to culture and therefore must be protected. In Canada’s experience, the language debate has been controversial and often heated. Although it has been impossible to appease all parties, an elaborate system of language laws and social conventions have succeeded in providing a compromise that address many of the concerns of French-speakers while allowing for grievances to be debated and negotiated in the political and legal arena. Another pertinent example of political accommodation to the challenge of manag-ing minority/majority relations is the newly created territory of Nunavut. The genesis of Nunavut, was the failed Canadian gov-ernment policy of trying to accommodate the indigenous ethnic population, the Inuit, within mainstream Canadian society. The federal government had sought to bring development to the Inuit, but in reality there was dramatic social upheaval that included high rates of alcoholism, domestic violence,

suicide and other social problems. In addi-tion, conflict over land use and ownership further complicated relations between the Inuit and the government. In the 1970s, the Inuit community began negotiating with the Canadian government for the establishment of an autonomous region. By 1999, the fed-eral government signed the Nunavut Act of 1993 which officially created a new territory in Canada’s north that comprises 20% of the country’s total territory and empowers the local Inuit government with significant autonomy. While gaps still exist, evidence is mounting that sound governance is a necessary condition for communities and nations to make rapid progress in improving the well-being of their citizens. While there are broad parallels between Nunavut and the southern border provinces, the value for sharing our experience with Thailand is about the process of negotiation and devolution of governance. The creation of Nunavut was the result of 20 years of ex-tensive negotiations between the Inuit and the federal government and resulted in a locally elected legislature, a Nunavut government, and a territorial justice system while the federal government retained authority over issues such as defense, monetary policy, taxation as well as ensuring that the constitu-tion of Canada has remained the supreme law of the country. If Canada’s experiences were shared, it could allow our Thai colleagues to avoid the same time-consuming delays that we experienced and ultimately accelerate the process of bringing peace to the southern border provinces. The key benefit of utilizing Canada’s experience is about how it can shed light upon the process of political accommoda-tion. Negotiated governance agreements are extraordinarily complicated and require years of engagement between stakeholders. Canada’s diplomats, minorities, activists, and academics who have been engaged in negotiating and arranging political accom-modation could provide invaluable technical insight into the process which could result in a more efficient and less time consuming process in Thailand. Ultimately, Canada’s experience with complex governance arrangements has been a process of national soul-searching, extensive negotiation, and compromise. Dur-ing this evolution, Canada has experienced both successes and failures yet has managed to emerge unified and largely peaceful. Be-cause of this experience, Canadians should seek to share our experience with our Thai friends and colleagues so that Thailand can not only resolve the southern insurgency, but will emerge peaceful and stronger because of it.

Chandler Vandergrift is a well known Canadi-an analyst and photojournalist with particular interest in Thailand’s southern provinces.

Sharing Canada's Experience with Southern Thailand

Ambassador Hoffmann with members of the Peace Council of Piyamaung Village, Pattani Province.

The new sports centre in Yaring District, Pat-tani is enjoyed by children of both faiths.

Canada works to foster dialogue be-tween high-ranking members of both religious commu-nities

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Khun Mechai is presented with the TCCC’s speaker recognition gift following his June 20, 2010 presentation to chamber members. (L-R) Greg Goldhawk, Counsellor (Commercial) – Embassy of Canada, Mechai Viravaidya and John Casella, TCCC President

Khun Mechai addresses TCCC members as part of the 2010 Canada Week activities

During Chamber’s June 30th luncheon, Khun Mechai called on the private sector to become involved in eradicating poverty. While governments tend to favor

a welfare approach, a business approach that provides opportunities and empowers the poor is more effective. To support his case, he highlighted initiatives undertaken by the Population & Community Development Association (PDA), one of Thailand's larg-est and most successful private, nonprofit, development organizations. If your organi-zation is looking to enhance its approach to Corporate Social Responsibility, you could certainly benefit from Khun Mechai’s insights and wisdom. Khun Mechai Viravaidya has been ac-claimed with numerous awards, recognition, and honorary doctoral degrees as well as the United Nations Gold Peace Medal (1981), the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service (1994), one of Asiaweek’s “20 Great Asians” (1995), the United Nations Population Award (1997),and one of TIME Magazine’s “Asian Heroes” (2006). Mechai and PDA have been the recipients of the Bill and Melinda Gates

Award for Global Health in 2007 and the Skoll Awardees for Social Entrepreneurship in 2008. Each of these prizes is accompanied by one million US Dollars. Most recently, Mechai received the 2009 Prince Mahidol Award for Public Health.

TCCC Luncheon Speaker Khun Mechai Viravaidya… More Than Just Mr. Condom!