James Bissett

Ambassador James Bissett

"Ambassador Bissett spent 37 years as a Canadian Public Servant in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration and Foreign Affairs. He was appointed head of the Immigration Foreign Service in 1974 and became Assistant Under-Secretary of State for Social Affairs in 1980. In the early '70s he served at the Canadian High Commission in London England. Bissett was appointed Canadian High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago in 1982 and served there until 1985 when he was seconded to the Department of Employment and Immigration as Executive Director to help steer new immigration and refugee legislation through Parliament. In 1990 he was appointed Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania and witnessed at first hand the Yugoslav tragedy to which he attributes much of the blame to Western diplomatic blundering and deliberate scheming."

• Advisory Board, American Council for Kosovo