ST. JOHN VALLEY — An effort by U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe to secure a representative from the federal government to sit on the International Council of Government Liaisons for the 2014 World Acadian Congress has resulted in the appointment of the Consul General from the U.S. Consulate in Quebec City to the post.
As the result of a written request by Sen. Snowe to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Peter O’Donohue, the U.S. Consul General in Quebec, has been tapped to represent the United States at regular meetings of government officials from the federal and state/provincial levels. The delegates are responsible for coordinating efforts between the various governments on issues including funding for the event, border concerns, economic development and in various other areas.
“I am pleased that the U.S. Department of State responded to my request to name an American official to participate in planning the 2014 World Acadian Congress. This gathering, which is held every five years, is a tremendous opportunity to attract visitors and support local businesses in our state — and it is vital that our consulate in Quebec City coordinate closely with Canadian and local officials to ensure these events go off without a hitch,” said Sen. Snowe. “We look forward to hosting World Acadian Congress events in northern Maine in 2014.”
O’Donohue joins official representatives of the Canadian government, as well as the provincial governments of New Brunswick and Quebec, and state of Maine; Carolann Ouellette, director of the State Office of Tourism, represents Maine on the group.
O’Donohue and Ouellette were recently in the St. John Valley to attend a meeting with their Canadian counterparts and met with members of the Maine delegation to the World Acadian Congress prior to that meeting. Similar sessions are planned quarterly through the event in 2014.
“It was critical that the United States be represented in these discussions,” said Jason Parent, president of the Maine delegation to the Official International Organizing Committee for the 2014 World Acadian Congress. “Through the efforts of Sen. Snowe, we now have a high-level official at the table to discuss important issues that will directly impact our ability to host this world class event in our sector of the international host region. Mr. O’Donohue has pledged his support for our efforts and has offered to assist us as we move forward with the planning of the activities.”
One of the specific areas where the government liaisons will assist in the coming years is to extend invitations to prominent officials in the respective countries and provinces/state to attend the activities in 2014. Organizers are hoping to have key leaders present for a number of the larger ceremonies.
Two other areas where assistance from O’Donohue will be critical, according to Parent, is in helping facilitate issues with the Department of Homeland Security concerning the increased traffic at the border crossings in the region during the event, and with securing federal funding for the project.
In March, the state committed Maine’s $1 million share toward the planning and execution of the event. Although Maine’s commitment ensures the project will move forward, organizers on the U.S. side of the border continue to grapple with the challenge of financing the additional $1 million set aside in the event budget in federal U.S. dollars. Efforts to obtain the federal funds were championed last year by the Maine Congressional Delegation in the form of a Congressional appropriation. The funds were to be part of the FY 2011 federal budget.
The $2 million dollars in combined federal/state money and $100,000 to be raised by local municipal appropriations over four years, represent Maine’s commitment to the $11 million international budget for the planning and activity leading up to 2014 and the two-and-a-half weeks of activity that year in August.
O’Donohue is a career foreign service officer, having joined the U.S. Department of State in 1984. After an initial posting in Guanzhou, China (1985-87), he served in Ottawa, Canada; New Delhi, India; Yaounde, Cameroon; Sarajevo, Bosnia and, most recently, as Political Counselor in Kuwait City, Kuwait. In addition to his overseas postings, O’Donohue has also served in a number of Washington assignments, including in the State Department’s Bureaus of Political-Military Affairs, African Affairs, and Oceans, Environment and Science.
O’Donohue speaks and reads French and has also studied Arabic, Serbo-Croatian, Russian and Chinese. He has received several Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards.
O’Donohue was raised in Norwalk, Conn. He has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.A. from The American University’s School of International Service. He also studied at the State University of Belgium in Mons.
The World Acadian Congress or Congres Mondial Acadien was first held in the Moncton, New Brunswick area in 1994. Since then, the event has been held in Louisiana (1999), Nova Scotia (2004) and most recently in the Acadian Peninsula region of New Brunswick in 2009. The two- to three-week celebration (traditionally held in August to coincide with the Acadian Feast Day on August 15) draws Acadians from throughout the world.
Festivities typically include more than 300 events, which include family reunions, popular regional celebrations, ceremonies, sporting events, cultural events, shows, forums and conferences.
