policy
Peak
Frederique Delapree ’97 tackles world trade in Switzerland
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22 | Ashbury News
eetings with professors of intellectual policy. Briefings on trademarks. Conferring with other diplomatic missions. Foreign service work, in a nutshell, amounts to a lot of writing and talking, says Frédérique Delapree ’97, who works in 1 Geneva, Switzerland for Canada’s Permanent Mission to the World Trade Organization. “It’s never the same thing twice,” she says, “which is one of the best parts of the job.” Delapree has spent the better part of a decade working for Canada’s foreign service contingent. After graduating from Ashbury, she received a degree in political science from McGill, and then went on to earn a law degree from Queen’s University. “I always had in the back of my mind that it would be exciting to be a diplomat,” she says. In 2007, a friend who worked in the Foreign Service, sent Delapree an ad announcing the upcoming dates for the Foreign Service Exam, and suggested she take a crack at it. After what she calls “a very long process,” Delapree was hired as a Foreign Service Officer by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, now called Global Affairs Canada. She then spent two years working out of the department’s headquarters on Sussex Drive before getting her first posting to the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., where she dealt with bilateral trade policy issues. After three years in D.C., she returned to Canada for two years,
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to focus on international intellectual property issues before getting her current posting in Geneva, Switzerland. “Living in Geneva is great,” says Delapree. “It’s a cosmopolitan city, but you’re only an hour away from skiing and hiking in the Alps.” Delapree is continuing in the family business with her work as a bureaucrat. “Both of my parents were public servants and I was always interested in following in their footsteps,” she says. She also says the trips she took as an Ashbury student to Japan, France and the U.S. fostered her interest in international affairs. “Those trips were great, because not only did we have fun as tourists, but we also had the opportunity to learn about the places we were visiting both before, and during, our visits,” she says. She adds that her IB World History class and the international literature component of IB English and French also piqued an interest in international issues, and in the possibility of living abroad one day. She also cites the lasting friendships with “incredibly bright classmates from all over the world,” as having an influence on her choice of career. “Beyond schoolwork, I also have great memories from all the extra-curriculars that were available to us, in particular participating in chamber choir with Mr. Tanod, debating with Mr. Stojanovic, planning an all-candidates’ debate ahead of the 1995 federal byelection with Ms. Novick, rehearsing for Theatre Ashbury with Mr. Simpson, even struggling to complete the Spring House Run!” Delapree certainly didn’t struggle to demonstrate some of her worldly knowledge when she appeared as a contestant on the TV show Jeopardy in 2014.