PAFSO Announces the Winner of the 2024 Randy Orr Memorial Award

The Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers is pleased to announce the recipient of the third annual Randy Orr Memorial Award. Established in 2022 to honour the memory of our long-serving Executive Committee, the award recognizes the volunteer service and exceptional dedication of our members, their families or other colleagues, that has contributed to improving the life for those who serve Canada abroad.

Nominations for the award opened in late July. In the months since, the Awards Committee was busy reviewing the several outstanding nominations it received. Now, after careful and difficult deliberation, the committee has made its selection.

The 2024 Randy Orr Memorial Award goes to Meagan Dalby for her central role in establishing the Canadian Diplomatic Family Network (CDFN). A new non-profit organization, the CDFN is composed of partners, spouses and dependents of Canada-based staff or foreign service officers and has as its mission to connect the families of Government of Canada representatives at diplomatic missions. In addition to her work in establishing the CDFN, Meagan has also served as the liaison between the Network, PAFSO and government departments, making sure that the needs, priorities and interests of the Foreign Service community as a whole are represented.

Meagan’s tireless work with the CFDN has been instrumental supporting the interests of the diplomatic family community at large and has succeeded in raising the profile of under-represented issues that directly affect the well-being of the Canadian diplomats and their families. It is for all her selfless dedication to her colleagues and the wider Foreign Service community that Meagan receives the 2024 Randy Orr Memorial Award. The Award, with its $1000 prize, was presented at PAFSO’s 59th Annual General Meeting on October 21, 2024.

The committee would like to extend its thanks to everyone who took the time to nominate a colleague or to end their name in support of a nomination. They could not be more pleased with the enthusiasm and interest the Randy Orr Memorial Award continues to receive, and they look forward to 2025.