18 January 2016 - Sustaining the Embassy's networking initiatives in the new year, Philippine Ambassador Petronila P. Garcia hosted the Women Ambassador's of Ottawa (WAO) in a working luncheon on 15 January 2016 with Dr. Janine Krieber, wife of the Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, as Guest of Honor.

Ambassador Garcia received her guests at the official residence in Ottawa also known as Tahanang Rizal (Rizal House). In her welcome remarks, the Ambassador explained that "Dr. Jose Rizal is a 19th century renaissance man who understood and advanced the idea of gender equality in words and in deed. His mother and sisters, in fact, played active roles in in our quest for liberty. With them we share a passion in shaping our countries and our world according to our high aspirations for generations following us."

The Ambassador of the Republic of Albania and President of WAO, H.E. Elida Petoshati, thanked the Philippine Ambassador for responding to the suggestion that the latter host the group's first event for 2016 that gathered a "brilliant group of professionals and wonderful human beings." Also present was Ms. Angela Bogdan, Chief of Protocol, Global Affairs Canada, who appreciated WAO as a "safe space to share experiences" and cited the group's broad reach for knowledge transfers.

"It was a privilege for me and WAO members to have as our guest of honor Dr. Janine Krieber who is renowned for her tremendous accomplishments and scholarly work on international relations, conflict sociology, identity conflicts, and terrorism. It was also a pleasure for me to acquaint our distinguished guests with Philippine history and cuisine and other matters of mutual interest," Ambassador Garcia remarked.

The Women Ambassadors of Ottawa (WAO) is an informal grouping of female resident ambassadors and high commissioners accredited to Canada.

Dr. Krieber is a graduate of Université Laval and received a doctoral degree in Political Science from the Institut d'études politiques de Paris in 1992. She taught Quantitative Methods, Research Methodology, International Relations, Military Strategy and Conflict Sociology while supervising theses and graduate study seminars at prestigious academic institutions such as Concordia University, the Royal Military College Saint-Jean, Université de Montréal and Université Laval. Her published works tackle issues of terrorism, ideology and international relations. END