Expo pavilions are a powerful diplomatic tool, Canadian lead Laurie Peters says

By Sean Coombs
Expo Reporter

OSAKA, Japan — At a time when traditional diplomacy has been turned on its head, the Expo World’s Fair in Osaka has been a chance to foster international conversations and project Canadian values, says the head of Canada’s Expo delegation here.

The event has also given Canada a chance to enhance its longstanding relations with key ally Japan and refresh Canada’s image as a progressive and creative player on the world scene, Commissioner General Laurie Peters said in an exclusive interview with Capital Current.

“Given the context and the uncertain geopolitical times that we’re living in, where the traditional tools of diplomacy are just not as effective as they’ve been in the past, this opportunity to bring together 160 nations in Japan has really allowed Canada and other players to demonstrate our values and our principles and what we stand for and to have diplomatic conversations with other nations,” Peters said.

“Expos are the preeminent public diplomacy and nation-branding platform. There is really nothing like them,” she said. The Expo gatherings held every five years have been compared to the Olympics or FIFA World Cup as an international, cultural gathering. But Peters says “there is nothing like it in terms of scope and scale and especially duration, six months long.”

While Peters has interacted with many Japanese visitors at the pavilion, she says she’s been pleasantly surprised at the number of Canadian visitors and has noted how they seem to be projecting a new sense of pride and purpose about Canada’s place in the world.

“I think that was a really pleasant surprise … to hear firsthand the pride that Canada is feeling right now and for them to be expressing their sort of validation about what Canada’s doing in the world and specifically here at this time,” she said.

Anyone watching the news is aware of how Canada’s traditional relationship with the United States faces challenges. Peters sees Japan as a key international partner for Canada and Canada’s presence at Expo as key to growing and expanding those ties in the region.

“It gives us an opportunity to be even more aligned in terms of Canada’s footprint here in Japan and what our objectives are … here in the Indo-Pacific Region.’’

Japan and Canada will soon be coming up to the 100^th anniversary of diplomatic relations. “We enjoy such a strong relationship with Japan. We consider them our best North Pacific ally and friend,” Peters said. “As the Japanese told us, they could not imagine a World’s Fair without Canada.”

The objective was to double down on the relationship with Japan, but also “flexing our public diplomacy and our cultural diplomacy muscles…reminding the many Japanese publics about just what a trusted partner we are, what a fabulous tourism destination, study destination, investment destination we are.”

For Peters, her role leading Canada’s Expo project has been a culmination of her long connection to Japan.

“I have a very long and treasured relationship with Japan,” Peters said. There is an Expo twist to the story of how Peters first came here. At the start of her career she interviewed for a position as hosting staff at the Canada Pavilion for the Expo in Brisbane, Australia in 1988, but just missed the cutoff for that job. In what she calls “a rebound move,” Peters applied for the inaugural edition of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, JET, and was accepted.

That resulted in Peters spending two years as a language teacher in the northern Japanese city of Sendai, which got her noticed by the Canadian government as an ideal contributor to the Canada Pavilion at the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan.

Since 2005, she’s been involved with successful Canada pavilions from Shanghai to Dubai.

“So that was just the beginning of the journey,” she said. “If we fast forward, this is like coming full circle for me to come back to Japan and back to the world of Expos.”

Peters has had a distinguished career in diplomacy and public service. Before joining Global Affairs Canada’s Expo team, Peters served as Canadian High Commissioner to Jamaica and Bahamas from 2017 to 2020. Earlier, she was head of public affairs, culture and education at the Canadian embassy in Tokyo.

Outside of government, she was director of public affairs at the Aga Khan Foundation of Canada for a time and also served as director of strategic communications at the National Capital Commission.

Planning for the 2025 edition of Expo started during the last outing, Dubai 2020 (which actually unfolded in 2021-22 because of the pandemic), and when Expo planning had been handed over to Global Affairs Canada from Canadian Heritage.

“The physical infrastructure requirements are a whole beast amongst themselves, let alone the programming and the messaging and staffing and the operations,” Peters said, comparing the planning process to a double marathon. The first gets the team to the starting line for Expo itself, then a new marathon starts for the six months of the event.

Despite record temperatures being recorded across Japan and heat stroke warnings issued for the Expo site, droves of tourists from around the world have descended on the pavilions housed in the spectacular and purpose-built site in Osaka.

The visitor numbers have certainly been noticed at the Canada Pavilion, where queues for the pavilion restaurant and exhibitions often stretch far out the door and into the sun.

With those visitor numbers has come a flurry of events both public-facing and behind the scenes at the pavilion.

The idea of regeneration – the overarching theme of the Canada pavilion – resonates strongly in Japan and was translated into the visitor experience of the Canada pavilion, the idea of spring, rebirth and renewal as the ice breaks up.

Speaking at about the halfway point of the six-month event, Peters said that so far, it has been mission accomplished.

“It’s a lot about the people to people ties and reminding them just what a reliable and fabulous destination that Canada is,” she said. “It’s about rekindling past memories and making new ones as well. I think that’s the power of Expos.”

Listen to the full feature interview with Canada’s Expo Commissioner General Laurie Peters in the latest instalment of the Expo Update podcast posted by reporter Sean Coombs. https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/660/71476.html