Peter Wickwire Foster

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Peter Wickwire Foster
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Born1966 (age 57–58)
Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Alma mater
  • Mount Saint Vincent University
  • University of Leicester
Occupation
  • Canadian Public Relations
  • Communications Specialist

Peter Wickwire Foster is a Canadian public relations and communications specialist, with a career focused on international peacekeeping, justice, and sustainable development. Foster is the son of author Anthony (Tony) James Foster and the grandson of Major General Harry Foster.

Early Life and Education

Foster was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1966. His early years were greatly impacted the arrest, high-profile trial[1] and imprisonment of his father, Anthony (Tony) Foster.[2] After moving to Halifax with his family in 1981, Foster received his post-secondary education at Mount Saint Vincent University and his Masters from the University of Leicester in the UK.

Career

Foster started his professional career as a researcher for non-fiction publications, serving as the lead researcher in several titles including Heart of Oak[3], For Love and Glory[4] and the Sound and the Silence. He then transitioned to film and television, where he was the credited writer for episodes of the Canadian MITV series Unexpected Heroes[5] and the Gemini-nominated Documentary 'Oceans.'

In 1992, Foster served with the United Nations Volunteers in Cambodia during the UNTAC mission as the District Electoral Supervisor in the Northern province of Bentey Menchey. He then joined Canada's Pearson International Peacekeeping Center before taking up a full time international career by moving to New York with the Best Practices Unit of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. He was editor and contributing writer for the Unit's 2003 Handbook on United Nations Multidimensional Peacekeeping Operations.[6]

Over the next decade, Foster served as a lead communications officer in peacekeeping operations. In Kosovo (UNMIK) he was the regional media coordinator based in Prizren where he hosted media conferences and contributed to the mission magazine Focus Kosovo[7]. In Western Sahara (MINURSO)[8], he was Political Affairs Officer in Laayoune, later moving to Algeria with the same mission. His mission experience earned him the Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal.

In 2006, Foster returned to Cambodia as the head United Nations communications officer for the newly established United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (UNAKRT).[9] He was regularly quoted in local news Australian ABC[10] and America's VOA.[11] During his time there, he became known for a controversy surrounding the possibility of Cambodia's King Father being called to testify in court. The Cambodian King offered to personally give his testimony to Foster in a national live television broadcast."The event for Mr. Foster would include a three hour conversation in which Sihanouk would discuss the Khmer Rouge and Norodom Sihanouk Affair... broadcast live on Television Kampuchea..."[12]

Foster left the United Nations system in 2011 and joined the Thailand based Alliance for Financial Inclusion, a Gates-funded organization made up of central banks from across the developing world. He served as the head of communications and media relations, supporting AFI's evolution to fully independent and member-supported body.[13] He also co-drafted the organization's Maya Declaration.

In 2017, Foster joined the Pacific Community (SPC) in Suva, Fiji, as only the second Director of Corporate Communication for the 70-year-old organization. During his tenure, he oversaw a full overhaul of SPC's communications and visibility strategy[14], contributed regular articles[15] on the organizations activities,[16] and served as Producer for the regional television program, and podcast[17], The Pacific Way[18].

References

  1. "Greedy, gullible collide in sordid history of Southwestern Ontario scams".
  2. "Tony Foster: The story of a man who lived a very huge life".
  3. "Heart of Oak".
  4. "For Love and Glory".
  5. "Unexpected Hero's Season 2".
  6. "2003 DPKO Handbook".
  7. "Focus Kosovo: The Other Face of Orahovac".
  8. "2004 MINURSO Brochure".
  9. "Hybrid Court Was Challenge for UN Spokesman".
  10. "Former Khmer Rouge leader dies before trial".
  11. "Cambodia Approves Judges to Try Khmer Rouge Leaders".
  12. "Extraordinary Justice: Law, Politics, and the Khmer Rouge Tribunals".
  13. "Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) Achieves Full Independence".
  14. "A new Look for SPC".
  15. "Refusing to Disappear".
  16. "A Pacific Battle to Eradicate the Rhino Beatle".
  17. "The Pacific Way Podcast".
  18. "The Pacific Way".

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This article "Peter Wickwire Foster" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace. [[Category:Public relations]