On April 14th, a member of the Pembina Valley received a very special invitation.
Adolfo Cuetara, the executive director at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre (CFDC) in Morden, was invited to a meeting between 18 ambassadors to Canada and the Government of Manitoba, including Premier Wab Kinew.
According to a news release, the occasion was organized by the European Union ambassador to Canada to “improve the relations between Manitoba and the European Union in matters of commercial, science, and research.”
A small group of dignitaries
The meeting was an exclusive one.
“80 people [came] from the embassies in European countries, and only 10 people there were not related to the embassies,” says Cuetara. “I was lucky to be one of them.”
Cuetara, who is from Spain, was personally invited to the event by the Spanish ambassador.
“It was really special, because I was able to understand firsthand what was going on with new initiatives,” he says. “There are a lot of common goals between Manitoba and Europe.”
Important conversations with a handful of countries
Cuetara says his role at the function was to represent the “scientific and cultural” perspective as the executive director of the CFDC, which presents important research opportunities as the largest collection of marine reptile fossils in Canada.
The executive director had the opportunity to converse with ambassadors from Slovenia, Croatia, Malta, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the ambassador from the European Union.
He says that one of the main objectives of the ambassadors' visit was to create networks between Canadian and European institutions.
“What they can do now is put someone from their country in contact with the [CFDC] and we can look for common points or common goals for scientific research,” he says. “We can also put those institutions, universities, and other museums in contact with the University of Manitoba.”
An intersection of representation
For Cuetara, it was an especially “rare opportunity” because of his representation — he stood at an intersection of connections.
“At the beginning, I wasn't sure if I was representing Spain ... in front of the Government of Manitoba, [of if] I was representing Morden and the CFDC in front of Spain and the European Union,” he says. “It was a little bit of everything, because I wasn't invited by the government, I was invited by the Embassy of Spain.”
Cuetara believes that the intersection will serve the CFDC well.
“It’s a special circumstance that I am the executive director at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre, but I am also a Spanish citizen with very good connections in my country,” he says.
“We [are] taking advantage of this opportunity to collaborate [for research purposes] with other museums and other institutions from Europe, especially from Spain, but also from France or Portugal.”
Related stories:
- United Way Pembina Valley selects 19 grant recipients for their 2024-2025 campaign year
- MLA for Morden-Winkler introduces first bill in the MB Legislature for farmers
Another highlight of the event was Cuetara's meeting with Premier Wab Kinew, who Cuetara says recognized him from his visit to the CFDC in 2017.
Cuetara says he extended another invitation to the premier for the future.
The takeaway
Ultimately, Cuetara says the event was the first step in “opening the connection from Morden and the Pembina Valley directly to Europe.”
The executive director says the conversations have set the stage for partnerships to form directly between Morden and the European countries with no intermediary — he says it's the rarest of opportunities and emphasizes again that the future looks promising for the Pembina Valley and the CFDC.
With files from Robyn Wiebe