The Carla Thorlakson Memorial Fund has been established by the parents of the late Carla Thorlakson to honour the breadth of their daughter’s intellectual interests and her professionalism. It is dispersed in the form of a bursary, an undergraduate scholarship and a graduate fellowship at the University of Manitoba.

The primary purpose of the Fund is to advance academic research into human migration, including all aspects of refugee, immigration and citizenship issues, both in Canada and throughout the world. The subsidiary purpose of the fund is to advance academic research into all aspects of the status of women in Canada and worldwide.

Application Procedure

Students wishing to apply for these awards are required to submit a one- to two-page letter outlining how they meet the application criteria; in addition, students wishing to be considered for bursaries must demonstrate financial need by submitting the standard University of Manitoba bursary application form which is posted on the Financial Aid and Awards website from September 1 until October 1 yearly. All requests for student awards should be made to the Financial Aid and Awards Office, 422 University Centre, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada  R3T 2N2.

Annual Application deadline: October 1

Bursary  -  For a full time student studying or conducting research into human migration, the status of women in Canada and worldwide, and/or the roles that Canada’s Foreign Service or its civil society can play in defining and implementing Canada’s roles in the international community.

 http://umanitoba.ca/student/fin_awards/bursaries/1515.htm

Scholarship - For a full time student in any undergraduate program who has completed at least one academic session at the University of Manitoba and is engaged in the academic study of human migration, the status of women in Canada and worldwide, and/or the roles that Canada’s Foreign Service or its civil society can play in defining and implementing Canada’s roles in the international community.

http://umanitoba.ca/student/fin_awards/award_applications/index.html

Fellowship - For a full time graduate student conducting research into human migration, the status of women in Canada and worldwide, and/or the roles that Canada’s Foreign Service or its civil society can play in defining and implementing Canada’s roles in the international community.

http://umanitoba.ca/student/fin_awards/award_applications/index.html

Carla Thorlakson (1951–1995)

To countless persons in Canada’s Foreign Service and beyond, Carla Thorlakson was a beloved friend and colleague. She was a model to many, particularly to women in the Foreign Service who were inspired by her many accomplishments, her vision, her organizational capacity, her love of her profession, and her standard of excellence. She represented the professionalism, the competence and the dedication so valued by the Service.

Carla joined the Immigration Branch of the Foreign Service in 1973 after obtaining her Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from the University of Manitoba. With postings in Rome, London, Singapore and Ottawa, she enjoyed a varied and lustrous career which perfectly incorporated her love of travel, culture, language and adventure.

She played an active role in some of the most exciting immigration issues of the past decades. As Chief of Refugee Policy, she was instrumental in setting up the administrative framework for the admission of some 60,000 Vietnamese refugees to Canada during the height of the Indochinese refugee movement.

Carla worked with the Social Policy and Programs section, responsible for such issues as the United Nations Social Conference and the Status of Women. She was a member of the U.S.–Canada Trade Task Force, which later became part of the Trade Negotiations Office that formulated the Canada–U.S. Free Trade Agreement. She was promoted to the executive level in 1989, one of the first women in the Foreign Service to reach this level.

Following a four-year posting to Singapore, where she was the program manager and on several occasions acted as High Commissioner, Carla returned to Ottawa to assume her duties as Director of International Migration. Here she dealt with such high-profile issues as the entry of Bosnian refugees to Canada. During that time, she played an important role in the visit to Canada of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

In 1993 she was responsible for creating the first edition of the ground-breaking Reporting and Liaison Handbook, a resource for Citizenship and Immigration Officers in Canada and abroad, conceived and designed to promote and improve communication between branch offices of the Foreign Service throughout the world.