Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Message from Brian Flagel
I was so saddened to hear of Dale’s passing. I’ve known him and the Colter family since I was a young boy delivering newspapers in Emerson, Manitoba where Dale was stationed in the early 60’s. I can’t say Dale and I were good friends at that point because I was 11 or 12 years old and I only encountered him when I was collecting for my delivery services. But I knew him as a friend of my father and they golfed together and shared an occasional beer on the 10th hole (Emerson only had a 9 hole golf course).
But I do recall stories about some of Dale’s exploits at the time. On one occasion he was helping my cousin combine one of his crops. It was common for customs guys to help out the local farmers during harvest time in the small community where everyone knew everyone. I think they were mostly paid in beer. One day they are combining, Dale driving the truck, and a huge flock of Canada geese landed in the field. Not to pass up this opportunity, they radioed (yes, high tech for the 60’s.) my cousin’s wife to bring his shotgun and to call Edith to bring Dale’s 12 gauge.
Of course hunting season hadn’t opened yet but Dale and my cousin didn’t let that deter them. They drove into the middle of the unsuspecting geese who apparently knew it wasn’t hunting season yet and knocked down around 20 geese. (If you’re going to ignore hunting season dates you might as well ignore bag limits as well.) Of course the men had done their part by bringing home the food, and it fell to the women to clean and dress the birds. (It was a different time.) Edith was NOT impressed, especially because they really had no place to store 10 big Canada geese. The men were eventually conscripted into helping to clean the birds. And after all that work the two great hunters were relegated to trying to give away most of their illegally killed geese. Locals were reluctant because they knew the season hadn’t opened yet. I understand they solved the problem partially by giving a few to one of the local Mounties who was a friend of both. As I said, it was a different time.
Dale transferred out of Emerson a few years later and ended up in HQ in Ottawa. I didn’t see him again until after I had joined Customs and had transferred to Vancouver. I was on a management development course and in 1973 was assigned to work with a HQ group led by Dale to improve airport processing procedures. I never did know if he asked for me or whether it was just good luck to be assigned but I was very young to be involved in a project of that scope. We conceived and developed the Primary Inspection Line process where Customs officers were given Immigration authority to determine admissibility to Canada. This meant travellers were only interviewed once, rather than twice, when arriving by air. It was quite revolutionary at the the time and has stood the test of time as it is still in place today, albeit with computers and fingerprint scans, etc.
That was my first exposure to Dale’s organizational and leadership skills. He skillfully managed the delicate relationship with Immigration, Agriculture, and the Ministry of Transport by involving them in the process and respecting their views and concerns. His negotiating skills were partly due to his personality….honest, sincere and respectful for opposing opinions. But he also knew when to bear down and push to get what he wanted. I learned a lot from him in that project and in many others on which I worked with him over the years.
Although he had a great sense of humour, his patience could be tested. I recall receiving a very early morning phone call from him (early morning for him in Ottawa, middle of the night for me in Vancouver) when he was leading the Macedonian mission. One of my officers assigned to the mission had taken, contrary to specific instructions, a brand new Range Rover vehicle that had been donated by another UN country for an overnight visit to Sofia, Bulgaria. Sofia was renowned for being a car theft capital. The officer left it on the street “for a few minutes” and of course it was immediately stolen. Let’s just say his comments regarding my officer were rather strong and not to be repeated around children. But at the end of the conversation we were both laughing. Me because of the time he was going to have explaining this to Finland, him because of what I planned to do to my officer when he returned to Canada.
I am only one of many who Dale mentored over the years. He was always willing to listen and always willing to help, always seeking innovation, and always loved a challenge. I never heard a bad word said about him.
He was a good man. He was respected and admired and loved by many of us. I am honoured to have known him.
He will be remembered.
Brian Flagel
