| Théodore Jean Arcand | |
| Birth Date: | 25 June 1934 |
| Birth Place: | Bonnyville, Alberta, Canada |
| Death Place: | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Office1: | Head of the Canadian Mission to the Holy See |
| Term Start1: | 24 August 1989 |
| Term End1: | 1993 |
| Predecessor1: | Eldon Pattyson Black |
| Successor1: | Léonard Hilarion Joseph Legault |
| Monarch1: | Elizabeth II |
| Primeminister1: | Brian Mulroney |
| Term Start2: | 9 April 1973 |
| Term End2: | 20 October 1973 |
| Predecessor2: | John Everett Robbins |
| Successor2: | Paul Tremblay |
| Monarch2: | Elizabeth II |
| Primeminister2: | Pierre Trudeau |
| Office3: | 7th Canadian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Hungary |
| Term Start3: | 22 September 1982 |
| Term End3: | October 1985 |
| Predecessor3: | Dorothy Jane Armstrong |
| Successor3: | Robert L. Elliott |
| Monarch3: | Elizabeth II |
| Primeminister3: |
|
| Office4: | Canadian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Lebanon |
| Term Start4: | 21 December 1978 |
| Term End4: | 7 August 1982 |
| Predecessor4: | Joseph Gilles André Couvrette |
| Successor4: | Robert David Jackson |
| Monarch4: | Elizabeth II |
| Primeminister4: |
|
| Office5: | Canadian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Syria |
| Term Start5: | 21 December 1978 |
| Term End5: | 7 August 1982 |
| Predecessor5: | Joseph Gilles André Couvrette |
| Successor5: | Robert David Jackson |
| Order5: | 6th |
| Monarch5: | Elizabeth II |
| Primeminister5: |
|
| Office6: | 6th Canadian Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Jordan |
| Term Start6: | 21 December 1978 |
| Term End6: | 7 August 1982 |
| Predecessor6: | Joseph Gilles André Couvrette |
| Successor6: | Keith William MacLellan |
| Monarch6: | Elizabeth II |
| Primeminister6: |
|
Théodore Jean "Ted" Arcand (25 June 1934 – 16 April 2005) was a Canadian diplomat. He was Canada's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Hungary, and the Holy See.[1]
Théodore Jean Arcand was born on 25 June 1934 in the town of Bonnyville, Alberta, Canada.[2] He attended Université Laval in Quebec City from 1955 to 1956, then McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1957. From 1957 to 1958, he worked in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration.
His foreign policy career began in 1958 in the Department of External Affairs, now Global Affairs Canada. Over the course of the following two decades, he assumed various roles in several Canadian embassies in Africa and Europe.
In 1979, he was appointed as the Canadian ambassador to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. In the 1982 Lebanon War, during the Israeli siege of Beirut, the Canadian embassy headed by Arcand became the only Western embassy still operating in west Beirut.[3] For this reason, the embassy played an important role in receiving information from the Palestine Liberation Organization and sharing it with other Western nations, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France and West Germany. On 28 July, a unanimous resolution at the House of Commons of Canada commended Arcand and his staff for their commitment. After Arcand's apartment was bombed by Israeli jets, the embassy was finally evacuated on 2 August.[4]
In 1982 and 1983, Arcand was Canadian ambassador to Hungary. From 1989 to 1993, he was the ambassador to the Holy See. He received the Order of Knight Commander of St. Gregory The Great from Pope John Paul II.[5] Arcand died on 16 April 2005 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, at the age of 70.[6]
Arcand was married to Jennifer Marjorie Garner-Ashmore. They had a son, Jean-Louis.
A polyglot, Arcand had studied Czech, Danish, Swahili, Italian, Arabic, and Hungarian.