Fouzia Younis, new British consul general to Toronto, introduces herself with a damn good garden party

In a house where ginger ale was once king — the one-time home of Canada Dry founder John J. McLaughlin on Glen Road — an effervescent demand was ringing out. Last Saturday. Out back. The garden.

Wake Me Up Before You Go Go. As that old Wham song implores.

And as the DJ entreated at one of the cheeriest shindigs of the season in this city: a day party to mark both the recent coronation of King Charles III and the all-important Eurovision.

At varying times during the celebration, the DJ threw up some requisite Spice Girls and, well, a certain, well-trod Harry Styles anthem. You know it’s not the same as it was.

… as it wassssssss …

Not the same-same hostess, either: the woman behind this particular neighbourhood soirée, Fouzia Younis, the newly appointed British consul general to Toronto. The party also happened to be doubling as her debut in town. As the first Muslim woman to be appointed head of a U.K. diplomatic post of this stature, it does not hurt that she has a surplus of charm — plus Bollywood beauty looks. No, it certainly does not.

Her new digs, indeed? This Edwardian-style brick house where a ginger ale inventor once lived, in the leafy maze of Rosedale.

With miniature Yorkshire puddings being passed around, along with tea sandwiches and Welsh rarebit — not to mention some “Coronation Quiche” and Halal Chicken Tikka Masala Wonton — Younis, who grew up in Stourbridge near Birmingham and speaks fluent Urdu and Punjabi, welcomed a swath of well-wishers.

“Sequins during the day! Chic!” exclaimed long-time magazine editor and local fashion-plate Suzanne Boyd, giving the consul general her sartorial endorsement.

“What a beautiful afternoon, right?” Younis said, when she herself took a moment to address the throng, which included Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce, looking spiffy in a snug button-down and well-curated beard. Pointing to the pristine sunshine that had come to favour this party, along with a lulling, springtime breeze, she got self-effacing about her new role: “What a favour ‘The Diplomat’ has done for us on Netflix!”

Continued Younis: “I was thinking about how my story is similar and how it differs … one of my thoughts I had was that all my previous postings were in places like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. My last post, I was looking at things like how do we get girls a good education … working in conflict zones … that sort of thing. And lo and behold, the Foreign Office decides to send me to Toronto, so go figure.”

Pointing out the long-baked rapport between Canada and the United Kingdom, Younis mentioned the 102 flights on a weekly basis between London and Canada, the nearly million visitors to the U.K. from Canada per year and the 24 billion pounds worth of trade managed in 2022. That, and the fact “a third of Canadians trace their heritage back to the U.K.”

At one point, the lieutenant-governor, Elizabeth Dowdeswell, manifested to offer her formal remarks to the crowd, an Ascot-ready hat part of her armour. At another, we all got musical. Sang “O Canada.” Then: “God Save the King.” Whatever is a Saturday garden party without at least two anthems, right?

Cheers.

Younis later read out a letter sent for the occasion from our man Charles and offered some amusing perspective into what her first few weeks on the job have looked like: “I went on the Sizzler with Premier Ford (during the coronation party held at Queen’s Park), so there are videos of what you have to do for your King and country … first rule of diplomacy: make sure you do not vomit on a fairground ride.”

A fascinating trajectory for a girl raised in a modest town of only about 250, one in which there were only nine Asian girls, as she mentioned to me during a separate occasion at Soho House here. “And I am in touch with all nine of them still!”

With most of the girls in her environs destined to work at a famous sewing factory in town, Younis always knew she wanted more. She was wide-eyed and she was curious, and the question that tugged at her was this: “How do I carve out a future that does not involve me working in the sewing factory?”

Diplomacy came up via a conversation with a career counsellor and the idea was burnished when she landed an internship in a foreign office in India while at university.

When she joined the diplomatic corps, she describes, “I remember walking into the Foreign Office and there were lots of pictures of old white men who had ruled over my great-grandparents.”

Part of her ongoing drive — especially in a time when a Prime Minister Rishi Sunak exists — constantly trying to figure out, “How do we reflect a modern, diverse Britain in 2023?”

“I love being here. I love the city,” Younis later said about her move to Toronto, coming after a stint in Islamabad.

“Building trust and relationships”: expressly part of the job. That, and the talent to throw one damn good garden party, of course.

Shinan Govani is a Toronto-based freelance contributing columnist covering culture and society. Follow him on Twitter: @shinangovani

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