The Canadian government apparently is considering closing its embassy in Latvia as a cost-cutting measure, according to an April 15 report by The Canadian Press citing unnamed sources. The embassy would be one of 19 embassies and consulates that could be shuttered as the Canadian foreign affairs department faces a shrinking budget.

The Latvian National Federation in Canada, which just held its annual meeting over the weekend, will send a letter of protest to the Canadian government, said Mārtiņš Sausiņš, president of the federation’s executive board. The federation also will urge the Baltic Federation in Canada—an umbrella group representing Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians in Canada—to send a letter of protest, Sausiņš said in an e-mail.

The embassy opened in 1993 and also serves as Canada’s presence in Estonia and Lithuania. Canada recognized the renewed independence of Latvia on Aug. 26, 1991, and was the first of the G7 nations to do so. The embassy’s closure would come with a certain irony, because Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, who spent much of her life in Canada before being elected to her post, is serving out the last months of her second term.

According to The Canadian Press, the foreign affairs department faces a CAD 142.8 million cut in its budget this year. Other missions under consideration for closure are in Cambodia, the Balkan states and in some African countries. Late last year the Canadian government eliminated four consulates, including the one in St. Petersburg, Russia, which officially closed its doors on March 31.

Reaction from Canadian Ambassador Claire A. Poulin was not immediately available. However, on the embassy’s Web site, she writes, “Since the three states regained their independence in 1991, Canada has been maintaining and deepening strong bilateral relations, which unite us through the Baltic communities in Canada.”

The World Federation of Free Latvians has added its support to calling a popular referendum on the fate of two controversial changes to Latvia’s security laws.

The board of the federation (Pasaules brīvo latviešu apvienība, or PBLA) adopted a resolution April 11 supporting President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga’s March 10 decision to freeze implementation of the amendments.

The resolution further notes that 32 stations have been set up at Latvian embassies and consulates so citizens living abroad can sign petitions asking for a referendum on the amendments. More than 600 stations are open in Latvia itself.

The amendments to the National Security Law and the State Law on Security Institutions were pushed through in January by a Cabinet of Ministers decree while the Saeima, Latvia’s parliament, was in recess. The parliament approved the amendments on Feb. 1, but Vīķe-Freiberga vetoed them eight days later. The parliament overrode the veto on March 1. On March 10, Vīķe-Freiberga for the first time in her eight-year presidency invoked her constitutional power to freeze implementation of a law, which set in motion the call for a popular referendum.

Just days before the petition drive began April 3, the Saeima rescinded the changes, returning the security laws to their original wording before January’s decree. However, the process of collecting signatures must continue. Some observers have said that if a referendum occurs, it will be a test of the measure of confidence voters have in the Saeima and in the government coalition led by Prime Minister Aigars Kalvītis.

Although the PBLA resolution does not explicitly say it, Jānis Andersons, head of the federation’s represenative office in Rīga, clarified in an e-mail that the board did not agree with the amendments. Among changes in the security laws was the makeup of the National Security Council, which has oversight of the country’s security institutions. Under the amendments, the council would be led by the prime minister and would consist of the ministers of defense, foreign affairs, interior and justice—rather than the heads of the security institutions themselves.

The PBLA is an umbrella organization representing the American Latvian Association, the Latvian National Federation in Canada, the Latvian Association of Australia and New Zealand, the European Latvian Association, the South American Latvian Association and the Russian Latvian Congress.

The American Latvian Association on March 31 also adopted a resolution supporting the call for a referendum and urging Latvian citizens in the United States to sign the petition.

The U.S. State Department has accepted the appointment of Andrejs Pildegovičs as Latvia’s newest ambassdor in Washington, D.C., the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced April 4.

Pildegovičs will replace Māris Riekstiņš, who left in January to become chief of staff for Prime Minister Aigars Kalvītis. Riekstiņš had been ambassador for just over two years.

Pildegovičs, who was born in 1971, since July 2006 has served as head of the chancery for President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga. He previously has been foreign affairs adviser to the president as well as spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The new ambassador has studied in St. Petersburg, Russia; in Beijing, China; at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, and at the University of Oxford.

During the transition, Māris Selga, chargé d’affaire, has been directing operations in the embassy.