Diplomatic 'umbrella' or Ambassador Bogdanić's 'tripod' in Canada

• Ambassador Aleksandar Bogdanić's diplomacy from Ottawa was formed in Belgrade to deceive Canada and partition Bosnia and Herzegovina.

By: Fuad Đidić

First, Bosniaks in Canada, through their work and donations during 2015/16, renovated the dilapidated building of the former Yugoslavia's residence in Ottawa, which Serbia used until 2010. Then came the story, following a well-known scenario: transform a state-owned BiH property into a platform for promoting ethno-party secessionist policies.

Not only has Ambassador Aleksandar Bogdanić, in office since 2023 in Canada, closed his doors to everyone who renovated this dilapidated residence, but he has also closed his doors to all citizens who have shown patriotism towards the country of their origin – Bosnia and Herzegovina.


Ambassador Aleksandar Bogdanić

Many citizens and organizations in Canada have repeatedly sent written complaints to the Presidency of BiH, as well as grievances to Global Affairs Canada. In these submissions, some of which have been published in the press, they have warned that Ambassador Bogdanić's policy of rigid ethnic exclusivity, which creates "ethno-party camps" in a country with a successful multicultural mosaic, can be disturbing and lead to increased civil insecurity and rising tensions.

Specifically, citizens were particularly disturbed by the fact that all those who might need consular protection from the diplomatic mission of their country of origin would not be able to receive it because they do not belong to his "ethno-party brotherhood.”

The latest scandal "with the flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Canada" brings these tensions to a "boiling point," given that similar scandals in one form or another have been recurring for many years with actors from the same ethno-party camp.

It can be assumed that this "tearing apart of state diplomacy" in favor of one ethnic community in Canada is causing strong frustration and dissatisfaction, which Bosnians and Herzegovinians have shown on several occasions through unprecedented protests in front of their own embassy in Ottawa.

Our media have written extensively about this and other scandals from Ottawa, but unfortunately, they have not delved into the background and history of this rigid conduct with unforeseeable consequences for the diplomacy of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It should be recalled that Ambassador Bogdanić was accepted as a diplomatic agent of the state of BiH in Canada with agrément in 2023, and in that capacity, he received a diplomatic visa from the host country, which is renewed annually and can ultimately be revoked due to misuse and misrepresentation.


Building of the BiH Embassy in Ottawa

Because Bogdanić is not a diplomatic representative of a party, an individual, or an unrecognized entity, but rather a representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which Canada recognizes as a sovereign and independent country.

It should also be recalled that Canada has a long history of recognizing this type of "abuse" of position, given some far-right circles from the province of Québec who, under the name of the Canadian state, tried to sell their "ethno-party" story of an independent Québec to the world.

This fact, among others, indicates that Canada is well aware of what is actually happening at the BiH embassy, and if the determined pressure from our citizens on the Canadian government continues, it could even result in the ambassador being denied hospitality.

The story from the capital of a member state of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) about the diplomacy of denying one's own state is just part of a known scenario of usurping sovereignty from the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is being implemented in several BiH embassies around the world where Dodik's "ethno-party" diplomats are in office.

Here, special attention should be paid to the BiH embassies in Hungary or Poland, where, by coincidence, the ambassadors currently serving have previously served their mandates in Canada and faced the same or similar circumstances as Ambassador Bogdanić.

These are the current ambassador in Budapest, Biljana Gutić-Bjelica, who served in Canada (2009-2013), and Koviljka Špirić (2014-2017), who, to be fair, skillfully managed to withstand these circumstances of sharp opposition to any ethnic community in Canada.

Both Gutić-Bjelica and Špirić gained their "diplomatic fame" in Canada through close ties with all citizens, especially ethnic Bosniaks who provided selfless assistance in several important projects or initiatives in the field of BiH public diplomacy in Canada.

However, this "diplomatic fame" did not last long. Things changed quickly. Both ambassadors, certainly under pressure from their patrons Ana Trišić-Babić – who supported Gutić-Bjelica as a "favorite" – and Željka Cvijanović – Koviljka Špirić's schoolmate – made a complete U-turn and changed their direction.


From the protests of Bosnians in Ottawa in February 2025

Currently, in their ambassadorial positions in Budapest or Warsaw, they are the main link between Dodik's regime and Orbán, Szijjártó, as well as other European far-right circles, and they are certainly an important diplomatic channel in strengthening the "network" of the pro-Russian right.

Ambassador Aleksandar Bogdanić, with his "ethno-party diplomacy" that undermines BiH's status in Canada and denies the citizens and ethnic Bosniaks of Canada, has only loudly expressed everything that has been brewing in Serbian diplomacy for years – how to ethnically tear apart the diplomacy of the state of BiH.

Aleksandar Bogdanić, a diplomatic amateur but sufficiently party-fanaticized, at a time when he is consciously and systematically creating unprecedented diplomatic scandals in Canada, represents nothing more than a diplomatic individual; rather, he is merely a part of the diplomatic staff of the Serbian embassy in Canada, with whom he shares his daily life.

According to the press, Ambassador Bogdanić stated: "I am only accountable to the one who appointed me." Of course, Ambassador Bogdanić is lying. He is actually accountable to Vučić in Belgrade because he is officially implementing his policy in Ottawa, which is the policy of openly and insidiously depriving the state of BiH of its sovereignty, humiliating and denying the rights of BiH citizens to their country, wherever they may be.

The denial of Bosnia and Herzegovina's diplomacy in Canada has a long history, and Bogdanić's actions and denial of the state he nominally represents are just the tip of the iceberg of scandals that have plagued this embassy's work over the past decade.

And that this is a much more complex diplomatic game than the mere scandal of one "brainwashed" ambassador could be inferred from the diplomatic fate of the two aforementioned ambassadors, Gutić-Bjelica and Špirić, who, under pressure from their own "political patrons," suddenly and sharply changed their diplomatic mindset and orientation.

The diplomatic fate of Ambassador Bogdanić may not differ from the fate of these two ambassadors.

These examples clearly show that behind all this lies a totalitarian, ethno-fascist regime with its political mind in Vučić's Belgrade, which thrives on the technology of coercion and changing the minds of its subjects. Such diplomacy has no future and will surely fail.


Milorad Dodik and Aleksandar Vučić

And finally, something else to add regarding the decade of scandals coming from Ottawa.

The impression is that the diplomatic destination in Ottawa, within the foreign policy project of the "Serbian world," was chosen as a "test stone" for the ethnic disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina's diplomacy.

We remind you that in 2010, Canada closed its embassy in Sarajevo under circumstances that remain unclear.

Was this just a coincidence or a boost to Serbian diplomacy and its diplomatic apprentices in the form of Ambassador Bogdanić to choose Canada as a "test stone" for normalizing the new ethno-party concept of diplomacy?

Everything our citizens in Canada are doing today indicates that, despite the blocked BiH institutions, they will not allow this diplomacy to deceive Canada.