Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly’s office staff did not read an e-mail that said her department was sending a representative to a Russian embassy party – missing a chance to avert an incident that has embarrassed Canada at home and abroad, two senior government sources say. Global Affairs Canada sent the e-mail to Ms. Joly’s chief of staff, Sandra Aubé, and four other staff members before last Friday’s Russia Day embassy party informing them that deputy chief of protocol Yasemin Heinbecker would join the festivities, the sources said. (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-melanie-joly-russian-embassy-party/) None of Ms. Joly’s senior staff read the department e-mail, because they were busy assisting Ms. Joly, who was attending the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, the sources said. The Globe is not identifying the officials as they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter. The e-mail to Ms. Joly’s senior staff was not marked urgent, and the two sources cited this as one of the reasons they failed to read it. If they had seen it, the sources said, they could have prevented Ms. Heinbecker from going to the event. The e-mail went through the department’s liaison office and was approved by several high-level Global Affairs officials, including deputy minister Marta Morgan, the sources said. Ms. Morgan did not respond to a request for comment.