Mar 30, 2022 | International
Backgrounder
Shawn Steil (BA [Anthropology and Environmental Science], McGill University, 1997; MEDes, University of Calgary, 2004) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2002.
Shawn Steil (BA [Anthropology and Environmental Science], McGill University, 1997; MEDes, University of Calgary, 2004) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2002. In Ottawa, he has served as director for foreign policy planning and executive director for Greater China. In 2004, he began back-to-back postings in China, first in Beijing, with responsibility for foreign policy and relations with Mongolia, then as head of the consulate in Chongqing. From 2011 to 2014, he served as head of the consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, and as senior trade commissioner for Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. In 2014, he was appointed ambassador to Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan.
Aug 14, 2021 | International
Rachael Bedlington (BA Joint Honours [East Asian Studies and Political Science], McGill University, 1990, Nanjing Normal University, 1992) joined External Affairs and International Trade Canada in 1992…Christopher Cooter (BA Honours [Political Science], University of Toronto, 1981; MA [Political Science], Columbia University, 1982; BCL, LLB [Common/Civil Law], McGill University, 1986) was called to the British Columbia bar in 1986 and practised law at Campney & Murphy before joining the federal government in 1989 as acting manager of lands for the British Columbia region of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs…
Rachael Bedlington (BA Joint Honours [East Asian Studies and Political Science], McGill University, 1990, Nanjing Normal University, 1992) joined External Affairs and International Trade Canada in 1992. Ms. Bedlington most recently served as minister (commercial) at the embassy in Beijing, her fourth assignment with the Government of Canada in China. From 2015 to 2019, she was the consul general in Guangzhou, and she completed previous China assignments at the embassy from 1995 to 1998 and 2006 to 2011. She has also served as political counsellor in Kuala Lumpur and as chargé d’affaires in Colombo. At Headquarters, she has worked on a diverse range of issues, including in divisions responsible for negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, for bilateral relations with India and Southeast Asia, and, in the Human Resources Branch, for diplomatic assignments. In 2011, she became head of Canada’s Sudan and South Sudan Task Force, representing Canada at the Darfur Peace Agreement Implementation Follow-Up Commission and serving as chair of the International Contact Group on Sudan and South Sudan. From 2013 to 2015, she served as executive director for human rights and Indigenous affairs policy.
Christopher Cooter (BA Honours [Political Science], University of Toronto, 1981; MA [Political Science], Columbia University, 1982; BCL, LLB [Common/Civil Law], McGill University, 1986) was called to the British Columbia bar in 1986 and practised law at Campney & Murphy before joining the federal government in 1989 as acting manager of lands for the British Columbia region of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. In 1990, he joined External Affairs and International Trade Canada, serving in Ottawa as an officer in the legal, Europe and policy planning bureaus and then as director of the Southeast Europe Division, director of the Policy Planning Division, director general for executive management and assignments and director general for the amalgamation of the Canadian International Development Agency with Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. In the Privy Council Office, he worked in the Inter-Governmental Affairs Bureau. In the 1990s, he served abroad as political officer at Canada’s missions in Kenya and India, as chargé d’affaires in Cambodia and as deputy permanent representative to NATO (2006 to 2010), high commissioner in Nigeria and permanent observer to the Economic Community of West African States (2010 to 2013), ambassador to Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan (2016 to 2019) and as chargé d’affaires to the European Union (2019 to 2020). He has most recently served as chargé d’affaires at the High Commission of Canada to South Africa.
May 23, 2021 | International
Backgrounder
Payam Akhavan (LLB, Osgoode Hall Law School, 1989; LLM SJD, Harvard Law School, 1990), is a senior fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College and a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, in The Hague.
Payam Akhavan (LLB, Osgoode Hall Law School, 1989; LLM SJD, Harvard Law School, 1990), is a senior fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College and a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, in The Hague. He was previously full professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Law, with prior appointments at Yale Law School, Oxford University, University Paris Nanterre, the European University Institute and Leiden University. He has published extensively on international criminal law, and in 2017 he delivered the CBC Massey Lectures. Professor Akhavan was the first legal advisor to the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and also served with the UN in Bosnia, Cambodia, Guatemala, Rwanda and Timor Leste. He has served as counsel in notable cases before the European Court of Human Rights, the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, including the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar) regarding the persecuted Rohingya minority. His human rights work has been featured in The New York Times, the BBC’s Hardtalk, the CBC’s Ideas, Maclean’s and other media.
May 6, 2021 | International
Maryse Dubé completed her LL.B. at Laval University in 1996 and was admitted to the Barreau du Québec in 1997. She works as a lawyer at Sylvestre & Associés and has been a partner with the firm since 2004. Her areas of practice include civil law, business law, corporate law and agri-food law
Maryse Dubé completed her LL.B. at Laval University in 1996 and was admitted to the Barreau du Québec in 1997. She works as a lawyer at Sylvestre & Associés and has been a partner with the firm since 2004. Her areas of practice include civil law, business law, corporate law and agri-food law, and she represents several clients and farmers in their civil and commercial litigation and their funding, business transfer and acquisition projects, as well as representing them in court.
She represents individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises in the fields of civil law (insurance, construction), securities law, bankruptcy law, commercial litigation and corporate law (manufacturing and agricultural components). Very active in her social and economic milieu in the Maskoutain region, she has often played the role of honorary chair and has served on a number of corporate and community boards. She has also spoken at various conferences and still teaches securities (priorities and hypothecs) at the Barreau du Québec (Montréal).
She sat on the Board of Directors of the Association des avocats et avocates de province, then served as President of the Richelieu Section in 2014. Until May 2016, she served on the Executive Committee of the Barreau du Québec.
She was appointed to a three-year term on the Farm Products Council of Canada in April 2015. In May 2018, she was reappointed to another three-year term until April 2021.
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Minister Bibeau announces reappointment to the Farm Products Council of Canada
Jean-Sébastien Comeau
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
jean-sebastien.comeau@canada.ca
343-549-2326
