Biographical notes

Backgrounder

Heather Grant (BA Hons [History and German], Queen’s University, 1989; LLB, Dalhousie University, 1992; LLM, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, 1998) served as legal counsel at the Canadian International Trade Tribunal following her admission to the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1994. In 1998, she began working for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade on negotiations for the Free Trade Area of the Americas, then on bilateral and regional free trade negotiations and the management of existing agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement. As deputy director and subsequently director of the Regional Trade Policy Division, Ms. Grant served as deputy chief negotiator and lead institutional negotiator on a number of agreements. In 2004, she became director of the Tariffs and Market Access Division before moving to Geneva in 2005 to serve as minister and deputy permanent representative at the Permanent Mission to the World Trade Organization. Upon her return to Canada in 2009, Ms. Grant was appointed director general, North America commercial affairs, and in 2010, director general of the North America Policy Bureau. In 2012, she was appointed high commissioner in Singapore.

John Holmes (BA, McGill University, 1978; LLB, McGill University, 1982) joined the Department of External Affairs in 1982 and has since served abroad in Bridgetown, Accra and New York City at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations. In Ottawa, he has held a number of positions, including director general of the Middle East Bureau and director of the United Nations, Human Rights and Economic Law Division. He has also served as ambassador to Jordan, as non-resident ambassador to Iraq and as ambassador to Indonesia. He was most recently the ambassador to Turkey, with concurrent accreditation to Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. He is married to Carol Bujeau, and the couple have two grown children, Jordan and Kayla.

Sara Hradecky (BA [International Affairs], Carleton University, 1981; MA [International Affairs], Carleton University, 1983; MSc [Aeronautical Science], Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 2004) joined the Department of External Affairs in 1983 and has since served abroad in Buenos Aires, Belgrade and Tel Aviv. She also served as consul general in Ho Chi Minh City. At Headquarters, she has served as director, international financing, and as director general, international business development policy and innovation. Ms. Hradecky was ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (2006 to 2009) and assistant deputy minister of the Afghanistan Task Force in the Privy Council Office (2009 to 2011). Most recently, Ms. Hradecky served as ambassador to Mexico (2011 to 2015).

Karen MacArthur (BA Hons [Politics], Macquarie University, 1980; LLB, University of New South Wales, 1984) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1998. She served in Ottawa in a number of corporate positions, including coordinator, political and security issues, Y2K Secretariat (1998 to 2000); and director, Government On-Line (2000 to 2002), earning the Head of the Public Service Award. From 2006 to 2009, Ms. MacArthur was posted to the Embassy to Japan, where she served as counsellor and head of the Political Section. Returning to Canada, she was senior departmental adviser in the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (2009 to 2011) and then director, Southern and Eastern Africa Division, responsible for Canada’s diplomatic and trade relations with countries in the region (2011 to 2015). Recently, she represented Global Affairs Canada in the National Security Programme for senior military and public service leaders at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto. Ms. MacArthur also has other international work experience in Australia and India. She is married to Peter MacArthur and they have two children, Stephanie and Benjamin.

Peter MacArthur (BA Joint Hons [Political Science and History], McGill University, 1981) joined the Department of External Affairs in 1982 following scholarship studies at l’Institut d'études politiques de Paris. He has served in numerous positions abroad. These include as a trade commissioner in Moscow (1984 to 1987) and New Delhi (1987 to 1988) and as consul heading Canada’s then new trade office in Mumbai (1988 to 1990). Mr. MacArthur was seconded as an exchange officer to Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra, where he worked in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development / G7 section and the East Asia Analytical Unit (1992 to 1994). He served as a trade commissioner in Hong Kong (1994 to 1997) and as minister (commercial) and senior trade commissioner at the Embassy to Japan (2004 to 2009). At Headquarters, Mr. MacArthur worked as deputy director on economic relations with Russia (1990 to 1992); as deputy director, policy and strategic planning (1997 to 1999); as director, Trade Commissioner Service overseas operations (1999 to 2003); and director, China and Mongolia (2003 to 2004). He also served as director general, global business opportunities (2009 to 2012), overseeing industry sectors, as well as science and technology cooperation. In 2012, he became director general of the South, Southeast Asia and Oceania Bureau. Mr. MacArthur represented Canada at meetings of senior economic officials with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (2015 to 2016) and will continue as Canada’s senior official with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. He is married to Karen MacArthur and they have two children, Stephanie and Benjamin.

Douglas Scott Proudfoot (BA Hons [Philosophy], University of Toronto, 1981; MA [History], McGill University, 1996) joined the Department of External Affairs in 1987. Positions overseas included Nairobi (1988 to 1991), Delhi (1995 to 1998) and Vienna (2002 to 2006), where he was accredited to various UN organizations headquartered in that city. At Headquarters, Mr. Proudfoot was the director of the Afghanistan Task Force (2006 to 2007) and the Sudan Task Force (2007 to 2011). Mr. Proudfoot also served as minister-counsellor at the high commission in London, responsible for political and public affairs (2011 to 2016). He is married to the writer Debra Martens, and they have one daughter.

Christopher Thornley (BA [Political Science], University of Victoria, 1983; MPA, Dalhousie University, 1985) began his career in trade promotion with the Government of Nova Scotia before joining External Affairs and International Trade Canada in 1990. In Ottawa, he served as a desk officer in the areas of international business development and trade policy, as deputy director for the Trade Commissioner Service in the Personnel Division (1996 to 1999) and for India in the South Asia Division (2002 to 2004), and as director of the Southeast Asia and Pacific and the Assignment and Pool Management divisions. Mr. Thornley also served at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as a director in the International Markets Bureau and director general of the Operations Bureau in the Market and Industry Services Branch. Abroad, he served in Stockholm and Boston and was head of mission at the Consulate General in Dubai (1999 to 2002). Mr. Thornley was ambassador to the Philippines (2010 to 2013) and high commissioner to Ghana with concurrent accreditation to Sierra Leone and Togo (2013 to 2016). He is married to Catherine Thornley, and has two sons.

Hon. Stéphane Dion Global Affairs Canada Government and Politics