Biographical notes

Larisa Galadza (BA Hons [Political Science and Ethics], Trinity College at the University of Toronto, 1994; MA [International Affairs], Carleton University, 1996) joined the Department of National Defence in 1996. She worked in policy-related positions at the Privy Council Office in 2001 and at the Treasury Board Secretariat from 2003 to 2006, before moving to Public Safety Canada, where she was director of Strategic Policy and Research and then senior director for National Security Policy. From 2012 to 2014, she served at the Privy Council Office as director of operations for the Social Affairs Committee of Cabinet, and then, from 2014 to 2016, she was director general of Admissibility at Citizenship and Immigration Canada. In 2016, she became director general of the Peace and Stabilization Operations Program at Global Affairs Canada. 

Kumar Gupta (BEng, Queen’s University, 1995; MA [Environmental Design], University of Calgary, 2000) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2001. At Headquarters, he worked in the Environmental Relations Division from 2001 to 2002 and as deputy director for political affairs in the Maghreb and North Africa Relations Division from 2012 to 2013. He also worked at the Privy Council Office’s Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat, where he was responsible for Canada-U.S. border issues, the Arctic and Mexico. Abroad, he served in New York from 2002 to 2006; in Addis Ababa from 2006 to 2008 as head of the Political, Trade and Immigration Section; in London from 2009 to 2012 as head of advocacy; in Lusaka from 2013 to 2015 as head of office; and as Canada’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, Botswana and Angola from 2015 to 2017. Mr. Gupta has also served as senior departmental adviser in the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.