Biographical notes

Jessica Blitt (BA Hons [Peace and Conflict Studies and Philosophy], University of Toronto, 1996; MA [International Affairs], Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, 1999) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2002. At Headquarters, she has worked in the Peacebuilding and Human Security Division and the Emergency Management Bureau. She has also been seconded to the Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat of the Privy Council Office, as well as to National Defence, where she was the deputy director and then director of NATO policy. Overseas, she has served at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, the Embassy to Italy and the Mission to the European Union. Most recently, she was director and senior departmental adviser to the minister of foreign affairs.

Gavin Buchan (BA [Philosophy], Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1991; MA [International Relations], Queen’s University, 2010) joined External Affairs and International Trade Canada in 1992. At Headquarters, he has worked in the Human Rights Division, the Defence Relations Division and the Policy Development Division. Most recently, he has served as director general, development policy, and special adviser to the chief development officer. He has also served as director of NATO policy and Afghanistan policy with the Department of National Defence and in the Privy Council Office. Overseas, he has served in Prague, The Hague, Kandahar and Amman, in addition to special assignments in New York, Pristina, Dublin and Tampa.

Kathy Bunka (BSc Hons [Biology], Laurentian University, 1990; BA Hons [Political Science], McGill University, 1993; MSc [International Health], Harvard School of Public Health, 1996) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1997. At Headquarters, she has worked in the UN Division, as NATO adviser in the International Security Branch and as the head of the New Way Forward initiative to modernize the political-public affairs stream of Canada’s foreign service. She served as a senior adviser in the International Organizations Bureau and the South Asia Bureau and as director of consular policy and programs. Overseas, she has served at the UN in New York; she has also served in Ghana, Togo, the West Bank and Gaza, Uganda, South Sudan and, as head of office, from 2011 to 2016 in Slovakia. Most recently, Ms. Bunka deployed to the Public Health Agency of Canada as the COVID-19 emergency manager in the Emergency Management Branch.

Caroline Charette (LLB [Civil Law], University of Montréal, 1995) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1998. At Headquarters, she was director of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Secretariat from 2016 to 2017 and executive director of the Regional Network and Intergovernmental Relations Division from 2017 to 2018. Abroad, she served in Tokyo as trade commissioner from 2001 to 2005, in New Delhi as deputy trade program manager from 2006 to 2009 and at Canada’s embassy in Paris as minister-counsellor (economic and commercial affairs) and as senior trade commissioner from 2013 to 2016. Most recently, starting in 2019, Ms. Charette was ambassador of Canada to Hungary, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sandra Choufani (BA [Law], Sherbrooke University, 2000; MA [International Relations], Laval University, 2004) joined the Canadian International Development Agency in 2003. At Headquarters, she has worked in several geographic branches, including in relation to the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti and Myanmar, and has been senior adviser to the director general of Assignments and Executive Management. Abroad, she held several positions in Kandahar, Afghanistan, then in Ramallah, West Bank and Gaza, and was head of cooperation in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2013 to 2017.

Cheryl Cruz (BA [Sociology], University of Alberta, 1999; LLB, Dalhousie University, 2003; MPA, Dalhousie University, 2003; LLM, University of Cambridge, 2008) joined the Department of Justice Canada in 2003 and became a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada as a barrister and solicitor the following year. In 2006, she joined Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada as a foreign service officer. At Headquarters, she was senior legal officer in the Criminal, Security and Diplomatic Law Division (2008 to 2012), deputy director in the United Nations, Human Rights and Economic Law Division, where she was responsible for Canada’s economic sanctions regime (2012 to 2015), and deputy director responsible for nuclear non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament policy (2018 to 2021). Overseas, she has served at Canada’s embassies in Beirut, as adviser to the department’s Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force (2006 to 2007), and in Ankara, where she was the political and economic counsellor responsible for Canada’s political, economic and public affairs in Türkiye, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan (2015 to 2018). Since 2021, she has been head of office of Canada’s mission in Bratislava.