Biographical notes

François Lafrenière (BA [Economics], Laval University, 1986) worked for a Montréal-based international development organization from 1990 to 2005—including as Asia regional director for 5 years—and lived and worked in several Asian countries, including Cambodia, India, Nepal and Vietnam. He joined the Canadian International Development Agency in 2005 and held several deputy director positions in the Asia, Africa and Canadian Partnerships branches. He was director of the Afghanistan and Sri Lanka development programs from 2015 to 2016 and the Myanmar and Philippines development programs from 2016 to 2019. Overseas, he was counsellor (development) at the embassy in Beijing from 2010 to 2012. Most recently, he was ambassador to Myanmar from 2019 to 2022 and to Mali from 2022 to 2023.