July 10, 2008
No. 158
The Honourable David Emerson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced the following diplomatic appointments:
Anna Biolik becomes Ambassador to Mongolia.
Peter M. Boehm becomes Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany.
David Fransen becomes Consul General in Los Angeles (United States of America).
John Gero becomes Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization, in Geneva.
Reid Henry becomes Ambassador to the State of Kuwait, with concurrent accreditation to the State of Qatar.
Deanna Horton becomes Ambassador of Canada to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Patricia Langan-Torell becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Panama.
Charles Larabie becomes Consul General in Rio de Janeiro (Federative Republic of Brazil).
Anne Leahy becomes Ambassador to the Holy See.
Richard Lecoq becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Peru.
Peter Lundy becomes Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark.
John Morrison becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia, with concurrent accreditation to the Republic of Montenegro and to the Republic of Macedonia.
Martial Pagé becomes Ambassador to the Lebanese Republic.
Gilles Rivard becomes Ambassador to the Republic of Haiti.
Jules Savaria becomes Ambassador to Burkina Faso.
David Sevigny becomes High Commissioner to the Republic of Singapore.
Doreen Steidle becomes Consul General in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (People’s Republic of China), with concurrent accreditation in the Macao Special Administrative Region (People’s Republic of China).
- 30 -
Biographical notes on the appointees follow.
For further information, media representatives may contact:
Lynn Meahan
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
613-995-1851
Foreign Affairs Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
613-995-1874
www.international.gc.ca/index.aspx
Biographical Notes
Anna Biolik (BA [Literature and Philosophy], Lycée Copernic, Katowice, 1971; MA [French Studies], University of Cracow, 1975; PhD [Comparative Literature], University of Montreal, 1982) taught at the University of Ottawa before joining the federal government. Since 1984, she has worked for the House of Commons, the Secretary of State, the Department of Communications, the Governor General, Canada Post and Investment Partnerships Canada. In 1997, she joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, serving in Ottawa as director of the International Business Opportunities Centre and the Market Support Division. From 2001 to 2004, she served as consul general in St. Petersburg and, from 2004 to 2006, as ambassador of Canada to the Republic of Kazakhstan, with concurrent accreditation to the Kyrgyz Republic and to the Republic of Tajikistan. She currently serves as director of the Centre of Learning for International Affairs and Management of the Canadian Foreign Service Institute. She is married to Terence Hargreaves.
Peter M. Boehm (BA, Honours, [English and History], Wilfrid Laurier University, 1977; MA [International Affairs], Carleton University, 1978; PhD, [History], University of Edinburgh, 1983) joined the Canadian foreign service in 1981. He has served abroad in Havana and San José. He also served twice in Washington, the first time, in 1997, at the Permanent Mission of Canada as Canada’s ambassador and permanent representative to the Organization of American States, the second, in 2001, at the Embassy of Canada as minister of political and public affairs. At Headquarters, he has occupied a number of positions, notably director of the Economic Summit Coordination Division and director of the South America and Inter-American Division. He was appointed assistant deputy minister, North America, in January 2005, and, concurrently, serves as personal representative (sherpa) of the prime minister for the Summits of the Americas and senior official responsible for the North American leaders’ summits. Peter Boehm succeeds Paul Dubois.
David Fransen (BTh, Canadian Mennonite Bible College, 1974; BA Honours, University of Waterloo, 1975; MA, University of Waterloo, 1977; PhD, University of Toronto, 1984) joined the Privy Council Office in 1988. There he served as an officer for the Intelligence Advisory Committee and subsequently as senior officer for environmental policy. In 1995, he moved to Industry Canada, where he served as director, economic framework policies; director general of the Office of Consumer Affairs; associate assistant deputy minister, spectrum information technologies and telecommunications; assistant deputy minister, industry sector; and assistant deputy minister, policy. At Health Canada from 2000 to 2002, he was director general of the Centre for Healthy Human Development. He is currently executive director of the Institute for Quantum Computing and associate vice-president (Strategic Relations) at the University of Waterloo. David Fransen succeeds Alain Dudoit.
John Gero (BA, Honours [Economics], University of Toronto, 1970; MA [Economics] University of Toronto, 1971) joined the federal public service in 1975. Throughout his career, he has been involved in a wide array of aid and trade issues, and has also participated as a senior Canadian representative in multilateral trade negotiations. At Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, he has held the titles of director general, Trade Policy Bureau II, Services, Investment and Intellectual Property; director of the Trade Remedies Division; director of the Tariffs and Market Access Division; and counsellor (commercial) at the Permanent Mission of Canada to the GATT. He was also appointed to the Board of Directors of the Canadian Commercial Corporation. He is currently assistant deputy minister, Trade Policy and Negotiations. John Gero succeeds Donald Stephenson.
Reid Henry (BA, Honours [Political Science and Economics], University of Manitoba, 1977; MA [Soviet and East European Studies], Carleton University, 1980) worked as a research analyst for Carleton University prior to joining the Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce in 1979 as an assistant trade commissioner. He has since served abroad in Belgrade, San Francisco, Moscow and Ankara. At Headquarters, he has served as head of the Energy Section in the Energy and Environment Division and as deputy director of Fisheries and Energy in the United States Transboundary Division. He is currently director and senior trade commissioner, Prairie and Northern Region, in Edmonton, Alberta. He and his wife, Karen Nauss-Henry, have a son, Michael, and a daughter, Mariana. Reid Henry succeeds Denis Thibault.
Deanna Horton (BA, Honours [Political Science], McGill University, 1976; MA [International Affairs], Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, 1979; Dipl. [International Studies], Johns Hopkins University, 1979) joined the Department of External Affairs in 1981 and has since served in Hamburg and in Washington. She also served in Tokyo three times as first secretary (commercial), minister-counsellor (economic), and minister and deputy head of mission. At Headquarters she has served as policy officer in the United States Trade and Economic Relations Division, and executive assistant in the Office of the Deputy Minister for International Trade. Taking leave from the department in 2004, she worked as vice-president, investor relations and corporate affairs, for a Canadian diversified natural resources company. Having returned in 2006, she is currently director of the Office of the Deputy Minister for International Trade. Deanna Horton succeeds Gabriel Lessard.
Patricia Langan-Torell (MBA, University of Ottawa, 1996) worked with Canada Post, with the Canadian Institute for Health Information as director of human resources, and with Global Action Consulting as senior consultant prior to joining the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1997. Since joining, she has served as departmental liaison officer in the Office of the Minister for International Trade, trade policy officer with the Trade Policy Planning Division, and, on secondment to the International Trade Centre in Toronto, trade commissioner and subsequently deputy director. She is currently the director for bilateral commercial relations with Latin America and the Caribbean. Patricia Langan-Torrell succeeds José Herran-Lima.
Charles Larabie (BA [Public Administration], University of Ottawa, 1973) worked in the private sector prior to joining the Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce in 1978 as sector plan manager for the Metric Commission. Moving to the Department of Agriculture in 1981, he served as associate director of the then-new Crown corporation Canagrex. He joined the Department of External Affairs in 1985 and has since served in Belgrade, São Paulo and Berne. At Headquarters he has served as trade development officer in the Food Products Division, desk officer then deputy director in the Western Europe Trade Development Division, deputy director of the Media Relations Office; director of the Executive Services Division and director of the Business and Financial Planning Division. He is currently director for strategic trade planning and performance management. He and his wife Susan have two daughters. Charles Larabie succeeds Jean-Yves Dionne.
Anne Leahy (BA, Honours [Economics], Queen’s University, 1972; MA [Political Economy], University of Toronto, 1973) joined the Department of External Affairs in 1973 and served abroad in Brussels [European Community), in Moscow and in Paris [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]. She has served in Yaounde as ambassador to the Republic of Cameroon, the Republic of Chad and the Central African Republic, in Warsaw as ambassador to the Republic of Poland and in Moscow as ambassador to the Russian Federation and the republics of Armenia, Uzbekistan and Belarus. At Headquarters, she served as director of the Personnel Assignments Division and director general of the Policy Planning Bureau. She was diplomat-in-residence at York University in 1999-2000, federal coordinator for World Youth Day 2002 from 2000 to 2002; founding director of the Institut des études internationales de Montréal at the Université du Québec à Montréal from 2002 to 2004 and ambassador for the Great Lakes Region in Africa from 2004 to 2007. She currently serves as special advisor on departmental business continuity. She is a recipient of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland, in the class of Commander. Anne Leahy succeeds Donald Smith.
Richard Lecoq (Institut d’études politiques de Grenoble, 1971; MBA, Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, 1976) joined the foreign service as a trade commissioner in 1976 and served abroad in Algiers, Boston, Paris and Budapest. In 2002, he was named ambassador to Vietnam, a position he held until 2005. In Ottawa, he held a number of positions, including deputy director of the Media Relations Office and departmental spokesperson, director of the Trade Commissioner Service Operations Division, director of the Export Finance Division and director general of the Communications Bureau. He worked in Montreal from 1981 to 1987, first in the private sector and then at the Regional Office of the Department of Economic Development. Since 2005, he has been director general of the Business Sectors Bureau in Ottawa. He is married to Ilona Horvath and they have four children. Richard Lecoq succeeds Geneviève des Rivières.
Peter Lundy (BA Honours [History and Political Science], Royal Military College of Canada, 1986; MBA [International Business], University of British Columbia, 1993) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1993, having previously served with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry in Calgary, Winnipeg and Germany. Since joining the department, he has been posted abroad as trade commissioner in Caracas and as investment and strategic alliance program manager in Chicago. At Headquarters, he has held the positions of deputy director, Central Europe and Eastern Mediterranean Division, and senior desk officer in the South America and the International Finance divisions. He is currently director of the Nordic, Central Europe and Eastern Mediterranean Division. Peter Lundy succeeds Fredericka Gregory.
John Morrison (BA, McGill University; MA, Cambridge University) joined the Department of External Affairs in 1985 and served abroad as third secretary at the High Commission for Canada in Kuala Lumpur; second secretary (political affairs) in Beijing; program manager (political, economic and public affairs), at the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei; and counsellor (economic) in Tokyo. At Headquarters, he has occupied a number of positions, notably director of the Eastern Europe and Balkans Division, and of the China and Mongolia Division. From 1999 to 2000, he was a foreign policy advisor in the Privy Council Office’s Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat. He is currently minister counsellor and deputy head of mission in Moscow. John Morrison succeeds Robert McDougall.
Martial Pagé (BA [Economics], McGill University, 1981) has served abroad as attaché (customs) at the Embassy of Canada in Tokyo and as counsellor (justice and home affairs) at the Canadian Mission to the European Union in Brussels. In Ottawa, he has held various positions at Revenue Canada, notably senior officer in the Assessment Program Division, manager for the Americas, Africa and Middle-East in the International Relations Coordination Office, and acting director in the Management and Services Division. At Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, he has occupied the positions of fisheries relations officer and, upon his return from Brussels in 2000, of deputy director responsible for the Baltic States, the European Free Trade Association countries and the Council of Europe. He then became deputy director responsible for the Baltic States, Turkey, Cyprus and Malta before taking the position of counsellor at the Canadian Embassy in Ankara in 2003. On his return to Ottawa, he assumed the position of director of the Assignments and Pool Management Division. He is married to Akiko Onozuka and they have three sons. Martial Pagé succeeds Louis de Lorimier.
Gilles Rivard (B.Sc.[Geography], Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, 1982; MA [Economic Geography], University of Ottawa, 1985) has more than 24 years of experience in international relations, including seven years abroad in Guinea, Costa Rica and Peru. At the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), he has held the positions of program director for Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic; director general of the Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia programs; and director general of policy, strategic planning and technical service for Africa. In 2004, he accepted an assignment in the Privy Council Office as director of operations for the Global Affairs Secretariat. Upon his return to CIDA, he was appointed vice-president, Europe, Maghreb and Middle East , and is currently vice-president, Americas. He is married to Danièle Ayotte and they have two children, Jean-François and Marie-Hélène. Gilles Rivard succeeds Claude Boucher.
Jules Savaria (MSc [Anthropology], Université de Montréal, 1971; PhD [Sociology], Université de Montréal, 1978) began his professional life in 1975 as regional director for West Africa with Canadian University Services Overseas (CUSO). He spent several years in Canada and abroad as a consultant with a number of governmental and non-governmental organizations concerned with development assistance in Mali, Haiti and Cambodia. In 1980, he served with the United Nations Development Programme in Senegal. Since joining the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in 1981, he has occupied a wide range of positions, including acting director of the Social Development Division and program director for Haiti. He then served in Kinshasa as head of aid and in Conakry as chargé d’affaires. From 1995 to 1997, he was director of the Educational Institutions Program. In 1997, he was named ambassador to Burkina Faso. Returning to CIDA in 2001, he served as regional director, Central Africa and Great Lakes. From 2003 to 2006, he was Canada’s high commissioner to the Republic of Cameroon, with concurrent accreditation as ambassador to the Central African Republic and the Republic of Chad. Upon his return, he accepted an invitation to serve as diplomat-in-residence for a year at the Université du Québec à Montreal, where he taught and researched communications and development through the Orbicom Network. Since November 2007, he has served as chargé d’affaires at the Embassy of Canada to Burkina Faso. He is married to Isabelle Bindia and they have four children. Jules Savaria succeeds Louis-Robert Daigle.
David Sevigny (BA [Economics], University of Toronto, 1976; MA [Economics], University of Toronto, 1977) served as an economist with the Bank of Canada and as a senior economist with the Department of External Affairs prior to joining the Department of Finance in 1984 as senior economist with the Debt and Development Section. In 1989, he took a temporary leave from the Department to serve as senior advisor to the Canadian executive director of the World Bank. He returned from leave in 1993 to serve as chief of the International Financial Institutions Section. In 1998, he began service abroad as finance counsellor at the Embassy of Canada to the United States. He subsequently returned to the Department of Finance to serve as senior chief of the International Financial Crimes Section from 2003 to 2006. Currently, he is director of the International Policy and Analysis Division. He and his wife Mary Broderick have four daughters. David Sevigny succeeds Alan Virtue.
Doreen Steidle (BA, Honours [Political Science and History], York University, 1977) entered the public service as a foreign service officer with the Department of Manpower and Immigration in 1977 and has served abroad in Sydney, Washington, Seoul, Manila and Damascus. In Ottawa, she has held a number of positions, including director general of the Selection Branch at Citizenship and Immigration Canada and director general of the Corporate Finance, Planning and Systems Bureau at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT). In 2000, she was appointed high commissioner to the Republic of Singapore. She served as CEO of Passport Canada from 2003 to 2006 and in 2006, she was named DFAIT’s assistant deputy minister, Corporate Services. She has four children. Doreen Steidle succeeds Gerald Campbell.
