Ottawa, 5 February 2014 – The Auditor General of Canada, Michael Ferguson, has appointed Julie Gelfand as Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development (CESD), effective 24 March 2014.
"The Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development plays a key role in promoting sustainable development and good environmental management by the federal government," said Mr. Ferguson. "I look forward to working with Ms. Gelfand to fulfill this aspect of the Office's mandate."
With over 25 years of experience in the field of environmental and social responsibility, Ms. Gelfand previously held the positions of Chief Advisor at Rio Tinto Canada, and of Vice President of Environment and Social Responsibility at the Rio Tinto Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC). In those roles, she managed issues related to water effluent, air quality, government and community relations, and aboriginal negotiations.
Prior to joining IOC, Ms. Gelfand was Vice President, Sustainable Development at the Mining Association of Canada (MAC), where she was responsible for two key social responsibility initiatives for the mining industry. She was also co-chair of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Centre of Excellence, under the federal CSR Strategy for the Canadian International Extractive Sector.
From 1992 to 2008, she served as President of Nature Canada, spearheading campaigns that led to the creation of new national parks and legislation to protect nature, including the federal Species at Risk Act. In addition, she founded and chaired the Green Budget Coalition, an alliance of 22 national environmental NGOs working to achieve ecological fiscal reform, and served on several national boards of directors as well as on the Global Council of Birdlife International.
Mr. Ferguson thanks Neil Maxwell, interim Commissioner, for his service to the Office of the Auditor General, to Parliament and to Canadians over the last year.
The position of Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development was established in December 1995 by amendments to the Auditor General Act. Appointed by the Auditor General, the Commissioner leads a group of auditors specialized in environment and sustainable development. The Commissioner is responsible for assessing whether federal government departments are meeting their sustainable development objectives, and for overseeing the environmental petitions process, and reports to Parliament on behalf of the Auditor General.
