Biographical notes

Patricia Atkinson (BA Hons [Social Sciences], University of Ottawa, 2002) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2003, following an internship in Lithuania. At Headquarters, she has worked in the Southeast Asia and Oceania Division, the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Response Group, the Central America and Caribbean Relations Division and the Canadian Foreign Service Institute. She has also served as the first head of the Venezuela Task Force and the director of the Data, Results and Delivery Division. Overseas, Ms. Atkinson has served at the Embassy to Thailand, Myanmar and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, as well as at the Embassy to Guatemala and High Commission in Belize. Most recently, she was the director of the Natural Resources and Governance Division in the Global Issues and Development Branch.

Karolina Guay (BA Hons [Political Science], McGill University, 2003; MA [International Development], Sciences Po Paris, 2005), joined the Canadian International Development Agency in 2007 and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2011. At Headquarters, she was project officer for humanitarian funding on the Afghanistan Task Force; program manager for Canada’s Global Fund for Peace and Security on Colombia and Haiti; senior adviser to the assistant deputy minister for the Americas; and, more recently, executive director and chief of staff to the deputy minister of foreign affairs. Her positions overseas include second secretary (development) and vice-consul in Rwanda (2009 to 2011), political counsellor and chargé d’affaires in Guatemala and ambassador to El Salvador. Prior to entering the public service, she worked for a Canadian engineering company with projects in the Dominican Republic and for non-governmental and multilateral organizations, working in Geneva, Switzerland; Mali; Mozambique; and Montréal, Quebec.

Jeffrey Marder (BA Hons [History], University of Western Ontario, 1990; MA [History], Simon Fraser University, 1996) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1997. In Ottawa, he has held assignments as Organization of American States coordinator in the Mexico and Inter-American Affairs Division, deputy director of the Aboriginal and Circumpolar Affairs Division, director of the South America and Inter-American Relations Division, director of the Central American and Caribbean Relations Division and director of the United Nations Division. Abroad, Mr. Marder has served as junior adviser to the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations in New York City, second secretary in Santiago and head of public affairs in Mexico City. He was also ambassador to Portugal from 2014 to 2018. Most recently, he served as executive director of the Human Rights and Indigenous Affairs Policy Division.

Keith Smith (BA Hon [French Studies], University of Ottawa, 1997) has held various positions within Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, including as director of Intergovernmental and International Relations. From 2013 to 2016, he was the director of Policy, Research and International at the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC). He also served as the director general of Policy and Communications at the CHRC. From 2016 to 2018, he worked for the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada as the director of policy. In this role, he dealt with a wide range of justice files, including an Indigenous rights framework, criminal justice system and family law reform, 2SLGBTQI+ issues and international human rights and justice matters. He joined Justice Canada in August 2021 as the director general of the UN Declaration Act Implementation Secretariat, leading on the development of a whole-of-government action plan to achieve the objectives of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He is a member of the Thessalon First Nation, a signatory to the Robinson Huron Treaty.