About Global Canada

Canadian prosperity depends upon a prosperous, well-governed world. Over the last 75 years, Canada has played an important—at times critical—global role. However, the world has become more complex and crowded. Canada’s ability to have a global influence cannot be taken for granted.Global Canada believes that it is in Canada’s strategic interest to increase its global impact. Canada’s impact will be enhanced if key Canadian institutions and individuals work together in a coordinated and complementary manner.In an increasingly multistakeholder world, the responsibility for global impact cannot rest with government alone. All stakeholders—including the private sector, universities, social entrepreneurs, and philanthropists—have an important role to play.Global Canada supports Canadian global leadership in three ways:

1. Curating an exciting community of “Global Canadians”—Canadians in leadership positions at home and abroad who are passionate about Canada’s global role:  Community
   
   There are many extraordinary Canadians who are making a positive difference in the world.  They can inform and inspire their fellow citizens and, by working together, could have an even greater impact. Global Canada provides a rallying point for these Global Canadians.
2. Crafting up-to-date understanding of, narratives on, and strategies for Canada’s global engagement:  Conceptualizing
   
   Many of the terms that used to describe Canada’s international engagement (“honest broker”, “middle power”, “liberal internationalism”) date from the 1950s and 1960s.  The world has changed.  Canada has changed.   What are the reasons for global engagement today?  These may include:  our close demographic links around the world; the increasingly global nature of business; our shared concern in the global environment; the clear links between the health, prosperity and stability of countries abroad and our well-being at home. Global Canada is committed to rigorous, fact-based, strategic diagnostics of Canada’s global engagement:  why we should engage, where we should engage, and how we can maximize our impact.
3. Working with other stakeholders to advance issues where Canada can have a global impact: Catalyzing
   
   From the 1950s to the 1990s, Canada was associated with UN peacekeeping.  What are the areas today in which Canada has the strategic interest and the capability to make a world-scale difference?  Global Canada aims to identify a limited number of issues in which there is the potential to have a global impact. Working with others, Global Canada proves in practice the power of a positive whole-of-Canada approach to global engagement and international development.

Global Canada aims to complement, not compete with, existing institutions. A key measure of Global Canada’s success will be its ability to enhance the global performance and reputation of existing Canadian institutions.  It will act as a public-policy “smart-grid” linking together the considerable intellectual and implementation power that already exists in the country.

Global Canada envisions a constructive, complementary relationship with government.   It is a not-for-profit, multistakeholder organization that does not seek funding from government.   It is clearly and consistently non-partisan.  While ensuring analytical clarity and intellectual integrity, its tone is respectful and constructive.

Global Canada’s strategic intent is ambitious: catalyzing increased global engagement by all Canadian stakeholders, thereby enhancing Canada’s global impact and reputation.

Board of Directors

André Beaulieu

SVP Bell Canada and President of BCE Nexxia

Robert Greenhill

Executive Chair, Global Canada, and Senior Fellow, CIGI

Michael McAdoo

Senior Consultant, The Boston Consulting Group

Helen Antoniou

President, Elenico

Team

Robert Greenhill

With a strong interest in global issues, Robert Greenhill has combined a career in international business with a commitment to public policy.

Robert Greenhill is Executive Chairman, Global Canada Initiative, and Professor of Practice at the Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University. Previous roles include Managing Director and Chief Business Officer of the World Economic Forum, Deputy Minister and President of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and President and Chief Operating Officer of the International Group of Bombardier Inc. Robert started his career with McKinsey & Company.

He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Governance of Private and Public Organisations (IGOPP), the KBF Canada Foundation and of the Advisory Board of the Banff Forum.

Robert has a BA from the University of Alberta, MA from the London School of Economics, and MBA from INSEAD.

Nathalie Hamel

Nathalie Hamel is Community Coordinator, Global Canada Initiative, with over twenty years’ experience in project management and business administration. Her professional background includes work as a teacher and a translator. She has studied and lived abroad for more than 10 years. Nathalie has a BA and an M.Ed. from Université de Montréal.

Funding

Global Canada does not accept government funding. Global Canada is financed by support from foundations, corporations and individuals. This support may be for the institution, an initiative, or an event. No supporter has editorial control over Global Canada activities or publications.