CAMERON MacKay has been appointed Canada’s High Commissioner to India, replacing Nadir Patel.
The announcement was made by Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on December 23.
His last appointment abroad was as Canada’s ambassador to Indonesia and Timor-Leste from 2019 to 2021.
Most recently in Ottawa, he served as director of operations at the Privy Council Office’s Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat.
MacKay (BA (Economics and Industrial Relations), McGill University, 1990; Master in Environmental Studies (MES), York University, 1996) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1995.
At Headquarters, he served as director of regional trade policy from 2008 to 2010, director general for China trade policy from 2012 to 2013, director general of the Trade Negotiations Bureau from 2013 to 2015 and director general of the Trade Sectors Bureau from 2015 to 2017.
Abroad, he served at Canada’s permanent mission in Geneva from 2001 to 2006, and as Canada’s ambassador to Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua from 2010 to 2012.
Other diplomatic appointments to India:
PATRICK Hébert becomes Consul General in Chandigarh. He replaces Mia Yen.
Most recently, Hébert served as political, economic and public affairs counsellor at the Embassy to South Korea.
Patrick Hébert (BA (Political Science), Laval University, 1994; MA (Political Science), Laval University, 1996) joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1998. At Headquarters, he was acting director of the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Response Group; he was deputy director in this unit from 2010 to 2011, when it was coordinating Canada’s responses to the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and the tsunami in Japan in 2011. He worked in the Defence and Security Relations Division from 2003 to 2006 and was responsible for Asia and the Americas. He first served abroad at the Embassy to France from 2000 to 2003. He served as political counsellor at the Embassy to Serbia from 2006 to 2009 and at the Embassy to Sweden from 2011 to 2016.
DIEDRAH Kelly becomes Consul General in Mumbai. She replaces Annie Dubé.
In 2018, she was appointed ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Diedrah Kelly (BA Hons (Political Science and Central, Eastern European and Russian Area Studies), Carleton University, 2001), joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 2001. In Ottawa, she has worked as head of the Policy and Programming Unit in the Threat Assessment and Intelligence Services Division, as senior nuclear adviser and program manager in the Global Partnership Program and as chief of staff to the assistant deputy minister for international security and global affairs. She has served abroad in various positions, including, from 2004 to 2007, consul and political counsellor at the Embassy to Bosnia and Herzegovina and, from 2007 to 2010, as head of the embassy office in Astana. From 2011 to 2014, she was the political counsellor at the High Commission in Ghana.
BENOIT Préfontaine becomes Consul General in Bengaluru. He replaces Nicole Girard.
Most recently, he was high commissioner in Bangladesh (2017 to 2021).
Benoit Préfontaine (BSc (Economics), University of Montréal, 1983; MA (Economics), University of Ottawa, 1985) joined the Department of External Affairs in 1987. At Headquarters, Préfontaine worked in the Defence Programs Bureau, Overseas Division (1987 to 1988) and the Export Finance Division (1991 to 1993); and he was deputy director of the South Asia Division (1999 to 2001); director of the Aerospace, Automotive, Defence and Information and Communications Technologies Division (2008 to 2011); and deputy inspector general and director of the Mission Inspection Division (2014 to 2017). Abroad, he worked in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, (1988 to 1991) and served as consul and trade commissioner in Fukuoka, Japan (1995 to 1999); senior trade commissioner responsible for India, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka in New Delhi (2001 to 2004); counsellor (commercial-economic) in Tokyo (2004 to 2008); and senior trade commissioner for Brazil, based in São Paulo (2011 to 2014).
