Biographical Note

New Permanent Representative of Canada Presents Credentials

 

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

The new Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, Guillermo E. Rishchynski, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

From 2007 until his appointment, Mr. Rishchynski was the Canadian Ambassador to Mexico.  He has held a number of positions in the Canadian foreign service.  From 2005 to 2007, he served as Canadian Ambassador to Brazil.  Prior to that assignment, from 2003 to 2005, he served as Vice-President for the Americas at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in Canada.  In 1999, he was appointed Ambassador to Colombia, serving for three years in Bogota.

From 1997 to 1999, he served at the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago, Illinois, United States.  He was stationed from 1993 to 1996 at the Canadian Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, and from 1992 to 1993, he served at the Canadian Consulate in Melbourne, Australia.  From 1985 to 1989, he was posted at the Canadian Embassy in Amman, Jordan.  Prior to those assignments, from 1983 to 1986, he served at the Canadian Consulates General in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

At headquarters in Ottawa, he held several senior positions, including as Deputy Director of Mexico, Latin America and Caribbean, from 1989 to 1992, and Director of the Team Canada Task Force, from 1997 to 1998.  From 2002 to 2003, he was the Inspector General of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Rishchynski joined the foreign service in 1982, after a career in the private sector in marketing and project management in Africa and Latin America.

The new Ambassador obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, with honours, in political science from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, in 1975.  He also pursued graduate studies at the Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa.  He is fluent in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1953, Mr. Rishchynski is married with two children.

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For information media • not an official record