Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s longtime ambassador to the U.S., is stepping down
CBC
Kirsten Hillman, Canada's longtime ambassador to the United States, is leaving her post in the new year — marking a key shakeup amid tense trade relations with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
Hillman announced the move Tuesday in a social media post, where she also said she will "remain available" to Canada's negotiating team as they navigate the potentially rocky period ahead.
"It has been the greatest privilege of my professional life to have served and represented Canada and Canadians during this critical period in Canada-U.S. relations," she wrote.
"While there will never be a perfect time to leave, this is the right time to put a team in place that will see the [Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement] review through to its conclusion."
Hillman represented Canada in Washington as ambassador, first in an acting role and then formally as of 2020, and was the first woman to be appointed to the prestigious posting.
The lawyer helped the former Liberal government negotiate the updated North American trade agreement — now known north of the border as CUSMA. The agreement enters its mandatory review period next year.
She also served as chief negotiator for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Hillman pointed to her work helping secure the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor as a highlight. In 2018, the two Canadians were detained by China's communist regime for 1,019 days, collateral as part of an international legal dispute involving a Huawei executive.
"In a relationship as deep and complex as ours, pressing and consequential issues arise almost daily. Yet none was more personal to me than the hundreds of hours I spent with U.S. and Chinese counterparts working for the release of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor," Hillman wrote.
Prime Minister Mark Carney thanked Hillman for her intelligence and diplomacy.
"As one of the longest-serving ambassadors to the United States in our history, her wide-ranging and constructive engagement with all branches of the U.S. government as well as with leaders across America and Canada have yielded crucial results for Canadians," he said in a statement.
The prime minister did not indicate who he has in mind to take over her position.
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau called Hillman "a real patriot."
"Her skill, toughness and commitment to her country shone through from the very beginning," he wrote. "Kirsten, my dear friend, thank you for your outstanding service."
Hundreds of thousands of used tires are piling up across Ontario as some companies responsible for tire recycling have stopped processing tires amid reduced provincial recycling regulations for tire producers, industry experts say.
People in Guelph facing homelessness will soon have a new place to go during the day.
Islanders are reminded to plan their rides ahead of holiday festivities if they plan on drinking alcohol or using cannabis.
Even before Gwen Healey Akearok began her new role as Nunavut’s Minister of Family Services, she was tuning into the Office of the Auditor General’s (OAG) hearings on the state of the Family Services department.
The racial reckoning of the COVID era saw Canada grapple with its checkered past — a process that led to statues of some foundational figures being removed, in some instances by force.
Holiday traditions are front and centre for many people at this time of year. But one Uxbridge family's Christmas tradition goes above and beyond the standard Christmas carols or holiday party.
A pedestrian is dead, and police are investigating following a collision in a north London parking lot on Tuesday afternoon.
Police have lifted a shelter-in-place order for parts of St. John's.
Nova Scotia Power is providing more information about the cyberattack on the utility earlier this year and its response in the months that followed.
A rare old-growth forest in Quebec’s Mauricie region is at the centre of a growing conflict between conservation advocates and the provincial government, after forestry roadwork was authorized in an area currently under review for protected status.
The FBI and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York sought an interview with ex-prince Andrew Mountbatten Windsor for connections to Canadian sex offender and fashion mogul Peter Nygard.
A mother is grieving after a carbon monoxide incident killed her 11-year-old son and put her husband in hospital in critical condition.
Just as Alberta begins to dig out from its last winter storm, most of the province is preparing for another blast of snow and brutal cold, just in time for the holidays.