Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 1999-2001

Current Affiliation: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada

Chrystia Freeland was named Minister of Foreign Affairs in January 2017. An alumna of the Belfer Center’s International Security Program, she served as Canada’s Minister of International Trade between 2015 and 2017. Prior to that, she was elected as the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre in a by-election in November 2013 and then re-elected in October 2015 as the Member of Parliament for University–Rosedale.

A journalist and author, Freeland was born in Peace River, Alberta. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University before continuing her studies as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford.

Freeland served in a number of journalistic positions before entering politics. She was a managing director of Canadian-owned Thomson Reuters and editor of Consumer News until 2010, when she ran for Parliament. Before that, she wore a number of hats at the Financial Times, including as deputy editor and then U.S. managing editor. She was deputy editor of The Globe and Mail between 1999 and 2001.

She has written two books: Sale of the Century: The Inside Story of the Second Russian Revolution (2000) and Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else (2012).‎ Plutocrats is an international best-seller and won the Lionel Gelber Prize and National Business Book Award.