Bob Rae, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York

Biography

Bob Rae is the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York. He has served in this post since August 4, 2020. Since assuming this role has been active in all aspects of the work of the UN, culminating in his election to the Presidency of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for 2024‑25, the second Canadian to assume this role, and joins Lester Pearson (President of the General Assembly 1952‑53) and George Davidson (ECOSOC 1958‑59) as Canadians elected in their personal capacity to preside over UN Charter bodies.

Mr. Rae served as Premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, and interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2011 to 2013. He was elected to federal and provincial parliaments eleven times between 1978 and 2013. He has been honoured by the alumni of both bodies for his distinguished service.

Mr. Rae received his Honours B.A. in Modern History from the University of Toronto, an M.Phil in Politics as a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College in Oxford University, and graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1977. He was a Lecturer in the Faculty of Business (1976‑77) and also served as assistant to the Canadian General Counsel of the United Steelworkers from 1975 to 1977. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in February in 1980 and was named a Queen’s Counsel in 1984.

Mr. Rae has worked with three law firms, Sack Charney Goldblatt and Mitchell (1977 to 1982), Goodmans LLP (1996 to 2007), and Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP (2014 to 2020), each drawing on his skills as a scholar, an advocate, a mentor and a mediator. Among other notable assignments, Mr. Rae led the restructuring of the Canadian Red Cross, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and chaired the board of the Royal Conservatory of Music. He also wrote “Lessons to be Learned” on the Air India bombing, and “Ontario a Leader in Learning” - a study of the Ontario higher education system. He was also named to the Security and Intelligence Review Committee by then Prime Minister Chrétien. He served as the Chief Negotiator for the nine First Nations that are members of the Matawa Tribal Council in Northern Ontario between 2013 and 2018.

Mr. Rae’s return to Parliament for the constituency of Toronto Centre in 2008 led to his appointment as Foreign Affairs spokesman for his party, and to his election as interim Leader in 2011. From 1996 to 1999 and between 2013 and 2020, he taught law, politics, public policy at the University of Toronto, and was a partner and senior counsel to the law firm OKT LLP, specializing in indigenous law and constitutional issues. Mr. Rae is a Fellow of the Forum of Federations (an organization he co-founded in the 1990’s), Massey College, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

In October 2017, Mr. Rae was appointed as Canada’s Special Envoy to Myanmar. In this role, he engaged in diplomatic efforts to address the crisis in the country’s Rakhine State and wrote the report “Tell Them We’re Human” in 2018. In March 2020, he was named by Prime Minister Trudeau to be Canada’s Special Envoy on Humanitarian and Refugee Issues. This led to his report “A Global Pandemic Requires a Global Response”, which was made public shortly before his appointment as Ambassador to the UN.

Mr. Rae is a Privy Councillor, a Companion of the Order of Canada, a member of the Order of Ontario, and has numerous awards and honorary degrees from institutions in Canada and around the world. In addition to several government reports, he is the author of six books, “From Protest to Power”, “The Three Questions”, “Exporting Democracy”, “Canada In The Balance”, “What’s Happened to Politics”, and “Reflections on a public life (The Symons Lecture”). His hobbies include music, reading, and writing, he loves tennis, golf, and fishing. He is married to Arlene Perly Rae, a writer and public advocate on issues affecting women and children. They have three daughters and six grandchildren.