New arrivals
Vitae Verkammen
Ambassador of Belgium
Ambassador Verkammen joined the foreign service in 1992 as an attaché in the cabinet of the foreign minister and from 1994 to 1997, he was consul at Belgium’s consulate general in Hong Kong.
From 1997 to 2002, he served as first secretary at the permanent mission to the European Union and from 2002 to 2003, he returned to the foreign ministry in the department for Central and Eastern Europe, working on Balkan and Russian files. In 2003, he became a diplomatic adviser to the prime minister and in 2007, he was sent to Lebanon as ambassador.
From 2011 to 2015, he was ambassador of Belgium in Senegal, with dual accreditation to Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. He then returned to the foreign ministry as director for the Middle East and North Africa.
Svetlana Sashova Stoycheva-Etropolski
Ambassador of Bulgaria
Svetlana Sashova Stoycheva-Etropolski joined the foreign ministry in 2003. At headquarters, she served in the information directorate and worked on Bulgaria’s accession to the EU. From 2007 to 2011, she headed the consular office at the consulate general in New York.
From 2011 to 2014, she worked at headquarters, working on bilateral and transatlantic issues. In July 2014, she was posted to Ottawa as head of the political section.
Before joining the ministry, she worked for the UN development program and on EU pre-accession projects. In 1996, she worked with the British Council to modernize Bulgarian vocational education.
She holds a master’s degree in economics and speaks English and Russian, with a working knowledge of Spanish. She is married to Hristo Iliev Etropolsky.
Vasilios Philippou
High Commissioner for Cyprus
Ambassador Philippou began his career in Brussels at the European Commission, but soon joined Cyprus’s foreign service and began working in the EU division of the ministry. Soon, he went to New York as a consul and four years later, he became the first secretary at the mission to the EU. He later returned to New York as consul general.
Back at headquarters, he worked in economic affairs. Soon, he became counsellor in multilateral affairs before becoming ambassador to several Latin American countries, including Mexico.
He returned to headquarters and later became high commissioner to Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago. He is also currently Cyprus’ representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal.
The high commissioner speaks Greek, French and Spanish. He is married to Anthea Vanech.
Thomas Winkler
Ambassador of Denmark
Ambassador Winkler joined the foreign ministry as head of section in 1988, after having graduated from the law faculty at the University of Copenhagen.
Two years later, he went on his first posting, as second secretary in Moscow. After two years in Russia, he moved on to Ukraine, where he served as deputy head of mission. In late 1994, he returned to headquarters, this time as deputy director of the department of EU law. In 1998, he became deputy head of mission at the embassy in Sweden.
From 2002 to 2004, he returned again to headquarters, where he served as deputy director of the Russian department after which he became ambassador and under-secretary for legal affairs. In 2013, he became Denmark’s ambassador to Moscow.
The ambassador also served as an associate professor of law between 2005 and 2013 at the University of Copenhagen.
Pedro Vergés
Ambassador of Dominican Republic
Ambassador Vergés has had a long and varied career, much of it in the world of academia and culture. He has been a professor or visiting lecturer at schools in Spain, Dominican Republic and the U.S.
From 1982 to 1991, he was executive secretary of the Dominican Institute of Hispanic Culture and from 1990 to 1993, he served as cultural director of the Hispanic Cultural Centre, based in Santo Domingo.
In 1996, he was named ambassador to Spain with concurrent representation to Morocco, Finland, Norway and Andorra and four years later, he became ambassador in Spain. From 2004 to 2009, he was ambassador in Germany and from 2009 to 2013, he served as ambassador to Japan. Finally, from 2013 to 2016, he was ambassador to the Organization of American States. He later became minister of culture for Dominican Republic.
Toomas Lukk
Ambassador of Estonia
Ambassador Lukk joined the foreign ministry’s political and international organizations division in 1993, after having spent eight years working at the Estonian Academy of Sciences. Three years later, he was sent to Estonia’s permanent mission at the UN in New York, where he spent three years.
In 1999, he returned to Tallinn to work in security policy and arms control, after which, in 2002, he became ambassador to Latvia. From 2006 to 2008, he was director of the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia division and was then appointed as ambassador to Georgia and Armenia in 2008. From 2012 to 2016, he was ambassador to China, Mongolia and Vietnam.
Beginning in 2016, he was director of the Asia-Pacific, Australia, Africa, Latin America and Middle East division.
The ambassador speaks Estonian, English, Russian, Finnish, Latvian and some French. He is married to Piret Lukk and they have two sons.
Boomo Frank Sofonia
High Commissioner for Lesotho
High Commissioner Sofonia worked as a senior management services officer for a few years before being named first secretary to Lesotho’s embassy in Denmark in 1988. He was then sent to Britain as counsellor, where he stayed for six years. From 1997 to 2001, he was deputy chief of protocol, after which he worked as controller of police standards at the ministry of home affairs and public safety.
He left the public service in 2004 and then, in 2006, he joined the All Basotho Convention, a newly established political party in Lesotho. In 2012, he was elected to Parliament and was re-elected in 2015. In 2017, he retired from elected office.
The high commissioner has a bachelor’s degree in administration and political science from the National University of Lesotho. He speaks Sesotho and English. He is married and has three children.
Roberto Rodriguez Arnillas
Ambassador of Peru
Ambassador Rodriguez Arnillas is a career diplomat who joined the Peruvian foreign service in 1990, beginning his work in the economic promotion division. He soon moved to the international co-operation and cultural division and had his first posting two years later, as consul in Ecuador.
In 1995, he was posted to Brazil and in 1999, he went to Washington to head the embassy’s trade and economic division. From 2005 to 2006, he was the prime minister’s adviser on trade issues. In 2007, he became chief of staff for the deputy foreign minister.
In 2009, he was sent to New York as deputy permanent representative to the UN and then in 2012, he came to Canada as deputy chief of mission. In 2015, he became chief of staff to the foreign minister and later chief of staff to the secretary general of foreign affairs. Prior to this appointment, he was senior adviser on foreign affairs in the office of the president.
He is married to Roxana Recalde Mosquera de Rodriguez.
João do Carmo Ataíde da Câmara
Ambassador of Portugal
Ambassador do Carmo Ataíde da Câmara finished his military service in 1984 and joined the foreign ministry the same year.
He worked in the office of the minister of state for European integration in 1987 and was then posted to the embassy in South Africa two years later. In 1994, he was posted to Brazil and then returned to headquarters as director of the European department.
In 1999, he became head of the cabinet of the minister of state for European affairs and a year later, he was sent to Britain as minister-counsellor. From 2003 to 2005, he served three different departments: Sub-Saharan Africa, European Union affairs and the foreign intelligence service. He was then sent to Zimbabwe as ambassador with dual accreditation to Zambia and Malawi. He was ambassador to Angola in 2012 and then ambassador to India in 2015.
He is married to Maria Raquel and has three children.
Vít Koziak
Ambassador of Slovakia
Ambassador Koziak is a career diplomat who joined the foreign ministry in 1999 in the department of Western Europe and North America. Soon after, in 2003, he received his first posting, as third secretary in Paris.
In 2007, he returned to headquarters as co-ordinator of the directorate for international organizations and development assistance. A year later, he became co-ordinator of the directorate for global challenges, human rights, the UN and other international organizations.
In 2009, he became first secretary at the embassy in Washington, where he spent the following four years. From 2013 to 2015, he was deputy director for foreign policy in the office of the president and then became director for three years prior to coming to Ottawa.
The ambassador, a graduate of the foreign service program at Oxford University, speaks English, French and Slovak. He is married and has two daughters.
Melita Gabrič
Ambassador of Slovenia
Ambassador Gabrič started her diplomatic career as a diplomatic affairs adviser to the prime minister. She had completed a bachelor’s in journalism and social affairs at the University of Ljubljana and subsequently studied at the diplomatic academy. She later completed a master’s degree and PhD from the same university, this time in international relations.
In 2003, she was named senior foreign affairs adviser to the president of Slovenia and then spent one year as senior adviser to the president of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, after which she served as consul general of Slovenia in New York. In 2012, she joined the foreign ministry’s department of human rights. She then served as director of development co-operation and humanitarian aid before being posted to Canada.
The ambassador speaks Slovene, English, French, Italian, Serbian and Croatian. She is married.
Alphayo J. Kidata
High Commissioner for Tanzania
High Commissioner Kidata studied economics at the University of Dar es Salaam and then pursued a master’s in computer science at Sichuan University in China in 1998. He also completed a master’s in public economic management and finance in 2004.
The high commissioner has a long civil service record. He joined the ministry of lands, housing and human settlements development in 1993 upon completion of his first degree. Eventually, he was named senior economist and director of policy and planning in the same ministry.
From 2011 to 2015, he was deputy permanent secretary and permanent secretary in several ministries before becoming commissioner general of the Tanzania Revenue Authority from late 2015 to 2017.
Before his posting to Canada, he was the permanent secretary in the office of the Tanzanian president. He is married and has three children.
Non-heads of mission
Australia
Jarrod Wood
First secretary
Stephen Kay
Counsellor
Azerbaijan
Fuad Aliyev
Chargé d’affaires
Benin
Freud Ulrich Klissou
Counsellor
Bulgaria
Stanislav Dimitrov Stanoev
Second secretary and consul
Cameroon
Marguerite Abeng Bilongo Epse Esso
First secretary
China
Shan Bai
Counsellor
Yue Zhong
First secretary
Cuba
Areadna Quintana Castaneda
Third secretary
David Aldama Pando
Third secretary
Dominican Republic
Erika Ylonca Alvarez Rodriguez
Minister-counsellor
Egypt
Mohy Mohammed Moussa Khalil
Attaché
European Union
Jaime Manuel Duran Navarro
Attaché
Finland
Jyrki Tapio Nissila
Minister-counsellor
France
Géraldine Ondine Christophe Vallaud
Third secretary
Jérôme Marie Christian Bresson
Minister-Counsellor
Germany
Franziska Hagedorn
Minister-counsellor
Lennart Eisentraeger
Attaché
Ramin Sigmund Moschtaghi
First secretary
Israel
Bar Segal
Second secretary
Italy
Stefano Cont
Defence and air attaché
Japan
Takeshi Miyake
First secretary
Yoshifuru Funahashi
First Secretary
Yutaka Konishi
First secretary
Naoki Seki
First secretary
Takuya Sasayama
Minister
Kenya
Vascaline Kanini Mbogo
Third secretary
Kuwait
Hamad M F M KH Aldhafeeri
Second secretary
Latvia
Katrina Kjaspere
Third secretary
Libya
Mohamed S M Zreg
First secretary
Mali
Alou Sarembe
Attaché
Mexico
Alfonso Vera Sanchez
Second secretary
Dalia Franco Jimenez
Attaché
Mongolia
Zolzaya Dorjtsoo
Second secretary
Munkh-Ulzii Tserendorj
Minister-counsellor
Paraguay
Oscar Augusto Luiz Divaldo Baez Galeano
First secretary
Poland
Mikolaj Agaton Cholewicz
First secretary
Aneta Dorota Lukas-Cholewicz
Third secretary
Karolina Marta Willmann-Duralska
First secretary
Qatar
Homoud Saleh M. N. Al-Saadi
Counsellor
Saudi Arabia
Sulaiman Abdulkareem M. Arabia Alaqeel
Counsellor
Marwa M. I. Alshaman
Attaché
Osama Abdulhaleem A. Samarkandi
Attaché
Mosaad Abdulaziz S. Alabdullatif
Attaché
Talae S.M. Al Askar
Third secretary
Tunisia
Mohamed Taoufik Hafsi
Attaché
Turkey
Alper Cetiner
Attaché
Oktay Sengul
Attaché
Huseyin Gurel
Attaché
Necmettin Emre
Counsellor
Mustafa Toprak
Attaché
United Kingdom
James Richard Prior
First secretary
David Olof Reed
Deputy high commissioner
United States
Brad Wayne Kelly
Assistant Attaché
Leslie Stephen Degraffenried
Minister-counsellor
William Joseph Rowell
Defence attaché
Michael Gerald Carovillano
Attaché
John Joseph Hill
First secretary
Karen Edythe Huntress
Second secretary and consul
Vietnam
Thanh Tung Nguyen
First secretary