OTTAWA — The federal government has chosen a career diplomat who says defending human rights and repairing the Canada-China relationship are her main focus as Ottawa’s new ambassador to China.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Jennifer May, most recently ambassador to Brazil, as his new envoy to Beijing, ditching his practice of putting political appointees in the job.
It is intended to be a reset of professional diplomatic relations after the bilateral relationship went into a deep freeze when the Meng Wanzhou affair led to trade reprisals and the nearly three-year detention of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.
A few months after the release of the “two Michaels” one year ago this week, Canadian ambassador Dominic Barton left the embassy in Beijing to return to the private sector, saying his main task was completed.
The diplomatic post has sat empty since December.
