Guy Saint-Jacques

Guy Saint-Jacques worked for one year as a land planner for the Québec Government before joining the Department of External Affairs in 1977, holding office in New York, Mexico City, Kinshasa, and Hong Kong as well as twice in Washington, D.C., the last time as Minister and Deputy Head of Mission. He has also been Deputy High Commissioner at the High Commission of Canada in London, UK and has been posted three times to Beijing. At Headquarters, he worked in the Consular Affairs, Francophone Africa and Science and Technology divisions, and as Executive Assistant of the Associate Deputy Minister. He also served as Deputy Director of the Energy and Environment division, as Director of the Assignments division, and as Director General of the Personnel Management Bureau. He served as Chief Negotiator and Ambassador for Climate Change for the Government of Canada and was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary for Canada to the People's Republic of China until October 2016. For Mr. Saint-Jacques who speaks fluent Mandarin, this was a fourth assignment in China. Since retiring from the Public Service, Mr. Saint-Jacques works as an adviser through his company GS+J Groupe-conseil Inc. and is a Senior Fellow at the China Institute of the University of Alberta as well as at the Institut d'études internationales de Montréal (IEIM). He is also a member of the board of Xebec Adsorption Inc. He is the Honorary Chair of the Canada-China Small and Medium Size Companies (CCSME) and sits on the Advisory Board of the Québec Chapter of the Canada-China Business Council. He holds a B. Sc. (Geology), University of Montreal, and a M. A. (Land Planning and Regional Development), Laval University. He is married to Sylvie Cameron and the couple has two daughters and three grandchildren.