Heather Cameron, Consul General of Canada to Brazil in São Paulo

Message

It is a great honour to represent Canada in one of the world’s most vibrant and dynamic cities and the major centre in Brazil for business, finance, culture and media activities.

Our office is proud to be part of a network across Brazil that also includes our Embassy in Brasília, Consulate General in Rio de Janeiro, trade offices in the cities of Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre and Recife, and honorary consulate in Belo Horizonte. Our teams across Brazil work in concert to strengthen Canada's multi-faceted relationship with Brazil, offer efficient services to our clients, promote greater knowledge and understanding of Canada in Brazil and assist Canadians.

The primary role of the Consulate General in São Paulo is to represent Canada’s wide range of interests in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul and, of course, São Paulo. Together these five states account for approximately 50% of Brazil’s GDP. If this area were a country, it would be a member of the G20! This is a large and populated territory, and we have a strong team of consular and administrative professionals to ensure that Canadians receive assistance while in Brazil.

On the commercial side, Brazil is among Canada's top 15 trading partners in the world and also our 10^th largest source of foreign direct investment. There remains immense untapped commercial opportunities and our two countries can do even more together. As São Paulo is Brazil's main commercial hub, it's no surprise that our Consulate General has a large team of Trade Commissioners delivering a full range of services to Canadian clients and partners, whether it be export market development, investment attraction to Canada, facilitation for Canadians investing in Brazil or fostering bilateral linkages in innovation, science and technology. The São Paulo team focuses on transport and construction infrastructure, education, clean technologies, aerospace and information and communication technologies, among other sectors. The number of Canadian companies present or active in Brazil is growing and our ambition is to help even more Canadians succeed in this large market.

In addition, people-to-people ties and linkages are essential to fostering a vibrant bilateral relationship and one of our great successes has been in the area of education. We are seeing more and more Brazilians studying in Canada on high school exchange programs, short-term language studies, college-level technical training and undergraduate and graduate studies. Canada is the preferred destination for Brazilian students according to the annual report on educational trends in Brazil carried out by the Brazilian Educational & Language Travel Association - Belta. Our website has up-to date information on studying in Canada and links to many other useful resources.

The visa and immigration program is also delivered from our São Paulo office and provides services for all of Brazil. It is Canada’s third largest in terms of student permit issuance in the world, and the number of Brazilians visiting Canada increases every year.

Finally, the Foreign Policy Diplomacy Service program focuses on bilateral issues, advocacy projects in the areas of rule of law, governance and human rights; provides support for Canadian cultural activities and media relations in Brazil.

In order to know more about Canada's activities in Brazil, I invite you to follow us on Facebook @CanadainBrazil, on Twitter @CanadaBrazil and on Instagram @canadabra.

Heather Cameron
Consul General

Biography

Heather Cameron (BA Hons [Political Science], Carleton University, 1987; MA [Public Policy], King’s College London, 2009; PhD [Public Policy], King’s College London, 2018) joined External Affairs and International Trade Canada in 1990 and the Canadian International Development Agency in 1992. During her career, she has had a number of assignments in the Africa and Middle East Bureaus, including as director of the Pan-African and La Francophonie programs. She served as director of Strategic Initiatives from 2009 to 2012 and director of the Human Development and Gender Equality Division from 2012 to 2013. She has also served as the senior director of the Haiti and Dominican Republic Division. Overseas, she served in Zimbabwe from 1992 to 1996, where she was responsible for regional humanitarian affairs, and in Mozambique from 2004 to 2007, where she was counsellor and director of development. She served as High Commissioner in Ghana, with concurrent accreditation to Sierra Leone and Togo.