Sylvie Bédard, Consul General a.i. of Canada in Los Angeles, United States

Biography

In November 2025, Ms. Bédard was appointed Consul General a.i. of Canada in Los Angeles, succeeding Zaib Shaikh. As the Government of Canada’s senior representative in Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada, she leads a dynamic team dedicated to strengthening Canada-U.S. relations. Her mandate includes advancing trade and investment that support millions of jobs on both sides of the border, delivering consular services to Canadians, and fostering collaboration on a wide range of shared priorities.

Over the course of her 30-year career with the Government of Canada, Ms. Bédard has held senior leadership roles both domestically and internationally. From 2022 to 2025, she served as Director General for Central America and the Caribbean at Global Affairs Canada, Ottawa. Prior to that, she was Canada’s Ambassador to the Republic of Ecuador (2018–2022), Director of the Canadian Cultural Centre at Canada’s Embassy in France (2011–2016), and Director of the Centre of Learning for International Affairs and Global Leadership at the Canadian Foreign Service Institute. Earlier in her career, she gained private-sector experience as Manager of Community and Indigenous Peoples Relations with TransCanada Energy (2007–2011).

A native of Quebec City, Ms. Bédard holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Manchester (1993) and an MBA from Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris (2016). She further enhanced her leadership credentials through the INSEAD Global Women Leaders Program (2022) and earned the ICD.D designation from the Directors Education Program at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management (2025).

She is married and the proud mother of two children.