Jill Sinclair

Jill Sinclair has been a member of Canada’s defence, geopolitics, international security and foreign policy community for most of her professional career. She is currently Canada’s representative to the Ukraine Defence Reform Advisory Board and co-leads a course on geopolitics and national security at the Canada School of Public Service.

She served for seven years as Assistant Deputy Minister Policy at the Department of National Defence and Executive Director Strategic Leadership and Engagement at the Canadian Defence Academy. Prior to her work at DND, she was Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet at the Privy Council Office, Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat.

She joined government as a Foreign Service Office, with postings in Prague, Havana and the Middle East (offices in Tel Aviv, Ramallah and Amman with regional responsibilities for Middle East peace process issues). She was Director General, International Security Bureau; Director of the Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation division and Director of Human Security and Global Issues.

She has worked closely with the UN system in New York and Geneva; NATO and the OSCE as well as the Organization of American States and ASEAN Regional Forum. She led the Ottawa Process to Ban Landmines and Canada’s international human security initiatives, including Responsibility to Protect (R2P). She is a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Balsillie School of International Affairs.