Leslie E. Norton has worked for over thirty years in the areas of diplomacy, foreign policy and development. At the executive level, she has served in a number of positions at both HQ and in the field, including as Director General of the International Humanitarian Assistance Bureau from 2009 to 2015, and as Director General of the Southern and Eastern Africa Bureau from 2015 to 2016.

From 2016 to 2019, she served as Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) of the Sub-Saharan Africa Branch and was subsequently appointed Canada’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Conference on Disarmament in Geneva where she served from September 2019 to August 2024. She has been in her current position since September 2024.

She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, and a master’s degree in international relations from Université Laval in Québec City.