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List of ambassadors of Canada to Germany

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Ambassador of Canada to Germany
Incumbent
Vacant
since November 12, 2024
Global Affairs Canada
SeatCanada House, Berlin
NominatorPrime Minister of Canada
AppointerGovernor General of Canada
Term lengthAt His Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural holderThomas Clayton Davis
FormationOctober 27, 1950

The ambassador of Canada to Germany is the official representative of the government of Canada to the government of Germany. The official title for the ambassador is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Canada to the Federal Republic of Germany. The most recent ambassador of Canada to Germany was John Horgan who was appointed on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Horgan died on November 12, 2024.

The Embassy of Canada is located at Leipziger Platz 17, 10117 Berlin, Germany.

History of diplomatic relations

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Main article: Canada–Germany relations

Canada had no diplomatic mission to Germany before the Second World War, though it had immigration agents in the country as early as 1872, when Wilhelm Hespeler was sent to Berlin as the Dominion of Canada's official immigration agent for several months. German laws from before the First World War against the solicitation of emigrants delayed the establishment of a permanent immigration office by Canada until 1923. W.G. Fisher was appointed as Canada's first trade commissioner to Germany in 1910, with an office in Hamburg, which relocated to Berlin before closing in 1914 for the duration of the war. The Hamburg trade office was re-opened in 1922 with Leolyn Dana Wilgress as trade commissioner. It again moved to Berlin in 1938, and both it and the immigration office were closed in 1939 during the Second World War. In 1946, after the end of the war, a trade office was established in Frankfurt, and various immigration offices were also established.[1]

In January 21, 1946, the Canadian government established the Canadian Military Mission to the Allied Control Council in Berlin and appointed Lt.-Gen. Maurice Pope, who was responsible both to the Department of External Affairs and the Department of National Defence, as its first head.[1][2]

By order-in-council, the Canadian government decided, on November 22, 1949, to establish a diplomatic mission in Bonn, the capital of the new Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).[2] The mission operated under the auspices of the Canadian Military Mission to the Allied Control Council until July 10, 1951, when the Canadian mission in Bonn was upgraded to an embassy with Thomas Clayton Davis as Canada's first Ambassador to West Germany.[2] Canada established diplomatic relations with the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) on August 1, 1975, but never opened an embassy.[3] Instead, Canada's Ambassador to Poland based in Warsaw was accredited as Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic from 1976 until 1990, when the GDR was dissolved and united with West Germany. In 1999, the Canadian Embassy moved from Bonn to Berlin as a result of Germany relocating the seat of government to that city in the same year.[1]

List of ambassadors of Canada to Germany

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No. Name Term of office Career Prime Minister nominated by Ref.
Start Date PoC. End Date
– Maurice Arthur Pope
(Head of Mission) 		November 22, 1949 December 15, 1949 Career Louis St. Laurent
(1948–1957)
1 Thomas Clayton Davis July 12, 1950 October 27, 1950 Non-Career
2 Charles Stewart Almon Ritchie March 25, 1954 January 5, 1958 Career
3 Escott Meredith Reid November 22, 1957 Career John G. Diefenbaker
(1957–1963)
4 John Kennett Starnes May 28, 1962 Career
5 Richard Plant Bower February 23, 1966 July 14, 1966 February 13, 1970 Career Lester B. Pearson
(1963–1968)
6 Gordon Gale Crean December 4, 1969 February 27, 1970 July 18, 1975 Career Pierre Elliott Trudeau
(1968–1979 & 1980–1984)
7 John Gelder Horler Halstead July 17, 1975 October 31, 1975 September 29, 1980 Career
8 Klaus Goldschlag July 10, 1980 October 9, 1980 Career
9 Donald Sutherland McPhail October 13, 1983 September 16, 1988 Career
10 Thomas Delworth November 26, 1987 September 7, 1992 Career Brian Mulroney
(1984–1993)
11 Paul Heinbecker August 27, 1992 October 13, 1992 August 30, 1996 Career
12 Gaëtan Lavertu June 3, 1996 September 18, 1996 Career Jean Chrétien
(1993–2003)
13 Marie Bernard-Meunier June 26, 2000 October 19, 2000 Career
14 Paul Dubois May 19, 2004 October 12, 2004 July 2008 Career Paul Martin
(2003–2006)
15 Peter Boehm July 4, 2008 September 15, 2008 December 30, 2012 Career Stephen Harper
(2006–2015) 		[4]
16 Marie Gervais-Vidricaire August 16, 2013 September 27, 2013 April 7, 2017 Career
17 Stéphane Dion May 1, 2017 June 6, 2017 August 24, 2022 Non-Career Justin Trudeau
(2015–Present) 		[5]
– Isabelle Poupart
(Chargée d’affaires a.i.) 		2022 October 31, 2023 Career
18 John Horgan November 1, 2023 December 8, 2023 November 12, 2024 Non-Career [6]
– TBD

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Trautsch, Jasper M. (2013), "The History of the Canadian Governmental Representation in Germany" (PDF), The History of the Canadian Governmental Representation in Germany, no. 143–168.
  2. ^ a b c DeLong 2020, p. 39.
  3. ^ DeLong 2020, p. 38.
  4. ^ "Peter Boehm als Kanadas Botschafter in Berlin akkreditiert". www.siebenbuerger.de (in German). October 6, 2008. Retrieved November 13, 2024.
  5. ^ "Orders In Council PC 2017-0414". orders-in-council.canada.ca. Government of Canada. May 1, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  6. ^ @jjhorgan (December 8, 2023). "It was a great honour to meet Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier today and begin my assignment as Canada's Ambassador to Germany" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
Bibliography
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