"Canada's Voice" on Tyranny, Justice, and Politics

Relations between Canada and the United States remain at a crossroads. Roughly a year into the tenure of both the second Trump administration and the Carney government in Ottawa, rigorous trade negotiations, expressions of popular nationalism, and competing visions of both countries’ roles in global affairs continue to animate US-Canada relations. Few individuals can situate these and related topics in broader historical, domestic, and international context than the Honourable Bob Rae.

Rae’s career has spanned the gamut of leading positions – both elected and appointed – in Canadian public service both at home and abroad. As a diplomat, he most recently held the position of Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York from 2020 to 2025. As an elected politician, Rae previously served as Premier of Ontario from 1990-1995 and interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2011 to 2013. Since his retirement from elected office in 2015, he has also held other key roles, ranging from Canada’s Special Envoy on Humanitarian and Refugee Issues to Chief Negotiator for the nine First Nations of the Matawa Tribal Council in Northern Ontario. A former Rhodes Scholar and author of five books, Rae has also taught law, politics, and public policy. He currently serves as Matthews Faculty Fellow in Global Public Policy at Queen University’s School of Policy Studies.

Rae will be joined on the stage by Drew Fagan. Fagan currently serves as Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies here at Yale University’s MacMillan Center, teaching at the Jackson School. As Professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto, Fagan draws from his own robust and wide-ranging career as a former senior public servant and journalist in Canada. He will moderate and begin the conversation with Rae, before opening to a general Q&A with the audience. We hope you can join us for this timely discussion.