Key Takeaways

  • Noémie Dansereau-Lavoie will become Canada's Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO in Paris.
  • She replaces previous ambassador Natasha Cayer and interim ambassador Jean-François Tremblay.
  • She was Montréal's French-language commissioner from 2023 to 2025 and spent nearly a decade at CBC/Radio-Canada.

A Career Built for This Job

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand announced on November 3 that Noémie Dansereau-Lavoie will become Canada's Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), based in Paris, France.

She replaces Natasha Cayer, the previous ambassador, and Jean-François Tremblay, who has been filling the role on an interim basis.

The Résumé Behind the Appointment

Dansereau-Lavoie has worked in public policy, culture and media for the past 20 years, holding strategic roles in the federal and Quebec governments, in Montréal's municipal administration and at the national public broadcaster. She studied communications at the University of Quebec in Montréal, earning a bachelor's degree in 2003 and a master's degree with a concentration in international communications in 2007.

From 2023 to 2025, she served as the City of Montréal's French-language commissioner, promoting French and the city's place as the French-speaking metropolis of the Americas. In Ottawa, she was a senior adviser in the Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage from 2019 to 2021, where she was responsible for francophone and international affairs.

Before that, she spent nearly a decade at CBC/Radio-Canada, including as head of radio development and head of strategic planning in French Services. She has also published commentary on cultural and linguistic issues in the digital age in the newspaper Le Devoir.

The Twikup Take

This is a fitting pick on paper: UNESCO's work runs straight through culture, education, science and language, and Dansereau-Lavoie has built her career at exactly that crossroads. Her real test in Paris will be turning a strong résumé in Canadian cultural policy into influence inside a global institution.

Image: AI-generated illustration.

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