Colleen Swords
Colleen Swords is a retired career public servant, having worked for over 35 years in the federal public service. Her final appointment before retirement in 2016 was as Deputy Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, a post she was appointed to in 2014 after serving as Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage and Associated Deputy Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs (2009-2014).
Ms Swords’ career at the then Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada spanned 29 years (1980-2009) during which she held numerous senior positions including Assistant Deputy Minister, International Security Branch and Political Director from 2006-2009, Ambassador of Canada to The Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and Canadian High Commissioner accredited to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean (1994-1997). She has also been posted to Washington, Thailand , and Tanzania.
In Ottawa, Ms Swords was Legal Adviser to the Department of Foreign Affairs from 2002-2005. In this capacity, she was Agent for Canada before the International Court of Justice in the Case on the Legality of the Use of Force. In other headquarters assignments, she has held various positions in the Legal Bureau including Director of the Economic and Trade Law Division, Deputy Legal Adviser and Legal Officer responsible for human rights, humanitarian law, and peace and security issues. She has represented Canada in various dispute settlement proceedings under the NAFTA, the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement, the WTO, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Prior to joining the federal government, Ms Swords worked as a lawyer in a legal aid clinic in Toronto, Ontario.
Ms Swords received a Brock University Distinguished Alumni Award in 2010 and the Canadian Council on International Law Public Sector Lawyer award in 2020. A graduate of Brock University, Osgoode Hall Law School, and the Europa Institute of the University of Amsterdam, she is a member of the Law Society of Ontario.
