Colin Robertson

Background

About Colin Robertson

A former Canadian diplomat, Colin Robertson is a Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and host of their Global Exchange podcast. A frequent media commentator, he is a contributing writer to Policy Magazine. He is an Honorary Captain in the Royal Canadian Navy. He is a member of the Alphen Group of strategists as well as Carleton University’s Norman Patterson School of International Affairs Expert Group on Canada-US Relations. He is Executive Fellow at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) at Carleton University. Previously, Robertson was a senior advisor to Dentons US LLP (formerly McKenna, Long and Aldridge LLP) working with the Business Council of Canada. He served on the board of Canada World Youth including as chair and vice-chair. He is a long-time member and former president of the National Capital Branch of the Canadian International Council. Robertson previously served on Carleton University’s President’s Advisory Council, the NPSIA Advisory Council, the Johnson-Shoyama School of Public Policy, North American Research Partnership, the board and then advisory council of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute and two terms on the DND Defence Advisory Board A career foreign service officer from 1977-2010, he served as first Head of the Advocacy Secretariat and Minister at the Canadian Embassy in Washington and Consul General in Los Angeles, with previous assignments as Consul and Counsellor in Hong Kong and in New York at the UN and Consulate General. Robertson served as president of the Historica Foundation. He was editor of bout de papier: Canada’s Journal of Foreign Service and Diplomacy and president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers. Robertson has been awarded the King Charles Coronation medal, Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle, Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, Alberta Centennial Medal, Saskatchewan Centennial Medal and the Canadian Forces Decoration.