Catherine McKenna was elected as the first female Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre on October 19, 2015, and appointed Minister of Environment and Climate Change shortly thereafter. She helped negotiate the Paris Agreement and secured Canada’s first plan with provinces, territories and Indigenous peoples to address climate change and grow a clean economy.
Before entering politics, Catherine practiced competition and international trade law with leading firms in Canada and Indonesia, and was senior negotiator with the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission on the Timor Sea Treaty. She co-founded Level Justice, a charity that levels the playing field and increases access to justice for marginalized communities worldwide. She served as Executive Director of the Banff Forum, a public policy organization for young leaders, and taught at the Munk School of Global Affairs. Catherine is a graduate of the University of Toronto, the London School of Economics, and McGill Law School; and is called to the Bars of Ontario and New York State. Catherine and her husband live in Ottawa with their three children and their dog Skoki. During her free time, she can be found in the water - swimming, canoeing or kayaking.
