Désirée McGraw

In 2007, Désirée was among a select group of 21 Canadians to complete a training in Nashville with former U.S. Vice-President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore as part of his Climate Project. In addition to conducting over 50 presentations (to date) to a broad range of audiences and professions, she (along with 5 other early Canadian trainees) went on to help found the Climate Project Canada and served as Vice-President of the Board. A public policy professional with a background in international affairs, Désirée has more than 20 years of experience as a consultant, researcher, reporter, senior political advisor and spokesperson in the field of sustainable development, and has been described by the national media as "one of Canada's ten most influential people on environmental issues." She served as Executive Director of the Jeanne Sauvé Foundation where she was responsible for the overall management of the Foundation and its flagship Sauvé Scholars Program, affiliated with McGill University where she continues to lecture on global environmental politics, including "Climate Diplomacy". As chair of a 2006 federal Liberal Taskforce on Environment and Sustainable Development, her ground-breaking report and recommendations are credited with providing a national blueprint for reconciling Canada's social and economic objectives with its environmental concerns and commitments. Previously, Désirée served as Director of Policy to Canada's Minister of International Cooperation, and has worked with various international organizations including the United Nations and the World Bank. Désirée has served on the official Canadian delegations to UN conferences, including on Environment and Development (Rio, 1992), the Biodiversity Convention (Nairobi, 2000) and the Climate Change Convention and the Kyoto Protocol (Montreal, 2005). Following her appointment by UN Under-Secretary-General Maurice Strong to serve as one of two Youth Ambassadors to the 1992 Earth Summit, she spent four years working as an international reporter for the Earth Negotiations Bulletin. Désirée is a Fellow of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen's University and an associate of the International Institute for Sustainable Development. She has been involved in politics and election campaigns in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, where she conducted graduated studies as a Commonwealth Scholar at the London School of Economics. Désirée's became active in global affairs at age 16 when she embarked on a national speaking tour promoting peace and security issues during the Cold War era. The eight-month cross-country "SAGE" tour reached a quarter of all Canadian secondary schools and was followed by special invitations to the UN, the US and the former USSR. The tour was the subject of an award-winning documentary by the National Film Board of Canada, which also produced a 1989 video series co-hosted by Désirée and featuring David Suzuki entitled "Alive in the Nuclear Age".