Paul Mayers

Paul Mayers

Associate

Paul Mayers served as a senior executive in Canada’s federal public service for many years. He retired in 2018 from the position of VP, Science of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and was previously CFIA’s Policy and Programs VP.  Paul also previously held executive roles at Health Canada, serving as the Director General, Food Directorate, Director, Bureau of Microbial Hazard and Director, Bureau of Food Policy Integration. 

Paul has represented Canada as Head of Delegation internationally in many bilateral and multi-lateral fora.  An international food safety expert, Paul has been recognized by his  peers within the United Nations community by election to the role of Vice-Chairperson of the United Nations (UN) international standard setting body for foods, the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 2003 and 2004. Paul was also elected as the Chairperson of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Task Force on Novel Foods and Feeds for 5 consecutive years. 

Domestically, Paul regularly provided leadership to the management of high profile food related issues.  He has been the lead spokesperson for many food emergencies in Canada prior to his retirement. Paul has been recognized regularly for these contributions including the Head of the Public Service award in 2003 as part of the team which supported the response to the emergence of Mad Cow Disease in Canada. He also received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 in recognition of his contributions to Canada. 

Paul has been the author or co-author on more than 10 science publications ranging from research articles from early in his career to more recent policy overview articles. 

Paul is most proud of contributing to the development of future leaders and to the recognition of the contribution of visible minorities in Canada’s public service. To date, over 20 members of his team have successfully reached the executive level and 4 of these have achieved the senior executive level. Paul was the CFIA’s visible minority champion and actively contributed to initiatives across the public service to support career development for members of the visible minority community. 

While he has now retired from Canada’s federal public service, Paul continues to contribute to global food safety through his commitment to giving back, particularly in contributing to enhancing food safety systems in developing countries. He has been recently active in assisting the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in providing technical assistance to countries in the Caribbean, having undertaken missions to Guyana and to St. Kitts in 2019. 

In addition to his professional activities, Paul has also been active in community building. He has been a volunteer coach in youth sports in the Ottawa area for more than 30 years. His coaching activities have primarily been focussed on soccer (Cumberland United Soccer Club) and basketball (Gloucester-Cumberland Basketball Association) though he previously also coached track and field (Ottawa Nepean Olympic Track Club) and volleyball (Glebe High School).