Jacques Paquette

Jacques Paquette

Faculty, ELP Facilitator

Jacques Paquette facilitates the Virtual Executive Leadership Program and the Executive Leadership Program at the Institute on Governance. He joined the federal government in 1982 with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and served at Canadian embassies in Pakistan, Sénégal, Hungary and France. In Ottawa, Mr. Paquette held a number of positions with DFAIT, including Director for the Coordination of G-7 Economic Summits. He moved to Environment Canada as Director-General, Corporate Management and Review, was Director-General, Multiculturalism and Human Rights at Canadian Heritage and Assistant Deputy Minister, International and Intergovernmental Affairs and Sport also at Canadian Heritage. As part of his function, he was Canada’s Chief negotiator for the UNESCO Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.  He was the Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet for Economic and Regional Development Policy, at the Privy Council Office. At the department of Employment and Social Development, he was Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Income Security and Social Development where he was responsible for the Canada Pension Plan, the Old Age Security, the Office of Disability Issues and social programs such as the Homelessness Partnering Strategy.  His last position was Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Service Policy. In this capacity and among other things, he set up an innovation lab on policy and service, he negotiated the Multilateral Early Learning and Child Care Framework approved by Federal, Provincial and Territorial governments in 2017, worked on the development of the first Canada’s Poverty Reduction Strategy and was Canada’s Chief negotiator for Habitat III, the United Nations New Urban Agenda. Mr. Paquette retired from the Federal Public Service in July 2017. Since then, he was appointed in June 2018 member of the Board of Directors of the YMCA-YWCA of the National Capital Region and in November 2018, he was appointed as a member of the Audit and Evaluation Committee of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner of Canada. He holds a BA in sociology and political science as well as a MA in political science from Laval University. He is a Certified Corporate Director (ASC), having completed the certification delivered by the Collège des administrateurs de sociétés.