Canada and Brazil’s relations date back to 1866, when Canada opened its first trade mission in Brazil. Diplomatic relations were later established in 1941, when Brazil opened its Embassy in Ottawa and Canada followed by opening an Embassy in 1944. In recent years, Canada’s trade and investment relationship with Brazil has seen steady growth and Brazil is now Canada’s third largest trading partner in the Americas after the U.S. and Mexico with two-way trade totalling $7.7 billion in 2019. Brazil, with some 210 million people, is also the world’s fourth-largest democracy and its ninth biggest economy. Its natural resources include over 40 percent of the world’s tropical forests and 20 percent of the planet’s fresh-water supply. However, Brazil is also a country unsettled by enormous inequality and grinding poverty. Further complicating matters, is a crisis of political leadership, best illustrated by the tragic toll Covid-19 has taken on its people. In this wide-ranging discussion, Canada’s Ambassador to Brazil, Jennifer May and Dr. Jean Daudelin, a Latin America expert and associate professor at Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, will speak about Canada-Brazil current relations and the challenges currently facing the Brazilian government and people.