As Ambassador to Venezuela from 2014 to 2017, Ben Rowswell witnessed the unravelling of the constitutional order in that country and less advanced, but similar trends are now observable in the U.S. During his talk, Mr. Rowswell will draw on his experiences in both countries to identify warning signs for the health of Canadian democracy and what individual citizens can do can prevent the onset of populist misrule, whether of the left or the right. Canada, he will also argue, has become a leading voice in efforts to support the Venezuelan people and has a vital role to play in continuing to stand-up for the rules-based international order.

Speaker’s Biography
Ben Rowswell, President of the Canadian International Council, has seen a great deal of action during his twenty-five year-long foreign affairs career – a career he resigned from in late 2018 in order to take over at the helm of CIC. Ben first served with the UN in Somalia, then later in Iraq during the first two years after Saddam Hussein fell, where he was Canada’s first diplomatic envoy to Baghdad. Five years later, he was in Kandahar, Afghanistan helping to lead the Canadian government’s efforts to rebuild that country. And more recently he served as the senior political officer in Canada’s Embassy to Egypt and from 2014-2017 as our Ambassador to Venezuela.

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