TGS presents Canadian envoy

This Thursday, The Guest Show (TGS) is honoured to present HE Aliya Mawani, Ambassador of Canada.

Ms Mawani made history when she became the first Muslim woman to serve as an ambassador for Canada, reflecting its multiculturalism and diverse heritage.

Ambassador Mawani studied International Relations at Vassar College in New York and Law from McGill University in Montreal. Before joining Foreign Service, she worked with the UNHCR in East and Southern Africa. Her postings includes Syria, Iraq , Saudi Arabia and other places in the Middle East.

In all these difficult postings, she served at very important times in their history. She went to Syria during Damascus Spring and to Saudi Arabia, when the country was undergoing a seismic shift in women’s rights.

In this very comprehensive and insightful interview, Ambassador Mawani who herself is as multicultural as her country talks about her life experiences, about her fiery and liberal lawyer mother, the first woman of colour to be appointed as deputy minister, her equally liberal father, about her take at what lies at the heart of diplomacy, the multiple layers and complexities one navigates as a diplomat, about Canada breaking glass ceilings with almost fifty percent of its ambassadors abroad women, the importance of mentoring, about witnessing history in Saudi Arabia when its women won the right to drive, about Kuwait-Canada relations, the friendship and shared values, the fact that Kuwait is home of Canada’s only airbase in the Middle East, about how Canadian women fought for the first time in air combat operations in the coalition that freed Kuwait, about food security, education and other aspects of bilateral relations. Tune in to this very special episode.