This talk will offer firsthand observations on Ukraine’s pivot from Canada’s unconventional Ambassador to Ukraine, drawing on her experiences from August 2023 to July 2026.
Natalka Cmoc served as Canada’s Ambassador to Ukraine from August 2023 to July 2026. With over 30 years of experience in public and private sectors working on some of our greatest challenges in public policy issues important to Canada, she will share her insights on why we need to pay attention to Ukraine. Over a 19-year career in the Government of Canada, Ms Cmoc held key executive roles across multiple federal departments. Notably, she spent many of those years focused on security and development of regions in crisis, including Ukraine. She was previously posted to Ukraine from 2011-2013, and then worked at the Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force at Global Affairs Canada which including helping design Canada’s initial security responses following the 2014 invasion of Ukraine. Several executive roles led on transformational initiatives including Laboratories Canada, an initiative to modernize how we support federally mandated science and research infrastructure, and better collaboration with Indigenous communities on national infrastructure initiatives. She was recruited to the Department of National Defence to lead on the transformation initiative in centralizing custodianship of Canada’s domestic military assets. She is proud of the Indigenous Homes Innovation Initiative that was the first Indigenous-led initiative in the federal government. Her strengths are negotiation, engagement, working with the private sector on some of Canada’s most important challenges. Recently retired from public service, she is looking forward to supporting initiatives that strengthen Canada’s sovereignty, and those that enhance Canada partnership with Ukraine and other strategic partners.
