Chrystia Freeland

Her father, Donald Freeland, was a farmer and lawyer and a member of the Liberal Party,[14] and her mother, Halyna Chomiak (1946–2007), was also a lawyer who ran for the New Democratic Party (NDP) in Edmonton Strathcona in the 1988 federal election.[15][16]

Freeland's paternal grandfather, Wilbur Freeland, was a farmer and lawyer who rode in the Calgary Stampede, and his sister, Beulah, was the wife of a federal member of Parliament (MP), Ged Baldwin.[17] Her paternal grandmother, Helen Caulfield, was a WWII war bride from Glasgow.[18]

Freeland's mother, Halyna Chomiak, was born at a hospital administered by the US Army; her parents were staying at the displaced persons camp at a spa resort in Bad Wörishofen, Germany. Halyna's Ukrainian Catholic parents were Mykhailo Khomiak (Anglicized as Michael Chomiak), born in Stroniatyn, Galicia, and Alexandra Loban, originally of Rudniki, near Stanislaviv (now Ivano-Frankivsk).[15][19] As Ukraine experienced democratic backsliding from the 1990s, Freeland, who grew up in Alberta, saw "firsthand" the consequences of her mother's activism as a "prominent member of the Ukrainian Canadian community."[20]

Freeland's maternal grandfather, Michael Chomiak or Mykhailo Khomiak in Ukrainian, had been a journalist before World War II. During the war in Nazi-occupied Poland and later Nazi-occupied Austria he was chief editor of the Ukrainian antisemitic daily newspaper Krakivs'ki visti (News of Krakow) for the Nazi regime.[21] After Chomiak's death in 1984, John-Paul Himka, a professor of history at the University of Alberta, who was Chomiak's son-in-law (and also Freeland's uncle by marriage), used Chomiak's records, including old issues of the newspaper, as the basis of several scholarly papers focused on the coverage of Soviet mass murders of Ukrainian civilians. These papers also examined the use of these massacres as propaganda against Jews.[22][23][24] In 2017 when Russian-affiliated websites further publicized Chomiak's connection to Nazism, Freeland and her spokespeople responded by claiming that this was a Russian disinformation campaign during her appointment for the position of minister of foreign affairs.[25][26][27][28][21] Her office later denied Chomiak ever collaborated with the Nazi Germany.[29] However, Freeland has known of her grandfather's Nazi ties since at least 1996, when she helped edit a scholarly article by Himka for the Journal of Ukrainian Studies.[25]

Freeland was born in Peace River, Alberta.[30][31]

Freeland attended Old Scona Academic High School in Edmonton, Alberta[32] for two years before attending the United World College of the Adriatic in Italy, on a merit scholarship from the Alberta government for a project that sought to promote international peace and understanding.[33] She received her bachelor of arts degree in Russian history and literature from Harvard University and a master of studies degree in Slavonic studies from St Antony's College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in 1993.[10][34]

Freeland started her journalism career as a stringer for the Financial Times, The Washington Post and The Economist while working in Ukraine.[35] Freeland later worked for the Financial Times in London as a deputy editor, and then as an editor for its weekend edition, FT.com, and UK news.[35] Freeland also served as Moscow bureau chief and Eastern Europe correspondent for the Financial Times.[35]

From 1999 to 2001 Freeland served as the deputy editor of The Globe and Mail.[35] Next she worked as the managing director and editor of consumer news at Thomson Reuters.[36] She was also a weekly columnist for The Globe and Mail.[37] Previously she was editor of Thomson Reuters Digital, a position she held since April 2011.[38] Prior to that she was the global editor-at-large of Reuters news since March 1, 2010,[39] having formerly been the United States managing editor at the Financial Times, based in New York City.

Freeland is the author of Sale of the Century, a 2000 book about Russia's journey from communism to capitalism[10] and Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else in 2012.[11][12]

Sale of the Century is an account of privatization in Russia that is informed by interviews with leading Russian businessmen that Freeland conducted during four years from 1994 to 1998 that she lived in Russia as Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times.[40] The book chronicles the challenges that the "young reformers" championing capitalism such as Anatoly Chubais and Yegor Gaidar had in wresting control of Russian industry out of the hands of the communist "red barons". The compromises they made, such as the loans for shares scheme, allowed businessmen such as Mikhail Friedman, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and Vladimir Potanin to seize control of the economy and install themselves as Russian oligarchs.

Plutocrats was a New York Times bestseller, and the winner of the 2013 Lionel Gelber Prize for non-fiction reporting on foreign affairs.[13] It also won the 2013 National Business Book Award for the most outstanding Canadian business-related book.

Enrique Peña Nieto, Donald Trump, and Justin Trudeau sign the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on November 30, 2018.

Freeland speaks at a 2018 press conference as Mike Pompeo and Jim Mattis look on.

On July 26, 2013, Freeland left journalism to enter Canadian politics as a candidate for the nomination of the Liberal Party in the riding of Toronto Centre. On September 15, 2013 she won the nomination,[41] with an opportunity to replace outgoing MP Bob Rae in the November 25, 2013 by-election.[42] During the campaign she received criticism for purchasing a $1.3 million home, although the price was consistent with Toronto's home prices.[43][44] Freeland won 49% of the vote and was elected.[45]

As the Liberal's trade critic,[46] Freeland interviewed noted economist Larry Summers in a formal event at the 2014 Liberal Party convention;[47] the interview is available on YouTube and the party website. Freeland wrote an op-ed in The New York Times, in which she contraposed the rise of the plutocrats with the popularity of the television series Downton Abbey.[48]

On January 27, 2014, during the demonstrations leading up to the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, Freeland wrote an op-ed for The Globe and Mail, in which she excoriated the government of Viktor Yanukovich.[49] She is a proponent of personal asset seizures and travel bans as part of economic sanction programs.[47] Later, at the beginning of March, Freeland visited Ukraine on behalf of the Liberal Party, and tweeted her progress in meeting community leaders and members of the government in Kyiv. She lunched with the chief rabbi of Kyiv, met with Mustafa Dzhemilev, leader of the Crimean Tatars and an MP, and with Vitaly Klitchko, who is leader of the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform party, and with Ukrainian MP Petro Poroshenko, who was subsequently elected president of Ukraine in May 2014,[50] Ukrainian presidential elections.

Freeland was one of thirteen Canadians banned from travelling to Russia under retaliatory sanctions imposed by Russian president Vladimir Putin in March 2014.[51] She replied through her official Twitter feed, "Love Russ lang/culture, loved my yrs in Moscow; but it's an honour to be on Putin's sanction list, esp in company of friends Cotler & Grod."[51]

In the riding redistribution of 2012 and 2013, much of Freeland's base was shifted from Toronto Centre to the new riding of University—Rosedale, while seemingly making Toronto Centre less safe for her. Then, in the 2015 federal election, Freeland opted to run in University—Rosedale, and defeated NDP challenger Jennifer Hollett.[52]

Minister of foreign affairs

Freeland speaks during an appearance with Ukrainian prime minister Volodymyr Groysman in 2019.

In a Cabinet reshuffle on January 10, 2017, Freeland was appointed to the foreign affairs portfolio, replacing Stéphane Dion.[56] On March 6, 2017, together with National Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, Freeland announced Canada's military training mission in Ukraine would be extended until March 2019,[57] maintaining the 200 soldiers previously mandated by the Harper government.[57]

In August 2017, Freeland has instructed her department and officials to 'energetically' review reports of Canadian-made military vehicles being used against civilians in Shia-populated city of Al-Awamiyah by Saudi Arabian security forces.[58]

Freeland condemned the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. She said the violence against the Rohingya "looks a lot like ethnic cleansing and that is not acceptable."[59]

Freeland issued a statement via Twitter on August 2, 2018 expressing Canada's concern over the recent arrest of Samar Badawi, a human rights activist and sister of imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi. She advocated their release.[60] In response to Canada's criticism, Saudi Arabia expelled Canada's ambassador, and froze trade with Canada.[61] Freeland asked for help from allies including Germany, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.[62][63]

In September 2018, Freeland raised the issue of Xinjiang re-education camps and human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.[64]

In January 2019, at the request of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Canada granted asylum to 18-year-old Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed, who was fleeing her abusive family in Kuwait; Freeland personally greeted Mohammed at Toronto Pearson International Airport.[65]

Freeland condemned Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, who had "seized power through fraudulent and anti-democratic elections."[66]

On April 18, 2019, she was ranked 37th among the world's leading leaders in Fortune Magazine's annual list.[67]

Freeland voiced support for the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.[68] In October 2019, Freeland condemned the unilateral Turkish invasion of the Kurdish areas in Syria.[69]

Freeland is married to Graham Bowley, a British writer and The New York Times reporter.[81] They have three children.[82]

She has lived in Toronto since the summer of 2013 when she returned from abroad to run for election.[35][83][42] She speaks Ukrainian at home with her children.[84] She also speaks English, Russian, Italian, and French.[85] She is the co-owner, with her sister, of an apartment which overlooks the Maidan square in Kyiv.[47]

• List of foreign ministers in 2017

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chrystia Freeland.

• Official website
• Chrystia Freeland – Parliament of Canada biography
• Bio from Prime Minister's Site
• Appearances on C-SPAN