{"id":289,"date":"2024-11-14T20:41:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T01:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/npsia\/?post_type=cu_people&p=289"},"modified":"2024-12-06T14:30:02","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T19:30:02","slug":"margaret-biggs","status":"publish","type":"cu_people","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/npsia\/people\/margaret-biggs\/","title":{"rendered":"Margaret Biggs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Matthews Fellow in Global Public Policy, Queen\u2019s University,<\/strong>
President, Canadian International Development Agency (2008-2013),<\/strong>
Master of Arts, International Affairs (\u201981).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with so many students, Margaret Biggs\u2019 perspective on the world, her career path and her life changed after travelling abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to experience a different country and get a better understanding of the challenges facing the developing world,\u201d recalls Ms. Biggs. \u201cSo I volunteered in Sri Lanka after graduation from UBC. It was a transformative experience.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience prompted Ms. Biggs to pursue graduate studies in international affairs and development at the Norman Paterson School for International Affairs (NPSIA), which was the only place in Canada offering that program at the time. She wanted to know more about the process of development, as well as Canada\u2019s relationship with developing countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was interested in how developing countries and economies could get ahead on their own,\u201d says Ms. Biggs. \u201cSo I chose to focus on Canadian trade policy and the extent to which it created barriers or opportunities for countries like Sri Lanka.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That education led Ms. Biggs to the newly established North-South Institute, where she was fortunate to be able to work on trade and development issues before moving into the federal public service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had spent 20 years in the public service\u2014including 8 years in the Privy Council Office\u2014when Ms. Biggs was named the President of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), where she oversaw Canada\u2019s international development and humanitarian assistance efforts worldwide. Ms. Biggs is credited with leading Canada\u2019s efforts on maternal and child health, food secur\u00adity, sustainable economic growth and democratic governance.
\u201cMany things had changed since that first trip to Sri Lanka,\u201d she recalls. \u201cWhile some developing countries had made a lot of progress, others hadn\u2019t, whether that was from the after-effects of colonialism, fragility and conflict, the AIDS crisis or other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Biggs felt a lack of progress on the Canadian side, as well.
\u201cThe dialogue was still pretty much the same. Discussion was still largely focused on aid. There was little being said or done on other areas of public policy that impact international development such as trade, finance, technology and the environment,\u201d<\/em> she recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shake-up occurred in 2013, when the Conservative government decided to merge CIDA with the Department of Foreign Affairs, creating the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (now Global Affairs Canada). Critics raised concerns the development assistance program would be used to pursue trade interests and other foreign policy objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe mandate of the Minister of International Development remained unchanged and the purpose of Canada\u2019s international assistance remained enshrined in legislation,\u201d says Ms. Biggs. \u201cBoth are clearly centered on poverty reduction and humanitarian assistance in developing countries. The new government has stressed this point.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Ms. Biggs is calling for an integrated perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrade, peace and security, human rights and development are increasingly interconnected\u2014not to mention the environment, health and migration,\u201d she says. \u201cThe Sustainable Development Goals adopted by all UN member states in 2015 will be helpful in this regard.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Ms. Biggs began her Master\u2019s degree, travelling to Ottawa from her home province of British Columbia was a big step. Today the world is more closely connected, but the value of a degree in international affairs remains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNPSIA gave us the opportunity to gain a deep understanding of global affairs. It allowed us to draw on multiple disciplines and tackle complex issues,\u201d<\/em> she recalls. \u201cIt was mind-expanding and unique.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":623,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cu_people_first_name":"Margaret","cu_people_last_name":"Biggs","cu_people_initials":"MB","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_people_type":[25],"cu_people_expertise":[],"class_list":["post-289","cu_people","type-cu_people","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_people_type-alumni"],"acf":{"cu_people_job_title":"Former President, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)","cu_people_degree":"","cu_building":"","cu_people_office_num":"","cu_people_pronoun":"","cu_people_designation":"","cu_people_email":"","cu_people_phone":"","cu_people_phone_ext":"","cu_people_linkedin":"","cu_people_bluesky":"","cu_people_twitter":"","cu_people_instagram":"","cu_people_facebook":"","cu_people_website":"","cu_people_orcid":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/npsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/npsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/npsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_people"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/npsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/npsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/npsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/289\/revisions\/290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/npsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/npsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_people_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/npsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_type?post=289"},{"taxonomy":"cu_people_expertise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/npsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_expertise?post=289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}