# List of ambassadors of Canada to Germany

The ambassador of Canada to Germany is the official representative of the government of Canada to the government of Germany. The official title for the ambassador is Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Canada to the Federal Republic of Germany. The most recent ambassador of Canada to Germany was John Horgan who was appointed on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Horgan died on November 12, 2024.
The Embassy of Canada is located at Leipziger Platz 17, 10117 Berlin, Germany.

## History of diplomatic relations

Canada had no diplomatic mission to Germany before the Second World War, though it had immigration agents in the country as early as 1872, when Wilhelm Hespeler was sent to Berlin as the Dominion of Canada's official immigration agent for several months. German laws from before the First World War against the solicitation of emigrants delayed the establishment of a permanent immigration office by Canada until 1923. W.G. Fisher was appointed as Canada's first trade commissioner to Germany in 1910, with an office in Hamburg, which relocated to Berlin before closing in 1914 for the duration of the war. The Hamburg trade office was re-opened in 1922 with Leolyn Dana Wilgress as trade commissioner. It again moved to Berlin in 1938, and both it and the immigration office were closed in 1939 during the Second World War. In 1946, after the end of the war, a trade office was established in Frankfurt, and various immigration offices were also established.
In January 21, 1946, the Canadian government established the Canadian Military Mission to the Allied Control Council in Berlin and appointed Lt.-Gen. Maurice Pope, who was responsible both to the Department of External Affairs and the Department of National Defence, as its first head.
By order-in-council, the Canadian government decided, on November 22, 1949, to establish a diplomatic mission in Bonn, the capital of the new Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). The mission operated under the auspices of the Canadian Military Mission to the Allied Control Council until July 10, 1951, when the Canadian mission in Bonn was upgraded to an embassy with Thomas Clayton Davis as Canada's first Ambassador to West Germany. Canada established diplomatic relations with the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) on August 1, 1975, but never opened an embassy. Instead, Canada's Ambassador to Poland based in Warsaw was accredited as Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic from 1976 until 1990, when the GDR was dissolved and united with West Germany. In 1999, the Canadian Embassy moved from Bonn to Berlin as a result of Germany relocating the seat of government to that city in the same year.

## List of ambassadors of Canada to Germany

| No. | Name | Term of office | Term of office | Term of office | Career | Prime Minister nominated by | Prime Minister nominated by | Ref. |
| No. | Name | Start Date | PoC. | End Date | Career | Prime Minister nominated by | Prime Minister nominated by | Ref. |
| – | Maurice Arthur Pope (Head of Mission) | November 22, 1949 | December 15, 1949 | | Career | | Louis St. Laurent (1948–1957) | |
| 1 | Thomas Clayton Davis | July 12, 1950 | October 27, 1950 | | Non-Career | | Louis St. Laurent (1948–1957) | |
| 2 | Charles Stewart Almon Ritchie | March 25, 1954 | | January 5, 1958 | Career | | Louis St. Laurent (1948–1957) | |
| 3 | Escott Meredith Reid | November 22, 1957 | | | Career | | John G. Diefenbaker (1957–1963) | |
| 4 | John Kennett Starnes | May 28, 1962 | | | Career | | John G. Diefenbaker (1957–1963) | |
| 5 | Richard Plant Bower | February 23, 1966 | July 14, 1966 | February 13, 1970 | Career | | Lester B. Pearson (1963–1968) | |
| 6 | Gordon Gale Crean | December 4, 1969 | February 27, 1970 | July 18, 1975 | Career | | Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1968–1979 & 1980–1984) | |
| 7 | John Gelder Horler Halstead | July 17, 1975 | October 31, 1975 | September 29, 1980 | Career | | Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1968–1979 & 1980–1984) | |
| 8 | Klaus Goldschlag | July 10, 1980 | October 9, 1980 | | Career | | Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1968–1979 & 1980–1984) | |
| 9 | Donald Sutherland McPhail | October 13, 1983 | September 16, 1988 | | Career | | Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1968–1979 & 1980–1984) | |
| 10 | Thomas Delworth | November 26, 1987 | | September 7, 1992 | Career | | Brian Mulroney (1984–1993) | |
| 11 | Paul Heinbecker | August 27, 1992 | October 13, 1992 | August 30, 1996 | Career | | Brian Mulroney (1984–1993) | |
| 12 | Gaëtan Lavertu | June 3, 1996 | September 18, 1996 | | Career | | Jean Chrétien (1993–2003) | |
| 13 | Marie Bernard-Meunier | June 26, 2000 | October 19, 2000 | | Career | | Jean Chrétien (1993–2003) | |
| 14 | Paul Dubois | May 19, 2004 | October 12, 2004 | July 2008 | Career | | Paul Martin (2003–2006) | |
| 15 | Peter Boehm | July 4, 2008 | September 15, 2008 | December 30, 2012 | Career | | Stephen Harper (2006–2015) | |
| 16 | Marie Gervais-Vidricaire | August 16, 2013 | September 27, 2013 | April 7, 2017 | Career | | Stephen Harper (2006–2015) | |
| 17 | Stéphane Dion | May 1, 2017 | June 6, 2017 | August 24, 2022 | Non-Career | | Justin Trudeau (2015–Present) | |
| – | Isabelle Poupart (Chargée d’affaires a.i.) | December 2022 | | October 31, 2023 | Career | | Justin Trudeau (2015–Present) | |
| 18 | John Horgan | November 1, 2023 | December 8, 2023 | November 12, 2024 | Non-Career | | Justin Trudeau (2015–Present) | |
| – | TBD | | | | | | | |