After completing her degree in law at the Université de Montréal in 2001, Mélanie Joly continued her studies at Brasenose College, Oxford, where she received a Magister Juris in comparative and public law in 2003.
Mélanie Joly MP has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since October 2021.
Susan Delacourt, Toronto Star »
Within a few weeks of the miscarriage last Christmas, and on her 43rd birthday in January, Joly found herself on a plane headed to Ukraine, where the threat of a Russian invasion was looming. She has looked back at the photos of herself from that trip and is struck by how pale she was. But she also knew she had to get back to work.
“I had to prepare for my first crisis,” she said. “I knew my first crisis would define my work as foreign minister.”
Joly was aware her appointment to this major post in Justin Trudeau’s cabinet surprised many people, and that many critics believed she was out of her depth. This, she said, is still part of the job of being a woman in politics, no matter what your age.