The union representing staff at Global Affairs Canada says the foreign service is laying off dozens of its most skilled diplomats, while asking other envoys moving across continents to wait months for their personal items.
The cuts come as Global Affairs Canada sets out its plans to meet budgetary belt-tightening requirements laid out by Prime Minister Mark Carney last year.
The department targets for layoffs are causing an uproar among former diplomats and international relations experts who say the cuts are at odds with Ottawa's efforts to gain influence at a time of geopolitical calamity.
"The attrition rate that they're looking at is going to hit missions abroad pretty hard," said Pam Isfeld, a career diplomat and president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers.
"I just don't think that things have really been thought through."
The latest departmental plan for Global Affairs Canada, published on March 13, says GAC will cut 1,240 full-time equivalents by March 2029 — a 9.4 per cent reduction in a department workforce that stood at 13,185 FTEs as of March 2025.
The department issued notices to 3,095 staffers in January warning they may lose their jobs, though some of those may switch to different roles or be spared if others quit or retire.
Global Affairs Canada has said it must trim its workforce 12 to 13 per cent by 2030.
Isfeld said the cuts are eliminating a specialized tier of foreign service officers known as FS-04. Most of those in the tier are either being reclassified as executives or reduced one level in rank, she said, but 34 positions are simply being terminated.
"It's going to make us all look bad in the long run," she said. "We already were starting to get a bit of a reputation over the last 20 years for our mouths being a lot bigger than our pocketbooks."
In a written statement, the department did not dispute the report of 34 layoffs.
"GAC is refocusing its foreign affairs activities to deliver maximum impact in a changing geopolitical landscape. The department continues to maintain a strong and capable rotational foreign service workforce," wrote spokeswoman Thida Ith.
"As the requirement for FS‑04 positions will be very limited going forward, FS‑04 assignments will be staffed on a temporary basis by drawing on existing departmental employees, as needed."
Ith wrote the department will continue to recruit into the lowest tier and will maintain a greater proportion of medium-tier diplomats.
"The department remains focused on supporting a well‑balanced, high‑performing rotational workforce with the right mix of experience and expertise to advance Canada’s international priorities," she said.
Isfeld said the FS-04 tier applies to roles with specific knowledge, such as a nuclear specialist deployed to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. She said she was made an FS-04 when the nature of her posting in Warsaw changed to include monitoring Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea and keeping track of developments in neighbouring Belarus.
"It's a structural mismatch to be saying we're going to be active and engaged in this ambitious foreign policy — G7 presidency legacy, Indo-Pacific stuff, Africa stuff, Ukraine stuff, climate finance, now all kinds of Arctic stuff, co-operation with the Nordics," she said.
"You just cut the entire cadre of most experienced, most specialized people. Your influence doesn't come really from your press releases in Ottawa."
In its departmental plan, GAC predicts it will save a half-billion dollars in the fiscal year that starts next month, $747 million the following year and then $1.12 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2029.
The plan says those savings will come from a number of places, including efforts to refocus "Canada's international presence in the areas of advocacy and diplomacy," streamline trade services and link foreign aid and security initiatives with economic growth.
The document also says GAC will find unspecified efficiencies across its missions, sell off some properties abroad and upgrade infrastructure and information security protections at those missions to cut down on the cost of protecting personnel.
Isfeld said Global Affairs Canada is also cutting back on letting diplomats fly their belonging to postings abroad. She said some diplomats will have to wait six months or more for anything that doesn’t fit in the three suitcases they are allowed to check in at the start or end of a posting.
"Previously, small air shipments were approved as a supplementary shipment option for household effects for some itineraries. This option has been replaced with reimbursement for additional checked bags for all travellers," the union wrote in a March 4 update to members.
Ith wrote that the change to employee relocation funding is in line with terms negotiated with unions.
"GAC remains committed to ensuring that staff have essential items upon arrival, and that household goods are transported safely and efficiently, while maintaining responsible stewardship of public funds," she wrote.
Global Affairs Canada's cuts come ahead of a foreign policy review that's expected to be released later in the year. That review may state which regions and nations will see an increase in diplomatic postings, which missions might close or merge with others, and which themes or languages will be the foreign service's focus going forward.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has said her department already has the broad outlines of Canada’s foreign policy and can use it to shape their staffing priorities.
Global Affairs Canada has won some praise from MPs and unions for not laying off members of the two lowest ranks of the foreign service. Those tiers were targeted for budget cuts in 2012 that were widely seen as having undermined Ottawa's ability to replenish its diplomatic workforce over time.
In last year's election, Carney's campaign platform said he intended "to deploy more Canadian diplomats and officials abroad, to expand our trade, and to restore Canadian leadership."
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
