Thomas Axworthy

Gordon Foundation

Thomas Axworthy

Thomas S. Axworthy is the President and CEO of the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation. Prior to that, he led the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Queen’s University, held the Mackenzie Chair of Canadian studies as a lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and headed the CRB Foundation and the Historica Foundation. Dr. Axworthy also served as Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Trudeau in the early 1980s. He was Chair of the Asia Pacific Foundation and of the Advisory Task Force on Democracy Promotion to Canada’s Minister of Democratic Reform. Under Dr. Axworthy’s leadership, the Centre for the Study of Democracy undertook an important study on the Indian Diaspora in Canada. He is a frequent media commentator and author of many books and articles including: Towards a Just Society: The Trudeau Years. For his contribution to heritage and public policy he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2002. Over the past five years, the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation has supported research and programs to better understand the diasporic and transnational interests, practices and contributions of immigrant and second generation Canadians. The Foundation will release a report this winter, commissioned with the Mosaic Institute, on the role of diaspora communities in shaping Canada’s foreign policy.