Janice Charette

Janice Charette is a Canadian public servant and the current Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. She previously served as the Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet.

Life and career

Charette attended Carleton University, where she completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Charette joined the public service in 1984, working in the Department of Finance.

She served as the deputy minister (the highest unelected position) of Citizenship and Immigration Canada from 2004 until 2006, and as the deputy minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada from 2006 until 2010.

Charette was appointed as the Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet on August 20, 2014, when former Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that she would replace Wayne Wouters, the Clerk of the Privy Council from 2009 to 2014. She is the second woman to have held that post, which is the top civil service position in Canada.

On January 22, 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Michael Wernick would replace Charette as Clerk of the Privy Council. On July 19, 2016, she was officially appointed as the Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.