Former journalist Joyce Napier named Canada’s ambassador to the Vatican

OTTAWA — Longtime Ottawa journalist Joyce Napier is headed to the Vatican as Canada’s new ambassador. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced Napier’s appointment and says she will work to advance reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples in the new role.

Napier’s 40-year career as a journalist included time at The Canadian Press, CBC, The Globe and Mail, La Presse, Radio-Canada and CTV. 

She is the only person to have been a parliamentary bureau chief for both an English and a French network.

Napier’s biography says she was born in Montreal and raised in Rome before moving back to Canada as a young woman. 

She speaks French, English and Italian along with some Spanish and Arabic. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press