International offices: guide

Canada

SG Canada is a team of three; the Head of Office, Deputy Head of Office, and a Scottish Affairs Officer, working out of the British High Commission in Ottawa. As a team, we work with SG USA and Scottish Development International (SDI) North America to form Team North America. 

Our office in Canada works to:

• protect and enhance Scotland’s interests and strengthen Scottish/Canadian intergovernmental relations, by identifying and influencing issues of mutual interest for bilateral cooperation
• share information with Canadian partners around areas of excellence where Scotland has developed significant policies e.g. the Arctic Framework, climate change and social enterprise
• support in-country and Scottish-based partners (including Scottish Development International, VisitScotland, Scottish Higher Education institutions, Creative Scotland, British Council and others) to find opportunities to promote Scotland’s cultural, education, tourism, trade and investment offers
• facilitate innovation and research collaboration through our partners
• engage, inform and develop networks with Scottish diaspora across Canada

We continue to support bilateral collaboration to deliver collective goals and economic benefit for Scotland, through the promotion of modern-day Scotland and emphasis on our global leadership role.

Find out more about the Scotland is Now campaign that we use to support our efforts in delivering this work.

Scotland’s engagement strategy with Canada

Strategic objectives

Priorities for 2024 to 2025

Economy, trade and investment

Export growth

• promote the Canadian market as a viable and important market for Scottish companies, including highlighting the supply chain opportunities and potential for growth and expansion
• working with SDI, the Directorate for International Trade and Investment (DITI) and GlobalScots, we will highlight and ensure Scottish product and services placement and promotion is considered at events and during relevant external engagements with a focus on the food and drink, science and technology and energy transition sectors
• we will engage with Department for Business and Trade UK Government colleagues at post to ensure Scottish product and services representation is proportionally provided at High Commission events and output
• through SDI colleagues we will work with chambers of commerce from across Scotland to support their engagement in Canada and the success of trade visits and missions

Inward Investment

• working alongside DITI and SDI we will promote opportunities for investment in Scotland, highlighting Scotland’s offer to Canadian investors and industry
• we will promote the inclusion of trade and economic engagements in the programmes of inward delegations to Scotland and encourage trade discussions whilst emphasising the opportunities available in Scotland to economic investors

Capital investment

• encourage greater scale of investment from Canadian investors in Scotland, nurturing interest from key funds at opportune conferences and events in the coming year, working with Economic Diplomacy Team in Scotland House London to link opportunities to Scotland based teams

Tourism

• support tourism links between Scotland and Canada, including the promotion of newly launched, seasonal direct flight routes to Scotland from Toronto, Halifax, and Calgary
• we will continue to build on our engagement with VisitScotland, highlighting their Canada and North American focused campaigns and promoting the impact of good connectivity to Scotland for both inbound and onward travel purposes
• we will respond to opportunities to work with the travel trade in market with a focus on highlighting and encouraging visitors to engage on the responsible tourism agenda and net zero efforts within the Scottish tourism industry
• through this, we will also engage with VisitScotland on their promotion of sustainable tourism including their campaign on Meaningful Tourism

Climate change, biodiversity and renewable energy

Climate change

• at the federal level, we will build relationships with climate leads and promote Scotland’s priorities reputation as a climate leader and work to identify opportunities to learn from Canadian experiences of enacting climate legislation and where Scotland can share best practice

Biodiversity

• engage at provincial level to understand the priorities across Canada in this sector, particularly with regards to British Columbia, and identify opportunities for policy exchange and engagement

Hydrogen

• we will look to secure partnerships and engagement at the provincial level with key players in the hydrogen space. In particular we will continue work to establish connections with Ontario with a principal focus on energy and transport, including ZEVs and Hydrogen. We will also prioritise engagement with, and closely follow, Quebec’s investments in green hydrogen, Nova Scotia’s tidal and offshore wind investment, and British Columbia’s work on ZEVs
• at the federal level we will continue to build relationships on energy, particularly on hydrogen

Offshore wind

• we will encourage cooperation and knowledge sharing with Atlantic Canada, particularly in Nova Scotia, on offshore wind, and identify opportunities to engage on the growth of offshore wind investment and strategy in the area, establishing opportunities for sharing knowledge and expertise and building policy connections

Relationships and influence

Scottish connections

• Scottish Diaspora is an important part of our engagement in Canada, and we will use the Scottish Connections Framework to bolster our links with diaspora groups, academia, alumni, and Scottish societies, and deepen our relationship with First Nations and other Indigenous communities throughout Canada, employing the Scottish Connections Database to ensure they are aware and engaged in our work and priorities
• work with Scottish societies to support their outreach efforts and efforts to engage the community at key events throughout the year including Burns, St Andrews Day, and highland games, taking care to prioritise engagement with a varied geographical spread of events and amplify our messaging and making Scotland’s traditions, identity and cultural legacy accessible to Scots-Canadians and beyond
• we will engage a new generation of diaspora, particularly making connections through our successfully launched Instagram, taking advantage of collaborations with partner organisations and other Scottish organisations including VisitScotland to promote Scotland as a place to visit and study
• develop and deepen our connections to the Gaelic speaking communities in Nova Scotia and work with organisations and stakeholders to foster greater awareness of the links between Nova Scota and Scotland
• this will include working with the Nova Scotia Gaelic Office around events such as Nova Scotia Gaelic Month and growing the connections between Gaelic institutions and Gaelic media providers

Cultural cooperation

• SG Canada will support and enhance the sharing of Scottish culture through a robust winter festivals programme and pursue the continued growth of cultural connections between Scottish and Canadian artists, highlighting Scotland’s cultural output and presence at festivals and cultural events throughout Canada, including Toronto International Film Festival, and our continued relationship with the Celtic Colours Festival in Nova Scotia and their partnership with Celtic Connections
• SG Canada will also continue to participate in Tartan Day in Vancouver and the west coast, ensuring the reach of our in-person engagement spans the entirety of Canada and includes those in key areas out with Ottawa
• we will also build on the opportunities gained through the Cabinet Secretary’s visit to Nova Scotia in 2023, exploring new avenues for cooperation and governmental connections at the provincial level, including in culture and Gaelic
• we will also grow engagement with Quebec on cultural cooperation through relationships with the Quebec Office in London and Quebec Government contacts in Quebec City

Higher education and research

• we will continue to promote Scotland as an attractive study destination for Canadian students. We will also connect to our network of Scottish alumni to highlight success stories and build connections in the diaspora community
• through our partnership with the Centre for Scottish Studies (CSS) at the University of Guelph we will promote the Scotland Canada Academic Partnership (S-CAP), created to promote communication, and highlight work from scholars in Scotland and Canada with mutual research interests, bringing together experts to take on new research topics

Knowledge exchange and partnerships

• we will support Scottish delegations to Canada with the objective of learning from their counterparts and establishing contacts in priority policy areas. Particularly, in cooperation with Quebec, we will host regular sessions with Scotland based policy teams to share knowledge and expertise with their counterparts in Quebec and identify and support the development of policy partnerships and connections
• we will promote connections and knowledge sharing specifically within the Arctic, highlighting commonalities and opportunities for engagement in Arctic Canada, including academia. We will also highlight opportunities for funding through the Arctic Connections Fund
• we will also support inward delegations to Scotland with the potential to secure new collaborations and knowledge and policy sharing, following on from successful policy visits in previous years

See previous strategic objectives in our website archive.

Contact

Head of Canada office: John Devine

Email: ScottishAffairsCanada@fco.gov.uk

Twitter/X: @ScotGovCanada

Instagram: @ScotGovCanada

Telephone (reception): +1 613 237 1530

Post:

Scottish Government Ottawa Office
British High Commission
80 Elgin St
Ottawa
ON K1P 5K7
Canada