Peter G. Bates is a retired veteran Canadian Foreign Service Officer having joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in 1989. He served in Canada’s embassies in Moscow (1991-94), Washington D.C. (1996-2000), Tehran (2000-02 and 2011-12), Kyiv (2006-09) and Cairo (2009-11). During his career he witnessed the end of the Soviet Union on Red Square in Moscow in December 1991 and the Egyptian Revolution on Tahrir Square in Cairo in January 2011.
In Ottawa, from 2002 - 2005 he was the first Deputy Director for Counter-Terrorism in the International Crime and Terrorism Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He also served as the Deputy Director South Asia responsible for India, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka (2012-14) and Deputy Director Middle East responsible for Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon (2019-21). He was the Canadian representative to the NATO High-Level Task Force (HLTF) on conventional arms control (1994 - 1996) and Deputy Head of the Canadian delegation to the 1995 Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty Review Conference.
From 2014 to 2019 he was the Canadian political advisor to the Commander North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In that capacity, he provided strategic policy advice to senior Canadian and US military officers and defence officials and contributed to the strategy, plans and policies of this unique binational command.
He is a graduate of the University of Toronto, B.A. (Hons) History and Political Science; where he also did graduate work. He is also a graduate of the National Security Studies Seminar, Canadian Forces College Toronto. From 1979 - 1982, he served with the Queen's York Rangers (1st Americans) in Toronto and was awarded the Radley-Walters Sword in 1980 as the Top Graduating Reserve Armoured Officer at the Armour School, Combat Training Centre Gagetown, New Brunswick. He is married and has two children.
