Julia G. Bentley

Julia G. Bentley served in the Canadian foreign service with distinction for 32 years, occupying several senior executive positions at Global Affairs Canada related to Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, encompassing foreign policy, development, trade, and investment.

She has also represented Canada abroad across Asia. She served as Canada’s High Commissioner in Malaysia (2017-2020) and previously at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing (twice), the Canadian High Commission in Delhi, and the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei.

Combined with other roles including as a teacher, development consultant, and head of an international organization, she spent 22 years in Asia.

In 2022, Julia was on secondment for a year at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.  

She was awarded a policy practitioner fellowship at the University of British Columbia’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs for a semester in spring 2023. 

She was awarded a grant from York University's China Insight's Fund and a Taiwan Fellowship to conduct research for three months in spring 2025, based at National Taiwan University's Centre for China Research. 

She holds degrees in East Asian Studies from Princeton University and University of Toronto, as well as a post-graduate diploma from Nanjing University in modern Chinese history. 

Julia is a distinguished fellow of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, an external research associate of York Centre for Asian Research, a Non-Resident Fellow at National Taiwan University`s Centre for China Studies, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Malaysia.

Updated Nov. 2025