Joyce Murray, who has served in Canada’s House of Commons since 2008, has been named Canada’s new Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.
Her appointment was announced Tuesday, Oct. 26, by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The announcement prompted quick messages of congratulations to Murray from the Fisheries Council of Canada and the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance.
The Fisheries Council statement said it hoped to work with the new minister to reclaim the nation’s global reputation as a sustainable seafood powerhouse.
“Demand for seafood has only grown in the last two years as Canadians explored more options for cooking and eating at home,” the council stated. “Coupled with the government’s mandate to create a productive and sustainable Blue Economy Strategy, there has never been a better time to realize the potential of our sector.”
Timothy Kennedy, president and CEO of aquaculture alliance, welcomed Murray, and said the CAIA hoped to work with her to realize opportunities for Canada in the fast-growing blue economy, including modernizing Canada’s aquaculture programs and toward stability in British Columbia’s salmon-farming sector.
Murray’s political career came on the heels of a long career building an international reforestation company, which planted nearly 1.5 billion trees, including over 500,000 that she planted herself, according to biography information provided by the Canadian government. She also served four years in the cabinet of British Columbia’s provincial government.
Murray wrote her thesis on global warming when studying for a master’s degree in business from Simon Fraser University, which awarded her with the Dean’s Convocation Medal for TOP MBA graduate in 1992. She immigrated with her family from South Africa as child and settled in Vancouver. She and her husband Dirk have three adult children and five grandchildren.