PEOPLE
CROSS EXAMINED
32 www.canadianlawyermag.com
abstract concepts and agreements. We need
to talk about people's houses, their liveli-
hoods and how they are being impacted."
She credits her beginnings in Hamilton,
Ont. for fortifying her get-it-done mentality
— even if it meant she grew up with wander-
lust, buoyed by her father's experiences
immigrating from Ireland.
"I want to see things through," she says.
"I try to be a practical person. I'm originally
from Hamilton, and if you're from Hamilton,
you have to be practical. That's a lesson I've
had to learn. Law teaches you to talk in really
fancy ways that are inaccessible to people.
But politics is about people. You have to talk
like a real person and you have to explain
why what you are doing matters. . . . And
also, try to make it kind of fun."
Although she didn't have any lawyers in
the family, her high school hobby of following
international policy drew her toward the
legal profession. (She studied international
policy at the London School of Economics
before making her way to law school.) When
she took a job at Stikeman Elliott LLP, she
says she landed in competition law because
of its impact on public policy. Then, she took
a bit of a detour.
"I worked in Indonesia as a lawyer.
East Timor voted for independence.
Unfortunately, the militias that were funded
by Indonesia went and kind of burned down
"Law teaches you to talk in really fancy ways
that are inaccessible to people. But politics
is about people. You have to talk like a real
person and you have to explain why what you
are doing matters."
RIDING POPULATION
118,038 people
in Ottawa Centre, McKenna's riding*
PARIS AGREEMENT
195 countries, McKenna helped negotiate for Canada
in 2015**
OTTAWA FLOOD
1.5 million sandbags placed by volunteers***
CANADA'S WATER
7% of the world's global renewable supply of water
is in Canada ****
MASTER
OF HER DOMAIN
*2016, Statistics Canada
** https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/
climate-change/paris-agreement.html
*** https://ottawa.ca/en/residents/emergency-services/emergency-
preparedness/2019-spring-flood#flood-information
**** https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/
corporate/transparency/briefing/key-issues-continued.html#tab4d
Catherine McKenna holding a reusable coffee mug from
Democracy Coffee in her hometown of Hamilton.
Photo credit: Alex Tétreault
