Maxwell Yalden, Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission from 1987 to 1996, began his career as a foreign service officer in 1956. While with the Department, he was posted to Moscow, Paris and Geneva. After serving as Deputy Minister of Communications and Commissioner of Official Languages, he was Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg from 1984 to 1987. In 1996 he was elected a member of the UN Human Rights Committee.
