Thousands of Global Affairs Canada employees have received notices warning they may lose their jobs as Ottawa trims the public service. The diplomats’ union says about a third of its members got notices, and questions why the department is cutting staff before its foreign policy review is finished.
Notices land before the plan does
Thousands of employees at Global Affairs Canada have been issued notices warning they may lose their jobs, months before a foreign policy review is completed that is supposed to give the department its updated priorities.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said the department has the broad outlines of Canada’s foreign policy, which can shape staffing priorities. The diplomats’ union is not persuaded.
“I just don’t understand why we’re cutting without defining what it is that we want to do and what we need,” said Pam Isfeld, a career diplomat and president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers. “I just don’t understand why you would not build the organization that you want once you’ve defined your priorities.”
Isfeld said about a third of her union’s total membership — about 700 people — have received the notices. The other unions with members in the department reported 1,172 notices to Public Service Alliance of Canada members at Global Affairs, 477 to members of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, and 746 to members of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees.
Part of a government-wide wave
Global Affairs is one front in a much larger exercise. Across the federal public service, almost 10,000 employees received workforce adjustment notices in a single week in January, including 775 workers at Transport Canada, 895 at Health Canada and 598 at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.
A workforce adjustment notice is not a layoff. It warns an employee that their job may be affected by cuts; many who receive one are ultimately reassigned, retire, or are spared when others leave. Departments often notify considerably more people than the number of positions they intend to eliminate.
“Public services aren’t just a budget line — they’re a lifeline for communities and families,” Public Service Alliance of Canada national president Sharon DeSousa said in a news release. “While the government’s planned cuts may appear to save money, make no mistake, we all pay the price through slower services, longer waits and weaker programs.”
The number behind the notices
How many Global Affairs jobs will actually disappear became clearer later. In January, the department issued notices to 3,095 staff in total. Its departmental plan, published March 13, says Global Affairs will cut 1,240 full-time equivalents by March 2029 — a reduction of 9.4 per cent from its 13,185 staff equivalents as of March 2025. The department has previously said it must trim its workforce by 12 to 13 per cent by 2030.
The union’s sharpest complaint is about who is being cut. Isfeld said Ottawa is disbanding the specialized FS-04 tier — the foreign service’s most senior working-level diplomats. Most are being reclassified as executives or one rank lower, but 34 positions are simply being terminated, she said, warning that the attrition will hit Canada’s missions abroad hard at a moment of geopolitical turmoil.
