Marius Grinius

Marius Grinius is the Ambassador and Canada's Permanent Representative to the Office of the United Nations and to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament.

He served in the Canadian Forces from 1966-1978.

Career
Mr. Grinius joined the Canadian Forces in 1966. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1971. After having been stationed in the Canadian Forces Base in Lahr, Germany from 1971 to 1979, Mr. Grinius joined the Canadian foreign service in 1979. He has served abroad in Bangkok (twice), Brussels (NATO), Hanoi and again in Hanoi from 1997 to 1999 as Ambassador to Vietnam. He served in the Arms Control and Disarmament Division, and later, as the Director of the Asia Pacific South Relations Division and the Southeast Asia Division, at Foreign Affairs headquarters in Ottawa.

Grinius transferred to the Privy Council Office (PCO) in 1999, where he served in the Social Development Policy Secretariat. He was subsequently appointed Director General of the Western Economic Diversification Canada. Returning to the PCO, he served as the Director of the Operations, Security and Intelligence Secretariat from 2002 to 2004. He was Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from 2004-2007.

He has experience in arms control, and has visited Pyongyang to stress Canada's calls for North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons program. He has called for Canada to engage more with North Korea, encouraging more diplomatic visits to Pyongyang to learn more about what is happening and to "build credibility" with China.

Personal
Marius Grinius was born on 21 July 1949 in Cochrane, Ontario, to immigrants from Lithuania. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario in 1971. Mr. Grinius is married to Carolyn La Brash. They have two sons.

Books

 * 4237 Dr. Adrian Preston & Peter Dennis (Edited) "Swords and Covenants" Rowman And Littlefield, London. Croom Helm. 1976.
 * H16511 Dr. Richard Arthur Preston "Canada's RMC - A History of Royal Military College" Second Edition 1982
 * H1877 R. Guy C. Smith (editor) "As You Were! Ex-Cadets Remember". In 2 Volumes. Volume I: 1876-1918. Volume II: 1919-1984. RMC. Kingston, Ontario. The R.M.C. Club of Canada. 1984