Marius Grinius is a Canadian foreign service officer and former soldier. Grinius served in the Canadian Forces from 1967-1979 as a member of the Royal Regiment Canadian Artillery. He then joined the Canadian Foreign Service where he served until his retirement in 2012.

Career

Grinius joined the Canadian Forces in 1967. He graduated from the

Royal Military College of Canada '') , established = 1876 , type = Military academy , chancellor = Anita Anand ('' la, ex officio, label=none'' as Defence Minister) , principal = Harry Kowal , head_label ...

in 1971. After having served in 5eRALC (CFB Valcartier), attended the Long Gunnery Staff Course (Guided Weapons) at the Royal School of Artillery in Larkhill, UK, instructed at the Combat Arms School (CFB Gagetown) and served as a staff officer in HQ Canadian Forces Europe in Lahr, West Germany from 1971 to 1979, Grinius joined the Canadian foreign service in 1979. He has served abroad in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

(twice),

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

(

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

and again in Hanoi from 1997 to 1999 as Ambassador to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. 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 In Canada, the Regional Development Agencies (RDA) are the seven federal government agencies responsible for addressing key economic challenges and furthering economic development, diversification, and job creation specific to their respective regi ...

. 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 to 2007 and concurrently to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from 2005 to 2007. Grinius was the Ambassador and Canada's Permanent Representative to the Office of the United Nations and to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in Geneva (2007–2011). He returned to Ottawa in 2011 where he was seconded to the Department of National Defence as Director-General, International Security Policy for a year. He retired on November 8, 2012 after 45 years of service to Canada. Grinius is a Fellow at the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute. He has experience in arms control, and has visited

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...

to stress Canada's calls for

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

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.

References

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 Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between To ...

. The R.M.C. Club of Canada. 1984 {{DEFAULTSORT:Grinius, Marius Living people 1949 births Royal Military College of Canada alumni Canadian people of Lithuanian descent People from Cochrane, Ontario Ambassadors of Canada to Vietnam