Sheila Bird was appointed to the newly created, deputy commissioner-level position of Executive Director, Public Affairs at the RCMP in November 2008. Her responsibilities include leading Communications and the Access to Information and Privacy programs.

Sheila began her career in the federal public service in 1991, following ten years on Parliament Hill as a journalist with Radio Canada International and a number of years in private radio.

She worked first as a strategist and later as acting Deputy Director, Foreign Policy Communications, with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT). From 1995 to 2001, she gained central agency and crisis management experience as a senior communications analyst at the Privy Council Office. Her responsibilities included the communications activities of–among others--DFAIT, National Defence, the Canadian International Development Agency, Revenue Canada and Status of Women. She frequently provided communications support on Prime Ministerial delegations to G-8, APEC and NATO Summits.

Ms Bird’s return to DFAIT came just weeks before the events of Sept 11, 2001. As Director, Foreign Policy and Corporate Communications, she was responsible for coordinating key messages for Canada’s missions around the globe on Canada’s response to the terrorist attacks on the US.

Sheila was Director General, Communications at the Department of Justice, from 2003-2007, a time of intense legislative activity, including the passage of the bill legalizing same sex marriages.

In the fall of 2007, Sheila moved once again to DFAIT’s Lester B. Pearson Building, as DG, Interdepartmental Communications and Information, with the Task Force on Afghanistan.

Ms. Bird has a Bachelor of Journalism, Honours, from Carleton University. She and her husband, journalist Ken Rockburn, have two adult children.