Sven is the Member of Parliament for Mississauga-Lakeshore.
Born in Germany, he immigrated to Canada with his family in 1981 and graduated from Woodlands Secondary School and the University of Toronto (Mississauga). He later earned an LL.B from Osgoode Hall Law School, a Master’s degree from the Collège d’Europe, and a doctorate (SJD) from Harvard Law School. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 2000. Sven’s academic work earned him numerous awards and distinctions, including a Canada-US Fulbright Scholarship.
Sven has always been an active member of the community, having served on the Boards of Directors of the United Way of Peel Region and the UTM Alumni Association, and volunteered at The Compass food bank.
Since his election in 2015, Sven has focussed his efforts on building a more inclusive community in Mississauga-Lakeshore.
He serves as the Chair of Canada’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs & International Development, and is a Member of the Standing Committee on National Defence. He is a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, chairs the Liberal Human Rights Caucus and co-chairs the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association. In his first term as a Member of Parliament, Sven brought forward Private Member’s Bill C-309, designating the last week of September each year as Gender Equality Week (received Royal Assent in June 2018).
Sven’s professional background includes work in the private sector, academia, government and international affairs.
Immediately before his election, he served as a senior UN official in Baghdad with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). In Iraq, Sven negotiated operational protocols with the US Coalition Forces to ensure operational, security and medical support for the UN Mission. He led a team of international and Iraqi experts to assist the Iraqi Parliament and Kurdistan Regional Government with constitutional and legislative reforms, including oil & gas management, human rights, institutional design, and federalism. His work in Iraq earned him an Osgoode Hall Gold Key alumni award and recognition as a democracy expert in University of Toronto’s Boundless campaign.
In addition, Sven served in the Government of Canada’s Privy Council as a Senior Policy Analyst, and he spent a number of years in the investment and financial services sector, with a major Canadian chartered bank.
