François Daigle retired from the public service on January 30, 2023, as deputy minister of justice and deputy attorney general of Canada. From 2017 to 2021, he was associate deputy minister of justice.
Before that, Mr. Daigle held the position of assistant secretary to the Cabinet, social development policy, at the Privy Council Office.
In November 2012, Mr. Daigle became assistant deputy minister of the business and regulatory law portfolio at the Department of Justice Canada after having been deputy assistant deputy minister of the same portfolio since March 2009.
In addition to his recent major positions, Mr. Daigle had a long career at the Department of Justice Canada that began in 1992. His positions included senior general counsel and executive director of the Legal Services Unit for Fisheries and Oceans Canada (from February 2005 to March 2009) and general counsel at the Legal Services Unit for Health Canada, where he was responsible for legal services related to the Hepatitis C Settlement Agreement and other litigation related to tainted blood, the coordination of the class actions and the creation of the Public Health Agency of Canada. From 1992 to 1998, Mr. Daigle worked at the Legal Services Unit for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, where he was responsible for inquiries before the then-new Indian Claims Commission. He subsequently assumed responsibility for the coordination of litigation against that department.
Mr. Daigle is a member of the Law Society of New Brunswick. He left a litigation practice in New Brunswick to join the Department of Justice Canada in Ottawa in 1992.
Mr. Daigle received degrees in economics from McGill University in 1987 and in law from the University of Moncton in 1990.
