Ignatieff, Michael << ihg NAH tee ehf >> (1947-…), served as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2009 to 2011. Ignatieff also held a seat in the Canadian House of Commons representing Toronto’s Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding (district) from 2006 to 2011.
Michael Grant Ignatieff was born in Toronto on May 12, 1947. His father, George Ignatieff, was a Canadian diplomat who served as Canadian ambassador to the United Nations. His grandfather was education minister under the Russian Czar Nicholas II. Ignatieff’s mother, Alison Grant, was a sister of the Canadian philosopher George Grant. Ignatieff received a B.A. degree in history from the University of Toronto in 1969 and a Ph.D. degree from Harvard University in 1976. He taught history for two years at the University of British Columbia before moving to the United Kingdom in 1978. He then became a senior research fellow at Cambridge University.
During the 1980’s and 1990’s, while living in the United Kingdom, Ignatieff hosted several British television programs, including “The Late Show,” “Thinking Aloud,” and “Voices.” He also wrote a regular column for The Observer, a British weekly, and wrote many articles for other periodicals, such as The Guardian and The New Yorker. In 2000, Ignatieff moved to the United States and became director of Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Ignatieff held that position until 2005, when he returned to Canada to enter politics. He first won election to the Canadian Parliament in 2006. Ignatieff lost his seat in the House of Commons in an election in 2011. The Liberals were badly defeated in the election, and Ignatieff resigned as party leader.
Ignatieff has written many books, including novels and nonfiction on such topics as human rights, modern warfare, and nationalism. His best-known books include Blood and Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism (1993), Isaiah Berlin: A Life (1998), and The Rights Revolution (2000). Blood and Belonging also aired as a documentary television series in the United Kingdom. Ignatieff’s family memoir, The Russian Album (1987), won the Governor General’s Literary Award, the highest national prize given to Canadian authors, in the nonfiction category. Ignatieff’s reflection on Canadian nationalism, True Patriot Love: Four Generations in Search of Canada, was published in 2009.
