Vivian Bercovici

Vivian Bercovici is a Canadian-Israeli lawyer and diplomat. She practiced law in Toronto and was briefly an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, was a member of the CBC's board of directors, and worked for the Israeli intelligence firm Black Cube.

In 2014, she was appointed as the Ambassador of Canada to Israel, and was replaced by career diplomat Deborah Lyons on July 19, 2016. In 2021 the CBC reported that Bercovici was employed by Israeli intelligence firm Black Cube after the end of her ambassadorship. Bercovici was born to Jewish parents in 1961.

Bercovici studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1981 to 1982 before going to York University, where she received a BA in English and political science in 1984. In the 1990s, she worked for two years as a senior policy adviser in Ontario’s financial ministry.

Bercovici was a member of the Board of Directors of CBC News/Radio-Canada from 2013 to 2018,

Stephen Harper appointed Bercovici Canadian Ambassador to Israel in 2014. The Globe and Mail reported that her appointment was viewed negatively in the Canadian foreign service due to her strong pro-Israel stances, lack of diplomatic experience, and ideological ties to Likud. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and other media sources argued that her pro-Israel stances were in line with the Harper government's foreign policy and that her long career as a Toronto lawyer demonstrated that she was qualified for the position.

Bercovici remained in Israel after her dismissal She is a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem, an Executive Fellow with the University of Calgary School of Public Policy. She is the Managing Director of Nuuvera Israel, a cannabis company. She continued to write about Israel issues, including pieces critical of Netanyahu.

Connection to Black Cube A 2021 investigation by CBC News/Radio-Canada learned that Bercovici worked for the Israeli intelligence firm Black Cube after the end of her diplomatic assignment. The CBC was given messages in which Bercovici told prospective clients that Black Cube services include "undercover surveillance, finding hidden information about third parties' personal lives and tracing bank accounts and assets", and that "she would be one of the people personally supervising all operational matters".