Isabelle Hudon bounced down the gilded staircase that curves into the foyer of Canada’s embassy on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in Paris’s 8th arrondissement. At the bottom she placed one foot in its sling-back pump behind the other and, sweeping her arms in a ballerina’s port de bras, greeted her guests with a playful curtsy. It was spring 2021 and Hudon, then Canada’s ambassador to France and Monaco, was nearing the end of her posting when she sat down with artist and documentarian Mai Hua for an interview on global gender equality.