Before becoming chair of the World Refugee and Migration Council, Axworthy was president of the University of Winnipeg and a cabinet minister.

In 2024, he released his memoir, My Life in Politics, which was described as: In this stirring and beautifully written memoir, Axworthy tells the unlikely story of a Canadian prairie boy, raised in the social gospel tradition, who studied politics at Princeton [University] at the height of John F. Kennedy’s Camelot, marched for civil rights in Alabama and returned to Canada to embark on an illustrious political career of his own at the height of Trudeaumania.

Axworthy served 21 years in parliament, more than half of those in the cabinets of Pierre Trudeau, John Turner and Jean Chretien. With extraordinary candour and introspection, he invites readers inside his roles in some of the most important political stories of the last half century, including the enactment of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the great debate over the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement and the global fights to ban landmines and establish the International Criminal Court.

He illuminates such monumental events as the turnover of Hong Kong and Princess Diana’s funeral (at which he was Canada’s official representative) and offers unforgettable vignettes of encounters with a range of characters from Fidel Castro to the Māori Queen. He also writes frankly about the disappointments of political life and the challenges of staying true to progressive ideals while dealing with the often brutal requirements of political power. In an open, personal manner, he tells of how the contributions of his wife and the support of a network of family, colleagues and friends helped him stay the course.