Nahlah Ayed is CBC News The National's correspondent in Toronto, where she primarily covers Canada's foreign policy, and the country's diverse makeup. Ayed also continues her international reporting for CBC News from a variety of locales.

Ayed is a veteran of foreign reportage, specifically in the Middle East, where she spent seven years filing for the CBC's television, radio and online operations. From Riyadh to Tehran, Beirut to Baghdad, Ayed covered the region extensively, interviewing key leaders, and reporting from several major conflicts including those in Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza.

As a former parliamentary reporter for The Canadian Press, Ayed also spent months in Afghanistan in 2001 covering the war and Canada's subsequent military involvement.

Ayed's work has been recognized repeatedly, through several awards for her print work, a Gemini nomination for her television reportage in Iraq and an honorary doctorate degree awarded by the University of Manitoba in 2008 for distinguished achievement.

A graduate of Carleton University's Master of Journalism program, Ayed also holds a master's degree in interdisciplinary studies and a B.Sc. in genetics from the University of Manitoba. She was born and raised in Winnipeg.