Distinguished Canadian Annual Address 2005

Dr. Bernard Shapiro

Ethics Commissioner of Canada

Ethics in Government...?

 Bernard J. Shapiro was born and raised in Montreal and earned his undergraduate degree at McGill University, where he was awarded the Alan Oliver Gold Medal. He pursued graduate studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, where he received his Doctorate in Education.

Dr. Shapiro returned to Canada in 1976 to become Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario in London.  Two years later, he was appointed Vice‑President (Academic) and Provost of that university. In 1980, he moved to Toronto to assume the position of Director of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), a post he held until 1986, when he was appointed Deputy Minister of Education for the Province of Ontario. Since that time he has also served as Deputy Minister of Skills Development, Deputy Secretary of Cabinet, Deputy Minister and Secretary of Management Board and Deputy Minister of Colleges and Universities.

 In 1992, following his retirement from the Ontario Public Service, Dr. Shapiro joined the University of Toronto as a Professor of Education and Public Policy. In 1994, he was appointed Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University. In September 1999 Dr. Shapiro was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada, and in 2004, he became a Grand Officier, L'Ordre National de Quebec.

 Dr. Shapiro became the first Ethics Commissioner of Canada in May, 2004.