Bruce Phillips, O.C., Privacy Commissioner of Canada, 1991-2000
A native of Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay), Bruce Phillips enjoyed a long career as a reporter, public servant, and ultimately, Privacy Commissioner of Canada. The son of a newspaperman: Alexander (Lackey) Phillips and Lillian (nee Foxton), he began his career as a cub reporter for the Port Arthur News Chronicle in 1949. On leaving the Lakehead he served as Ontario Legislative Reporter for Canadian Press, and held postings as reporter and editor for the Calgary Herald. In 1958 he was appointed Parliamentary Reporter for Southam News under Bureau Chief Charles Lynch. His foreign assignments included South Africa, Rhodesia, post-colonial upheaval in Congo, the Nigerian independence movement, and the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict known as the Six Day War.
As Staff Correspondent for Southam's Washington Bureau during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Phillips wrote widely on subjects ranging from civil rights strife to the conflict in Vietnam. Shortly after returning to Canada he became Ottawa Bureau Chief for CTV News where his nightly commentaries, known as The Backgrounder, were watched for their breadth of knowledge about Canadian political affairs. Phillips also hosted Question Period, a weekly interview program which offered Canadians an opportunity for informed reflection about the events of the day. Question Period additionally performed a role as a mentorship program for emerging journalistic voices; many of Canada's most recognized names in print and electronic media first appeared as guest panelists. Phillips also conducted annual year-end interviews with the Prime Minister, reported on federal elections, and appeared frequently on CTV programs such as Canada AM and W5.
Accepting a call from the newly-elected Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to direct the Communications division of the Canadian Embassy, Phillips moved to Washington for the second time in 1985, serving under Ambassador Allan Gotlieb as Minister for Public Affairs (Gotlieb 2006). A subsequent call in 1987 saw Phillips serving as Communications Director in the Prime Minister's Office.
In 1991 Phillips was appointed Privacy Commissioner of Canada. It was in this role that he brought his experience of public interest and advocacy to bear on the issue of protecting individual privacy, putting the issue of protection of personal privacy on the national agenda at a moment when the speed of technological change threatened to overwhelm it. Recognizing that if privacy were to retain any meaning its protection must extend into the private sector, Phillips embarked on a campaign to persuade Parliament to pass a new privacy statute: the Personal Information Protection and Electronics Documents Act, which extends privacy rights to all aspects of Canadians' dealings in commercial transactions.
In 1998 Parliament and the Senate voted unanimously to extend his term as Privacy Commissioner by two years. Phillips is a recipient of the Bowater Award for Journalism in Business and Economics (1960), a National Newspaper Award for Staff Corresponding (1961), and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Marketing Association (2004). He is the founding president of the National Press Club, and a past president of The Parliamentary Press Gallery and the Royal Ottawa Golf Club. In December 2009 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada by Her Excellency Governor General Michaelle Jean.
Bibliography
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Gotlieb, Alan. The Washington Diaries. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2006.
Lynch, Charles. A Funny Way to Run a Country Further Memoirs of a Political Voyeur. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, 1986.
MacDonald, L. Ian. Mulroney the Making of the Prime Minister. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1984.
Mulroney, Brian. Memoirs. Toronto: Douglas Gibson, 2007.
Wallin, Pamela. Since You Asked. Random House, 1998.