Bernard J. Shapiro, Principal and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus of McGill University became the first Ethics Commissioner of Canada in May, 2004.

Dr. Shapiro was born and raised in Montreal and earned his undergraduate degree at McGill University, where he was awarded the Alan Oliver Gold Medal. Shortly after graduation, he and his brother took over and managed the family restaurant business for several years.

In 1961, he left Montreal to pursue graduate studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., where he received his Doctorate in Education. After graduating from Harvard in 1967, he joined the faculty of Boston University where he later became Associate Dean of the University's School of 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 and 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.

He is past president of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education and of the Social Science Federation of Canada. He has also served on the executive committee of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). He has been Chairman of the governing board of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation in Paris, and he has also been Chairman of the Board of Directors of both the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) and the Royal Military College of Canada. Currently, he is a member of the Board of both the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Institute for Research in Public Policy. He is also Chairman of the International Review Committee of the Leading Edge Endowment Foundation and a member of the Corporate Advisory Board of the Learning Partnership.

Dr. Shapiro is the author of many articles on curriculum, public policy in education, the development of logical thinking in young people, and educational research and methodology. In addition, he has received honorary degrees from McGill University, the University of Toronto, the University of Ottawa, Yeshiva University, McMaster University, the University of Montreal, the University of Edinburgh, Bishop's University, the University of Nottingham, the University of Melbourne and the University of Glasgow.

December, 2004