Dr. David Flaherty
former Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia
Dr. Flaherty is a specialist in the management of privacy and information policy issues. As the first B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner, he wrote 320 orders under the B.C. Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and pioneered the development of privacy impact assessments and site visits as forms of privacy compliance auditing. Dr. Flaherty is an Honours graduate of McGill University (1962) with an MA and Ph.D. from Columbia University. His teaching career from 1965 to 1993 included Princeton University, the University of Virginia and the University of Western Ontario where he was professor of history and law from 1972 to 1999 and is now professor emeritus. He was the first director (1984-89) of its Centre for American Studies and has held fellowships and scholarships at Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, and Georgetown Universities. In 1992-93, Dr. Flaherty was a Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC and a Canada-U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Law. He was an adjunct professor in political science at the University of Victoria from 1999 to 2006. He is a member of the External Advisory Committee to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and has been the Chief Privacy Advisor to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Dr. Flaherty has written several books, including ‘Privacy in Colonial New England’ and’ Protecting Privacy in Surveillance Societies: The Federal Republic of Germany, Sweden, France, Canada, and the United States’. He co-authored ‘Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act: An Annotated Guide’ and ‘Guidelines for Managing Privacy, Data Protection and Security for Ontario Hospitals’.
Dr. Flaherty is a specialist in the management of privacy and information policy issues. As the first B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner, he wrote 320 orders under the B.C. Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and pioneered the development of privacy impact assessments and site visits as forms of privacy compliance auditing. Dr. Flaherty is an Honours graduate of McGill University (1962) with an MA and Ph.D. from Columbia University. His teaching career from 1965 to 1993 included Princeton University, the University of Virginia and the University of Western Ontario where he was professor of history and law from 1972 to 1999 and is now professor emeritus. He was the first director (1984-89) of its Centre for American Studies and has held fellowships and scholarships at Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, and Georgetown Universities. In 1992-93, Dr. Flaherty was a Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC and a Canada-U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Law. He was an adjunct professor in political science at the University of Victoria from 1999 to 2006. He is a member of the External Advisory Committee to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and has been the Chief Privacy Advisor to the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Dr. Flaherty has written several books, including ‘Privacy in Colonial New England’ and’ Protecting Privacy in Surveillance Societies: The Federal Republic of Germany, Sweden, France, Canada, and the United States’. He co-authored ‘Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act: An Annotated Guide’ and ‘Guidelines for Managing Privacy, Data Protection and Security for Ontario Hospitals’.
