Vic Pakalnis, Kinross Professor in Mining and Sustainability at Queen’s University, earned a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Mining Engineering and a Master of Engineering Degree from McGill University in 1972 and 1976 respectively. In 1994, he obtained a Master of Business Administration from Queen’s University.
Prior to joining the Government of Ontario in 1978, he worked at Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd., Iron Ore Company of Canada, Inco Ltd., and Kerr Addison Mines. At the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Vic worked as the Provincial Director of Mining and Director of the Industrial Health and Safety Branches and Regional Director, Eastern Ontario, with corporate and program responsibilities for Health and Safety Programs and Employment Standards. He was lead perations Director for Human Resources and responsible for recruiting and training over 200 new inspectors. In 2007-8 he was appointed the Ontario Public Service Amethyst Fellow in Public Policy, School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University teaching courses in the MPA , MIR and Mining Engineering: policy implementation, project management, occupational health and safety.
He is the author of a number of papers on subjects such as: mine safety, public policy re: health and safety issues, training and organizational design. He chaired the tri-partite Provincial inquiry into Health and Safety in the Pulp and Paper Industry. In 1995, he co-led the Early Wins Team within the Internal Administration Restructuring Project. This project was charged with reducing the cost of administration within the Ontario Public Service by $300M. He was one of the founding members and past Chair of the Eastern Ontario Regional Directors’ Council and currently past Chair of the Provincial Interministerial Council.
Vic is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario and the Institute of Public Administration of Canada. He serves on the Boards of the Canadian Association for Programs in Public Administration, the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada, the Transportation Health and Safety Association, and Minerva Canada which promotes the introduction of occupational health and safety in schools of business and engineering. He is also the immediate past Chair of the Canadian Public Sector Quality Association. In 2007 he received the prestigious Amethyst Award for excellence in public service.
Born in Malartic, Quebec, he lives in Ottawa with his son Peter and his wife Lucille.