Daniel J. Caron | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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Daniel J. Caron

Daniel J. Caron, Librarian and Archivist of Canada (b at Sainte-Foy, Qué, 1957). Daniel Caron was instrumental in the amalgamation of the National Archives and National Library in 2004 and succeeded Ian WILSON as Librarian and Archivist of Canada in 2009. Caron pursued post-secondary studies in Qubec, earning a bachelor's and a master's degree in economics from the Université Laval, and later, a doctorate in Applied Human Sciences from the Université de Montréal.

Caron began working for the federal public service in 1982, filling various positions in Ottawa with the Competition Bureau Canada, National Museums of Canada Corporation, and what is now Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. He then moved to Fredericton and worked with Employment and Immigration Canada until 1996. From 1996 to 1999 Caron was the director of quality and evaluation, and later, chief information officer and director general of quality, evaluation, information and technologies management branch with the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Québec Region. He was then appointed director general, administrative services at Human Resources Development Canada, serving until 2002.

Caron joined the National Archives in 2003 as the director general of the corporate management branch. When the National Archives and National Library merged in 2004 he took on a key role in the transitional phase. In 2006 he became the assistant deputy minister responsible for the corporate management and government records sector, and in 2008 he became senior assistant deputy minister responsible for the corporate management and horizontal integration sector.

When Ian Wilson announced his retirement Caron returned to the institution he had helped to create, becoming the second Librarian and Archivist of Canada on 24 April 2009. In additional to his career in public service, Caron has taught at several Canadian universities and is an associate professor at the École nationale d'administration publique.