Ostry, Sylvia
Sylvia Ostry, née Knelman, economist, public servant (b at Winnipeg 3 June 1927). Ostry was educated in Winnipeg and at McGill and Cambridge. She began her career in university teaching at McGill and Oxford. In 1964 she joined the federal public service as assistant director and then director, Special Manpower Studies, Dominion Bureau of Statistics (1964-69). She was director, Economic Council of Canada (1969-72); chief statistician of Canada (1972-75); deputy minister, Consumer and Corporate Affairs (1975-78); chairman, Economic Council of Canada (1978-79).
In 1980 she was appointed head, Dept of Economics and Statistics, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris. In 1983 she returned to Ottawa as special adviser to the Privy Council Office on loan to the Inst of Research on Public Policy.