SCC Award of Excellence : 2008

Mr. Philippe Fontaine (photo, right) is the recipient of the 2008 SCC Award of Excellence seen here with Hugh Krentz, Chair of SCC (photo, left).

Mr. Philippe Fontaine

Philippe Fontaine is a consultant offering advice to the Province of Quebec and has been involved in standardization at the provincial and national levels since 1967.

He started his career working with the Bureau de Normalisation du Quebec (BNQ) as a standards officer. He soon became a manager at BNQ, before leaving the organization to work for the provincial government. In 1985, Mr. Fontaine returned to standardization as director of BNQ, a role he held for 12 years. During that time, he was also part of SCC’s Council, where he proposed provincial representatives meet separately to discuss Council matters; this led to what is now known as the Provincial and Territorial Advisory Committee. Mr. Fontaine has also served as a member of the Canadian National Committee at ISO, and a member of SCC’s Standards Development Organizations Advisory Committee.

Though he left his post of director of BNQ in 1997, Mr. Fontaine has continued to keep a strong presence in Canada’s standardization community. He has chaired the working group responsible for reviewing and updating SCC’s accreditation process and aligning it with the latest international requirements. He is also a member of working groups that address the official languages for National Standards of Canada, and the accreditation criteria for standards development organizations.

On the international front, Mr. Fontaine was instrumental in carrying out a project developed through a partnership agreement between the governments of Canada and Morocco. The project aimed to establish a Moroccan national system of accreditation, certification and standardization.

The Standards Council of Canada owes a debt of gratitude to Mr. Fontaine for his efforts, expertise and devotion to the National Standards System, and is pleased to present him with the SCC Award of Excellence.