| Renowned broadcast journalist, author and producer, Patrick Watson, delivers a keynote presentation on the value of community in a civil society that is truly inspirational. What organizations are in need of is not hierarchical structures and divisions of territory but a sense of community; that individual staff members must have an understanding of what their company does to feel ownership and find common purpose. The motivation of common purpose over individual competitiveness is most effective in building a civil society. The very nature of a "capital C" citizen, as Patrick Watson terms it, is one who understands a responsibility for their community in some way, large or small. All too typically, if citizenship is not reinforced and practiced by leaders, citizens will lose sight, choosing self interest over community and the public good. |
His first broadcasting experience was as a radio actor in 1943, in a continuing daily CBC children’s radio drama, The Kootenay Kid. While best known for his work in television journalism and documentary film, he has maintained an active interest in dramatic production and acting, including roles in Terry Fox The Movie, Countdown to Looking Glass, and in the CBC 1975 production of Bethune with Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan. His two dramatised television series of encounters with great figures from the past, Titans and Witness to Yesterday, comprised more than 50 episodes.
In 1983 he wrote and acted a one-man stage version of the Old Testament Book of Job. He is currently preparing a television version of this production. Since 1988 he has been Creative Director and principal writer of the CRB Foundation’s Heritage Minutes project, a series of more than fifty "Micro-Movies", cinematic dramatisations of moments from Canada’s past which appear on virtually every television service in Canada, and every day on a thousand movie screen across the nation.
His television and documentary productions have ranged from writing, producing and directing for The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, to his best-known Canadian series This Hour Has Seven Days, which he jointly conceived and produced with Douglas Leiterman, and later co-hosted with Laurier Lapierre and Dinah Christie. He was co-producer of the CBC’s landmark series Close-up from 1957 to 1960, and produced and directed the National Affairs series INQUI’RY from 1960 to 1964. In that year he became the first North American producer ever to film in The Peoples Republic of China. That film, The 700 Million, is considered a documentary classic.
In 1989 the international co-production television series The Struggle for Democracy, which he created and hosted, was the first documentary series ever to appear simultaneously in French and English on the CBC’s two main television networks with the same host. This series has been seen in more than thirty countries around the world, including the emerging free countries of Eastern Europe.
As author, his books include two novels, two biographies and two works of social and political studies, including the recent companion volume to his series The Struggle for Democracy.
His business activities have included executive positions in several broadcasting and film undertakings in Ottawa and Toronto since 1968.
Chairman of the Abilities Foundation, he is honorary Chair of the Canadian Amputee Sports Association and has served as a founding director of the Centre For Arms Control, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Film Board of Canada. In 1989 he was named Chairman of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, from which post he stepped down in June 1994.
Patrick Watson was a commercial pilot for twenty years. His recreational activities have included aerobatics, scuba diving, music, painting, and magic. He has received honorary doctorates in letters and laws, and a number of national and international television and documentary awards. He was named an officer of The Order of Canada in 1981.
Published Books:
| DLA | Speakers | Categories | Top Of Page |