Vern White

Conservative Senator Vernon White grew up in the small Cape Breton community of Scotchtown where his father worked in the nearby coalmines. His father was careful to steer his five children away from a job in the mines and Vernon chose to become a police officer and began a career with the RCMP that he came to appreciate as a calling and not an occupation. Vernon spent his first years policing in Newfoundland and Labrador and after being stationed in the remote community of Nain, fell in love with the North and spent the next 19 years there ending up as the Commanding Officer for Nunavut. Eventually, Vernon left the RCMP and moved back down south to assume the responsibilities as Chief of Police for Durham Region and later the City of Ottawa. In 2012 White was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Catherine Clark spoke to Vernon White about his life Beyond Politics.