Vern White

Vern White was a sitting Senator in the Senate of Canada until 2022 and is a Visiting Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Previously he has served as Police Chief for the city of Ottawa, Canada. Vern has also worked with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, moving through the ranks from Constable to Assistant Commissioner and has served in three provinces and three territories, spending almost 19 years in the three northern territories.

He has been an Adjunct, visiting or part-time professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and as a visiting fellow at the Australian Institute of Police Management. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Charles Sturt University.

Vern has extensive background in all types of policing, both operational and administrative.

Vern shares Penington Institute’s belief that Australia cannot arrest its way out of its drug problems and that reducing drug-related harms requires an innovative, evidence-based policy response.