Prior to coming to Camosun College, Carter MacDonald had a full and interesting career in the RCMP. He was primarily involved with security and intelligence, including being part of the security detail that protected PM Pierre Elliot Trudeau during the October Crisis of 1970.
Carter was also part of the Olympic Secretariat which planned the security for the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. Later, he was assigned to CSIS where he ultimately became Director General of Training and Development.
In 1995 Carter was hired by Camosun to serve as Manager of Security and Transportation. It was the first time the college had hired someone who had security as their prime responsibility. Very quickly his responsibilities expanded to include emergency preparedness; occupational safety and health; providing personal security training for front line staff; and self-protection for women.
Since the position had changed so significantly, a new job description was written and Carter became Manager of College Safety.
In his early years at the college, Carter assisted the Student Society with their Walk Safer Program, providing safety training and protocol for using the college’s portable radio system. He was also instrumental in the installation of the Code Blue emergency phones on campus.
For most of his years at the college, Carter was involved with the Camosun United Way Campaign, once as the Chair and twice as a Co-Chair. During these years, Camosun College won the post-secondary challenge trophy on several occasions, a tribute to the generosity of college employees.
Carter retired from the college in 2004, spending four years in retirement before he was asked to “fill-in” as the college Ombudsperson. He ultimately fulfilled the Ombudsperson role from 2008 to 2019.
It was a job he enjoyed immensely. He relished the opportunity to help students as an independent and impartial resource. He was able to draw on his many skills and rich life experience to respond, with great effectiveness, to the many and diverse challenges students brought to his door.
Submitted by Faye Ferguson, CCARE Retiree