Retired General Dr. Rick Hillier, former chancellor of Memorial University, noted in his book Leadership that it’s not about the leader. Leadership is all about the people you serve.

People want to make the world a better place. So they serve their country, sometimes as volunteers on a battlefield or at other times in politics, business or community service.

By serving they lead.

Dr. Phil Warren is one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s greatest servants, and it’s hard to overstate the profound and long-lasting influence he has had on our province.

Dr. Warren started as a student at Memorial in 1949, the same year it became a university. After he received his PhD from the University of Alberta, he returned to Memorial and became part of the educational administrative department.

But the provincial government came calling. The 1960s were a time of educational reform in North America, and Dr. Warren was asked to head the Royal Commission on Education and Youth. This was the first major study and public consultation on education since the province joined Confederation.

Chief among the commission’s 340 recommendations was the need to secularize the Department of Education. At the time, five denominational superintendents sat on the department’s Council of Education, and each had the power to veto any new educational policy. This gave the denominations tremendous power over the province’s education system.

Other recommendations in what came to be known as the Warren Report included consolidating schools and districts, broadening the curriculum, improving teacher qualifications, and building bigger and better-equipped schools.

These bold and sweeping recommendations represented a tectonic shift in the province’s educational landscape.

 

Seen here with former premier Andrew Furey, Dr. Philip Warren received the King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2025 for his contributions and commitment to Newfoundland and Labrador. Photo courtesy of Jan Warren.

 

What is less remembered from the report were the recommendations regarding Memorial University.

Dr. Warren wanted a bigger and stronger university. He wanted improved access and enhanced teacher training. He wanted to expand research and graduate programs.

Critically, he proposed the development of regional colleges that would operate in affiliation with Memorial. His ideas were the spark that led to the eventual creation of Grenfell Campus in Corner Brook and the broader provincial college system we know today.

His three-year project would lead to three decades of educational reform and improvement.

But he wasn’t done.

In 1989, Dr. Warren was elected as MHA for the District of St. John’s North and named Minister of Education. He appointed Dr. Len Williams to lead another royal commission, which would ultimately produce the report, “Our Children, Our Future,” in 1992.

The commission laid the groundwork for substantial reforms, including the eventual end of the denominational education system (via referenda in 1995 and 1997), the creation of English- and French-language school districts, improved teacher certification standards and curriculum modernization.

It was a busy year for Minister Warren. In 1992 he led the merger of Memorial University with the Fisheries and Marine Institute, primarily to consolidate expertise, enhance educational opportunities and strengthen research and training in marine and ocean-related fields.

Dr. Warren says it’s one of his greatest achievements.

In 1998, he turned his expertise to private post-secondary colleges when he was appointed by government to review the college system. Concerns had arisen over the rapid expansion of private career colleges in the province and the lack of regulations protecting students.

Amendments to the legislation established stringent control measures, protected students and increased the stability of the private training industry.

In other words, Dr. Warren’s contributions fundamentally changed our education system from kindergarten to advanced post-graduate degrees. Newfoundland and Labrador would be a vastly different place without him.

Not content with just lending his knowledge and expertise to the education system, Dr. Warren was also chair of the Pippy Park Commission, the Premier’s Council on Social Development, the Premier’s Advisory Council on the Economy and Technology, and was a member of the Labour Market Development Council.

He’s a passionate historian, particularly about his hometown of New Perlican. His autobiographical Growing up in the Five Roads is still available for purchase at the town office.

He’s also dedicated to community voluntarism. He was chair of the Beothuk Institute, whose mission is to create, maintain and enhance public knowledge and appreciation of the Beothuk People and their ancestors.

Dr. Warren spent many years supporting the Fry Family Foundation. As senior advisor, he helped develop the foundation’s scholarship programs at Memorial, the Marine Institute, College of the North Atlantic and the St. John’s Community Centre Alliance. He was also instrumental in establishing the foundation’s Student Leadership Initiative at Marine Institute.

He was presented with the Fry Family Foundation’s Legend Award in 2022.

In the story of Newfoundland and Labrador’s education system, Dr. Warren is indeed a legend.

And he remains one of our true leaders because he has served us so well.