Joan Pennefather

Joan Pennefather is a Canadian film and cultural executive. She was the first woman to be the Commissioner of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).

Early life Pennefather was born in Montreal, Quebec, and studied history and communications at Marianopolis College, McGill University, Concordia University and in the United Kingdom at the University of Oxford.

Career Pennefather joined the NFB in 1977, working as a Sponsored Program Officer. When François N. Macerola left in December that year, six months before the end of his contract, Pennefather was appointed as acting Government Film Commissioner in his place. On September 15, 1989, Pennefather was appointed as Government Film Commissioner and Chair of the NFB on an official basis. The series had been criticised by some veterans of World War II for its accusations of unprosecuted war crimes committed by Canadian troops. In 1993 she was presented with an Astral Award by the Toronto Women in Film and Television organisation, in recognition of her work to promote the role of women in the film and television industries. However, she spent only one year in this position, leaving in 1995 for "undisclosed reasons".

In 1998 Pennefather became a Commissioner of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). In the 2000s she became the General Manager of the arts funding organisation the Imperial Tobacco Canada Foundation.

Personal life Pennefather was married to former Solicitor General of Canada Francis Fox when it was revealed in 1978 that he had forged the signature of his then-girlfriend's husband on a form granting permission for her to have an abortion. Fox resigned his post as Solicitor General, and she and Fox divorced.