His distinguished career has included archival and information management, university teaching and government service.
In addition, he has published extensively on history, archives, heritage, and information management and has lectured both nationally and abroad.
Born in Montreal, Quebec, he attended the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean and obtained a master's degree from Queen's University in 1974.
Wilson chaired the Consultative Group on Canadian Archives on behalf of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
In 2009 Wilson became a Fellow of the Association of Canadian Archivists, an honour bestowed upon him at the ACA conference held in Calgary, Alberta.