Constance Barbara Backhouse, (born February 19, 1952) is a Canadian

legal scholar Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

, specializing in

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

and

race discrimination Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their skin color, race or ethnic origin.Individuals can discriminate by refusing to do business with, socialize with, or share resources with people of a certain ...

. She is a Distinguished University Professor and University Research Chair at the Faculty of Law,

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Canada. In addition to her academic publications, Backhouse is the author of several books on

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

- and

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

-related legal rights topics. Backhouse is President of the

American Society for Legal History The American Society for Legal History is a learned society dedicated to promoting scholarship and teaching in the field of legal history. It was founded in 1956 and has an international scope, despite being based in the United States. It sponsors ...

, and is the first non- US scholar to hold this position.

Career

A graduate of the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The law school is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and the ''Osgoode Hall La ...

(

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

), and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. She taught law at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

, and has taught at the

since 2000. Backhouse has served as an expert witness and consultant on sexual abuse and violence against women and children. She was the co-author of one of the first books in North America on workplace sexual harassment. She has been an adjudicator for high-profile legal cases for the compensation claims arising from the physical, sexual and psychological abuse of the former inmates of the Grandview Training School for Girls (1995–98), and claims for the former students of Aboriginal residential schools (

Canadian Indian residential school system In Canada, the Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches. The school sy ...

) across Canada. She is a member of the board of directors for the Claire L'Heureux-Dubé Fund for Social Justice and the Women's Education and Research Foundation. She is a Founding Co-Editor of the

Feminist History Society Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male poi ...

, established in 2010 to publish a series of books exploring feminism in Canada and Quebec between 1960 and 2010. As of 2011, Backhouse is working on a biography of Madame Justice

Claire L'Heureux-Dubé Claire L'Heureux-Dubé (born September 7, 1927) is a retired Canadian judge who served as a puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada from 1987 to 2002. She was the first woman from Quebec and the second woman appointed to this position, aft ...

, as well as a book about 100 Canadian feminist lawyers who entered the profession during the 1970s and 1980s.

Stance on national standard for law schools

While a member of the Licensing and Accreditation Task Force of the Law Society of Upper Canada, Constance Backhouse opposed a 2010 recommendation passed by the LSUC regarding a national standard being established for Canadian law schools. Backhouse proposed a regulatory regime based on a "consensual, consultative" approach:

Awards and recognition

* Recipient of the

Governor General's Awards in Commemoration of the Persons Case The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

(2013). * Member of the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario () is the most prestigious official honour in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier David Peterson, the civilian order is adm ...

(2010) *

Killam Prize The Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Prize was established according to the will of Dorothy J. Killam to honour the memory of her husband Izaak Walton Killam. Five Killam Prizes, each having a value of $100,000, are annually awarded by the Canada Cou ...

in Social Sciences (2008) * Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

(2008) *

Jules and Gabrielle Léger Fellowship Jules is the French form of the Latin "Julius" (e.g. Jules César, the French name for Julius Caesar). It is the given name of: People with the name *Jules Aarons (1921–2008), American space physicist and photographer *Jules Abadie (1876–195 ...

(2006) *

Trudeau Fellowship Trudeau is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Trudeau family, a notable Canadian family known in politics, business and film, including: **Charles-Émile Trudeau (1887–1935), Canadian businessman and father of Pierre Trudeau * ...

(2006) * Ramon Hnatyshyn Award from the

Canadian Bar Association The Canadian Bar Association (CBA), or Association du barreau canadien (ABC) in Canadian French, French, represents over 37,000 lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers and law students from across Canada. History The Association's first Annu ...

(2006) * Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

(2004) * Honorary doctorate (2002) and law society medal (1998) from the

Law Society of Upper Canada The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; french: Barreau de l'Ontario) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC; frenc ...

* Bora Laskin Human Rights Fellowship (1999) * Joseph Brant Award for multicultural history (2002) * Willard Hurst Prize in legal history (1992) *

Gustavus Myers Gustavus Myers (1872–1942) was an American journalist and historian who published a series of highly critical and influential studies on the social costs of wealth accumulation. His name has been associated with the muckraking era of US litera ...

award for books about human rights (1993) * Both research and teaching awards at the

* Augusta Stowe-Gullen Medal (1981) for her feminist activist work

Bibliography

Books

* Carnal Crimes: Sexual Assault Law in Canada, 1900–1975, Constance Backhouse. Irwin Law: September 2008, 442 pgs. * The Heiress Vs The Establishment: Mrs. Campbell's Campaign For Legal Justice (Law & Society), Constance Backhouse and Nancy L. Backhouse. Univ of British Columbia Press: August 30, 2005, 321 pp. * Colour-Coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900-1950. Constance Backhouse. University of Toronto Press: November 20, 1999, 432 pp. * Challenging Times: Women's Movements in Canada and the United States. Constance Backhouse. McGill-Queen's University Press: 1992, 335 pp. * The Secret Oppression: Sexual Harassment of Working Women. Constance Backhouse. Macmillan: 1979, 208 pp. * People and Place: Historical Influences on Legal Culture (Law & Society) Jonathan Swainger (Editor), Constance Backhouse (Editor), University of British Columbia Press, 2003, 288 pp. * Petticoats & Prejudice: Women and Law in Nineteenth Century Canada. Constance Backhouse. Women's Press, 1991. 470 pp.

Other publications

List of Constance Backhouse publications
includes numerous downloadable articles

Selected articles

The Celebrated Abortion Trial of Dr. Emily Stowe, Toronto, 1879
Constance B. Backhouse,

Canadian Bulletin of Medical History The ''Canadian Bulletin of Medical History'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal for the history of medicine, health, and related fields. Its aim is to situate the history of health, medicine, and biomedical science within local, regional, and i ...

, Volume 8: 1991 / p. 159-87
"Pleasing Appearance . . . Only Adds to the Danger": The 1930 Insanity Hearing of Violet Hypatia Bowyer
Constance Backhouse, Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, Volume 17, Number 1, 2005, pp. 1–13
"Remembering Favourite Feminist Legal Scholarship"
Backhouse, Constance. Buss, Doris. Way, Rosemary Cairns. Gilbert, Daphne. Et al. Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, Volume 17, Number 1, 2005, pp. 243–270

References

External links

* Lost Years: A People's Struggle for Justice * Constance Backhouse
"Gender and Race in the Practice of Law", downloadable PDF format.
Presentation delivered at the Ontario Justice Education Network's first colloquium on the legal profession in 2003. Recommended student Grade level: Grade 11 and Grade 12. * Constance Backhouse, , lecture delivered at

(Liberal Arts and Professional Studies Program),

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada
Feminist Histories
{{DEFAULTSORT:Backhouse, Constance Canadian legal scholars Canadian legal writers University of Ottawa faculty Historians of Canada Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Members of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of Ontario 1952 births Living people Harvard Law School alumni Writers from Winnipeg Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case winners Osgoode Hall Law School University of Manitoba alumni Women legal scholars