Constance Backhouse wins SSHRCC Gold Medal

Breaking news from IFLS: Constance Backhouse has been awarded a Gold Medal from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada for her achievement in interdisciplinary research in law.

Congratulations yet again, Constance!

From the press release:

Since Backhouse began her career in the study of law more than 30 years ago, her chosen topics have been issues of major importance in Canada’s legal history: the legal status of women, the role of women in the legal profession, and racism in the legal system. Her research and analysis of these topics have highlighted an important part of our legal and societal history, which, in turn, has helped enrich our understanding of our current legal framework.

Throughout her career, Backhouse has received high acclaim for her research from both academic and non-academic communities. Among her many awards and honours are the Killam Prize (2008), a Trudeau Fellowship (2006-09), the Order of Canada (2008), and the Order of Ontario (2010). In 2007, she became the first non-American historian to be elected president of the American Society for Legal History.

Backhouse has authored numerous critically acclaimed books, including Legal history of Racism in Canada, which was awarded the 2002 Joseph Brant award by the Ontario Historical Society as the “best book in multicultural history published within the past three years.” Carnal Crimes: Sexual Assault Law in Canada, 1900-1975, published in 2009, was lauded as one of the most important texts ever published on sexual assault law. In honour of her distinguished contribution to law and letters in Canada, Backhouse was awarded the David W. Mundell Medal by the attorney general of Ontario this past spring

.Not least of her many achievements is putting Canadian Legal History on the map (and keeping it there) and her encourgement and support for legal historians, for which there is no reward but our continued thanks and appreciation.