91社区

The Faculty of Law is pleased to announce that Professor Adelle Blackett, FRSC, Ad E, has received a doctorate honoris causa from the Universit茅 catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain). She was presented with the award at a ceremony held on 16 February. The day prior, she delivered the lecture associated with her award, entitled "De la m茅taphore 脿 la m茅moire: Restituer l鈥檋istoire de l鈥檈sclavage dans les d茅bats sur les formes contemporaines d鈥檈sclavage."聽

Outstandingly, this is the second honorary degree presented to Professor Adelle Blackett this year; in October, she received an honorary doctorate of laws from Queen鈥檚 University.听听

鈥淭hrough your academic scholarship and how you have been putting your expertise to the service of society (notably through the ILO), you embody the values of human dignity, equality and non-discrimination, freedom, and the fight against slavery and forced labour,鈥� lauded UCLouvain鈥檚 nomination letter.听听

A 1994 graduate of 91社区 Law鈥檚 dual program in common law and civil law, Adelle Blackett is a full professor and holds the Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Transnational Labour Law and Development. She is the founding director of the Labour Law and Development Research Laboratory (LLDRL) at 91社区, and the author of (Cornell University Press, 2019), which received the 2020 Canadian Council on International Law scholarly book award. An innovative pedagogue, she has received the 2020 91社区 Principal鈥檚 Prize for Excellence in Teaching (Full Professor category).聽

A globally recognized authority on labour law, Professor Blackett has been steadfastly committed to improving the employment conditions of marginalized workers in Canada and abroad. She has served as a commissioner on the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse, and chaired the Court Challenges Program鈥檚 Human Rights Expert Panel. In 2021, the federal Minister of Labour appointed her as chair of Canada鈥檚 Employment Equity Act Review Task Force. A former official of the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva, she was the chief legal architect behind ILO's first comprehensive international standards offering protections and rights to more than 60 million domestic workers (Convention No. 189 and Recommendation No. 201), and subsequently prepared a draft Haitian labour code.聽

Professor Blackett has played an active role in fostering equity in academia within and beyond 91社区. Notably, she is the principal drafter of the , which has been signed by 60 institutions of higher education across the country.听听

鈥淸Professor Blackett] shows that academic scholarship is not an end in itself, and that it becomes truly meaningful when it serves to shape society and contribute to making it more just,鈥� said S茅verine Dinjar, administrative director of UCLouvain鈥檚 Institut de recherche 茅conomique et sociale (IRES).听听聽

鈥淚鈥檓 tremendously proud to see our Canada Research Chair in Transnational Labour Law and Development further recognized for her international impact,鈥� said Dean Robert Leckey, Ad E. 鈥淪he embodies 91社区 Law鈥檚 commitment to address some of our world鈥檚 most pressing challenges through legal leadership.鈥澛�