Cindy Blackstock
Spring 2018 Honorary Degree Recipient
Doctor of Laws (honoris causa)
Cindy Blackstock has made an unparalleled contribution to the advancement of human rights for Indigenous children and families in Canada. She is best known as the driving force behind a 2007 complaint under the Canadian Human Rights Act charging that Canada discriminates against Indigenous children by underfunding child and family services on reserves. In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found the complaint had merit, and ordered the federal government to cease its discriminatory practices.
Dr. Blackstock is Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada and Professor in the School of Social Work at McGill University. She has contributed to several UN initiatives, including collaborating with other Indigenous leaders to support development of a General Comment on the Rights of Indigenous children, and is a Commissioner for the Pan American Health Organization Commission on Health Equity and Inequity. She has authored dozens of publications and is a gifted speaker who uses her platform to keep matters of Indigenous health, social and educational services at the forefront of Canadian and international consciousness.
A member of the Gitxsan First Nation in northwest British Columbia, Dr. Blackstock has a BA from UBC, a Master’s in Management from McGill, a PhD in Social Work from the University of Toronto, a Master of Jurisprudence from Loyola University and more than a dozen honorary degrees. She has received the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award, the Canadian Labour Congress Award for Outstanding Service to Humanity, the Jack Layton Award from the Broadbent Institute, and the Law Society of Upper Canada Human Rights Award.