Dr. Christopher Manfredi, McGill University Provost
Monday, November 6, 10:00 – 11:20 am
Christopher Manfredi, Healthcare & the Charter, Legal Mobilization and Policy Change in Canada
McGill University Provost Christopher Manfredi
Katzman Lounge, Vanier Hall
Dr. Manfredi will examine three Supreme Court cases to illustrate the clash between two iconic Canadian policy instruments — universal, single-payer health care and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Eldridge (1997) and Auton (2004) invited the court to extend the scope of publicly funded services, while Chaouilli (2005) asked the court to allow private health services.
On July 1, 2015, Professor Christopher Manfredi began a five-year, renewable mandate as the Provost and Vice-Principal Academic of McGill University.
Prior to becoming Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic), Professor Manfredi was the Dean of McGill’s Faculty of Arts, a position he held for two terms between 2006 and 2015. In that role, he was responsible for academic and executive administration of a diverse humanities and social sciences faculty that comprises 15 departments, two professional schools and four interdisciplinary institutes. The Faculty of Arts has 6,000 undergraduate and 980 graduate students, 288 tenure-track faculty and 50 other full-time academic staff, 110 administrative and support staff, and an annual budget of $65 million. As Dean, Professor Manfredi’s direct reports included three associate deans, eight administrative professional staff, and five development professionals.
He joined McGill’s Department of Political Science in 1988, and served as Chair of the Department from 2000 to 2006.
Professor Manfredi earned his PhD from the Claremont Graduate University in 1987. He holds an MA from Claremont, and an MA and BA from the University of Calgary. His research interests include judicial politics, constitutional design, constitutional theory, law and politics, and legal mobilization.
Professor Manfredi has published seven books, most recently Contested Constitutionalism: Reflections on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (2009, edited with James Kelly) and Judging Democracy (2008, with Mark E. Rush). A full list of his academic publications can be found in his CV.