A former Professor and Dean of the Civil Law Section, Dr. Sylvestre is one of Canada’s foremost socio-legal scholars and a leading voice on the criminalization of poverty and the governance of marginalized populations. At the heart of her work is a fundamental challenge to conventional assumptions about criminal responsibility, punishment and social control. Her research examines how criminal law can perpetuate inequality and exclusion, drawing on the experiences of marginalized communities to better understand how justice systems operate in practice.
This research has had a significant impact on Canadian criminal law and policy. Her research on the legal trajectories of unhoused people helped inform Quebec’s National Homelessness Policy as well as several initiatives limiting the incarceration of homeless people. Her subsequent work on bail and probation conditions contributed to discussions surrounding reforms to the Criminal Code and changes to prosecutorial directives.
Dr. Sylvestre has also made important contributions to understanding systemic racism and the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in the justice system. Her research examining the implementation of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in R. v. Ipeelee revealed widespread challenges in applying the Court’s directives on Indigenous sentencing. Her findings have informed judicial education and reform initiatives across Canada and were subsequently presented to Quebec’s public inquiry into the treatment of Indigenous people in public services.
Her research has also directly influenced Canadian jurisprudence. Her acclaimed book Red Zones: Criminal Law and the Territorial Governance of Marginalized People, co-authored with Nicholas Blomley and Céline Bellot, examines how court-imposed geographic restrictions can operate as tools of spatial exclusion and social control. Published by Cambridge University Press in 2020, the book was cited with approval by the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Zora and received the W. Wesley Pue Award from the Canadian Law and Society Association.
Throughout her career, Dr. Sylvestre has built an international reputation for research that bridges disciplines and connects academic inquiry with real-world change. Her election to the Royal Society of Canada recognizes not only the originality and reach of this scholarship, but its enduring influence on how Canadians understand criminalization, inequality and the justice system.
The Royal Society of Canada is recognized as the pre-eminent body of independent scholars, researchers and creative people in Canada. Its Fellows provide intellectual leadership through their contributions to scholarship, research and public life in Canada and around the world.
Dr. Sylvestre will be formally inducted at the RSC’s celebration of excellence this fall.
Congratulations to Dr. Sylvestre on this extraordinary achievement!