Janet Ajzenstat | |
|---|---|
| Born | Janet Leslie MacDonald (1936-04-19)19 April 1936 |
| Died | 27 May 2025(2025-05-27) (aged 89) Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Oona Eisenstadt |
| Relatives | Kady MacDonald Denton (sister) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | |
| Thesis | The Political Thought of Lord Durham (1979) |
| Doctoral advisor | Peter H. Russell |
| Influences | Allan Bloom |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Political science |
| Institutions | McMaster University |
| Notable works | The Political Thought of Lord Durham |
| Website | janetajzenstat |
Janet Leslie Ajzenstat (néeMacDonald;[1] 19 April 1936 – 27 May 2025) was a Canadian political scientist who was a professor ofpolitical science atMcMaster University. The author of numerous works on Canadian political history, she is best known forThe Political Thought of Lord Durham, where she argues thatDurham's call forFrench-Canadian assimilation was consistent withliberal principles.
As an undergraduate atUniversity College, University of Toronto, Ajzenstat majored in art and archeology. Following graduation in 1959, she worked at theArt Gallery of Ontario, only turning to political science in the mid-1960s.[1]
In 1959, she married philosopher and future fellow McMaster professor Samuel Ajzenstat.[1] Their daughter,Oona Eisenstadt, is a professor ofJewish studies atPomona College. Their son, Sandor Ajzenstat, is an artist. Her sister is the children's book creatorKady MacDonald Denton.[1]
Ajzenstat received herDoctor of Philosophy degree from theUniversity of Toronto under the supervision ofPeter H. Russell. While a doctoral student, she was ateaching assistant forAllan Bloom's introductorypolitical philosophy course. Bloom was a major influence on her thought and she described him in her dissertation as a "mentor and friend".[2][3]
Ajzenstat died on 27 May 2025, at the age of 89.[1]
Ajzenstat's view ofCanadian federalism, which dismisses the idea of special status forQuebec orIndigenous people, provoked much scholarly debate, especially following the collapse of theMeech Lake Accord.[4] A review ofThe Political Thought of Lord Durham described the book "as a bold revisionist analysis of Durham's political thought and as a clear defence of mainstream liberalism in the face of attempts to enshrine Quebec's 'distinctiveness' in Canadian federalism".[5]
Ajzenstat also contends that so-called "judicial activism" undercuts the foundation ofresponsible government. For example, inOnce and Future Canadian Democracy, she wrote about theCanadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: "We forgot that parliaments have an interest in securing rights. We began to think of parliaments as tyrants, ever ready to trespass on the citizen’s liberties, to invade the sphere of private rights. And we began to think of the courts and the courts alone as guardians of our precious rights and liberties".[6] As a result, her work is well received byconservative scholars, such asStephen Harper's former chief of staffIan Brodie[citation needed] and political scientistBarry Cooper; the latter wrote in a review ofCanada's Founding Debates, "This is revisionist history at its best".[7]
Ajzenstat's work was the subject of two chapters inCanadian Conservative Political Thought (2023), edited by Lee Trepanier and Richard Avramenko.
Ajzenstat was a recipient of theQueen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002), theJohn T. Saywell Prize for Canadian Constitutional Legal History (2009),[8] and theQueen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012).[1]