The Peter MacKell Chair in Federalism
The Peter MacKell Chair in Federalism aims to reflect on the foundations, potential, risks and concrete incarnations of the “federal phenomenon” understood broadly. The inaugural holder of the Peter MacKell Chair is Professor Johanne Poirier.
Recent media mentions
Début de la session parlementaire : un État de droit qui s’effrite, opinion letter signed by Dia Dabby, Noura Karazivan, David Koussens, Louis-Philippe Lampron and Johanne Poirier, La Presse, 17 November 2025.
Trois raisons de refuser le projet constitutionnel de la CAQ, opinion letter signed by Geneviève Nootens, Martin Papillon, Louis-Philippe Lampron, Dominique Leydet, Naïma Hamrouni, Stéphanie Tremblay, Luc Turgeon, Chedly Belkhodja, Noura Karazivan, Alain-G. Gagnon, Dia Dabby, David Koussens and Johanne Poirier, Le Devoir, 16 November 2025.
What's new?
Participation in the annual conference of the International Association of Centers for Federal Studies
Professor Johanne Poirier and master's student Chloe Bell had the pleasure of participating in the annual conference of the International Association of Centers for Federal Studies, held in Mexico City on September 25 and 26, 2025. They presented a paper entitled “Competing Provincial Conceptions of Federalism in Canada: Intergovernmental Relations and Housing Policy in Montreal and Toronto.” This presentation focused on the influence of Quebec and Ontario's conceptions of federalism on the trajectory of federal government public policy on housing.
Stipend: EURAC Winter School on Federalism
The Peter MacKell Chair on Federalism offers a stipend aimed at financially supporting a McGill Faculty of Law student wishing to participate in the EURAC Winter School on Federalism, to be held February 2 to February 13, in Innsbruck (Austria) and Bolzano (Italy).
The Winter School is designed for participants from all nationalities who wish to broaden their knowledge of federalism and multilevel governance through an interdisciplinary and comparative approach. For more information, consult their website: winterschool.eurac.edu.
The stipend, which would serve to cover registration, travel, and accommodation fees, would be a minimum amount of 500$ and a maximum of $2,000 CAD.
Application procedure
Interested students should apply directly to EURAC, in accordance with its internal admissibility requirements (more information here). The deadline is Sunday October 12, 2025, 5:59 p.m. Montreal time).
Please inform Prof. Johanne Poirier that your application has been filed, by sending a message to the Chair coodinator at: caroline.homet [at] mcgill.ca, with "MACKELL Stipend / Allocation" in the subject line.
Students who are selected by the program may then apply for the stipend by sending a letter of intent, CV, transcript from McGill Faculty of Law, and proof of acceptance to the program, to Prof. Poirier at the same email address.
Admissibility
The stipend is reserved for undergrad and graduate students currently registered at the McGill Faculty of Law. Students who graduated in May 2025 are also admissible. If several McGill Law students were to be accepted by the program, a selection process might take place to allocate the stipend.
For more information, please contact Professor Johanne Poirier (johanne.poirier3 [at] mcgill.ca).
Intergovernmental Law Seminar
On May 26 and 27, 2025, the Peter MacKell Chair in Federalism hosted a two-day Intergovernmental Law Seminar, gathering scholars from Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxemburg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. The opportunity to work together in person yielded rich discussions on how intergovernmental relations operate in vastly different federations. The knowledge shared over these two days will be seminal to this new international comparative project.
Baxter Symposium on Federalism 2025
The Peter MacKell Chair in Federalism hopes that you will join us for the Baxter Family Symposium on Federalism, to be held on Friday May 23rd, from 12:00 to 17:00, Eastern Daylight Time (Montreal time; UTC-5).
The event will take place at McGill Faculty Club, 3450 McTavish St, Montreal, QC H3A 1X9. It is also possible to attend the Symposium online for those who are unable to be there in person.
The three winners of the writing competition, along with the two honourable mentions from the jury, will present their essays and respond to all your questions during the Symposium, which will also be attended by members of the jury.
To reserve your in-person spot or receive the link to the Symposium, please email: baxter-competition.law [at] mcgill.ca.
Winners of the Baxter Family Competition on Federalism 2025
Federalism: Thinking Outside the Box
McGill University's Faculty of Law and the Peter MacKell Chair in Federalism are delighted to announce the winners of the 2024-2025 Baxter Family Competition on Federalism. Organized by Professor Johanne Poirier, this international essay Competition was open to students and recent graduates in law and political science.
Visiting Professor, Mugambi Jouet
Mugambi Jouet, professor at the Gould School of Law in California, will be at the McGill Law Faculty for two events organized by the Peter MacKell Chair in Federalism in March 2025.
Monday March 17, 16h00-17h30, Room 312
Prof. Jouet will contrast the interaction between federalism and abortion policy and politics in Canada and the USA in Prof. Johanne Poirier’s Comparative Federalism class. You are more than welcome to join us!
Tuesday March 18, 16h00-18h00, in the Caren and Jordan Waxman Common Room
Prof. Jouet will lead an informal discussion on “American Exceptionalism in a Changing Western World”. In these times of unpredictable attacks on democracy, this also promises to be a very lively discussion.
Please RSVP to the new Chair coordinator, Ms Caroline Homet, before March 14,2025: caroline.homet [at] mail.mcgill.ca.
Publication of Beyond intergovernmental relations in federal systems: the concept of intergovernmental law
In federal systems, irrespective of the official division of powers, the development and implementation of public policy increasingly require the input of various orders of government. Concerted action is an everyday phenomenon in wide ranges of domains, such as health care, immigration, transportation, environmental protection, public safety, and pandemic management. Countless studies have explored intergovernmental interaction in federal systems, both from a political science and policy perspective. Faced with federal realpolitik, law is often considered to be ‘beside the point’. While constitutional law provides a backdrop (particularly the division of powers, courts, and second chambers), law is otherwise largely a blind spot of federal studies. Yet, in democracies founded on the rule of law, all public action must, at some point, be grounded in law, or at least accountable to law. This is also true of federal democracies. The production and implementation of law in complex intergovernmental contexts are oddly understudied, as are the processes of accountability for intergovernmental executive action.
To shed light on the various ways through which legal norms, principles, processes and institutions shape federal governance, this paper introduces the concept of Intergovernmental Law (IGL). Professor Poirier posits that IGL has three main components. Upstream, it is composed of constitutional norms and institutions that shape intergovernmental action. Downstream, IGL includes processes of judicial review and parliamentary scrutiny of administrative and executive actions taken in an intergovernmental context. Midstream, it comprises specific toolboxes of legislative and executive law-making devices that help structure interactions and create complex normative networks.
Cheryl Saunders’ scholarship in domestic and comparative constitutional law informs almost every aspect of the overarching concept of intergovernmental law. This article is a tribute to Cheryl’s invaluable contribution to federal studies, notably her efforts in shedding light on the role of law in shaping federal theory and practice.
About the Chair
The Peter MacKell Chair in Federalism aims to reflect on the foundations, potential, risks and concrete incarnations of the “federal phenomenon” understood broadly. The inaugural holder of the Peter MacKell Chair is Professor Johanne Poirier. The Peter MacKell Chair in Federalism was created at the Faculty of Law thanks to a generous bequest from Peter R.D. MacKell.
About Peter R.D. MacKell
After his law studies at McGill, he was admitted to the bar in 1951. He began his career with Duquet MacKay, later moving to Martineau Walker, today known as Fasken. He led the firm as Chairman for several years, before retiring in 1995.
Peter MacKell handled many significant litigation and commercial briefs in the course of his career, representing major Canadian and foreign clients. He was also a highly sought-after corporate director, and a member of the board of Goodfellow inc. for many years, as well as a director of the Régie de l’assurance-dépôts du Québec.
Photo at top: In September 2021, when we could finally return to campus, after a year of "online learning", a group of students and Prof. Poirier met for the first time, on the steps of Old Chancellor Day Hall! Photo by Lysanne Larose.
Chair Events
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