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?
Le Projet de Conseil constitutionnel du Québec à la lumière du droit comparé: L’expérience catalane
With Prof. Joan Vintró Castells, member and former president of the Council of Statutory Guarantees
When: Monday, February 9, 2026 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Where: Virtual seminar link
In Bill 1 (Quebec Constitutional Act, 2025), the Quebec government proposes the establishment of a Constitutional Council for Quebec. The mandate and composition of the advisory council—as well as its relationship with the judiciary responsible for reviewing constitutionality in Quebec and Canada—raise many questions. To better understand the potential of such an institution and the issues it raises, we turn to comparative law.
This virtual seminar will focus on the role of the constitutional advisory council established in Catalonia: the Council for Statutory Guarantees (CGS).
The CGS is an advisory council responsible for issuing opinions on the conformity of Catalan legislative initiatives with the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia (its ‘constitution’) and the Spanish constitution at the request of the Catalan government or minority groups in the Catalan Parliament. The CGS must also issue a preliminary opinion before Catalan authorities refer a matter to the Spanish Constitutional Court (for example, to challenge the constitutionality of a Spanish bill).
Professor Joan Vintró Castells of the University of Barcelona, former President of the CGS and still a member of the Council, will outline its role and achievements. He will also discuss the similarities and differences with comparable institutions elsewhere in Europe.
Biography
Joan Vintró Castells (Barcelona, 1953) is Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Barcelona. He holds a PhD in Law and a degree in Arts (Modern History) from the University of Barcelona and a postgraduate degree in Political Studies (DEA) from the Paris Institute of Political Studies.
A lawyer at the Parliament of Catalonia (1981-2006), he was also legal advisor during the drafting of the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. He was a member of the Council on the National Transition of the Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia (2013-2015). Prof. Vintró Castells served as an expert for the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe (1992-2002) and carried out missions in Azerbaijan, Moldova and Romania.
Since 2019, Mr Vintró Castells has been a member of the Council for Statutory Guarantees of Catalonia for a term ending in 2028. He was president of this institution from 2022 to 2025.
Call for Papers: Ron Watts Young Researcher Award
In 2014, the International Association of Centres for Federal Studies (IACFS) established the Young Scholar Award, an annual prize for the best article or paper on an aspect of federalism by a young researcher. In 2015, this award was renamed in honor of Ronald L. Watts.
Eligibility
All researchers endorsed and nominated by an IACFS member centre are eligible. This includes full-time researchers, master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral students, as well as former students. The age limit is 35 years at the time of submitting the application.
Applicants are invited to submit a journal-length article (8,000 – 10,000 words) on a topic related to any aspect of federalism. The topic does not need to be linked to the theme of the IACFS annual conference. The paper must be an original work and written in English. It may have already been submitted for publication or published within the past twelve months preceding the submission.
Process
The applicant submits their paper to the director of an IACFS member centre, who may nominate up to three candidates. The director then submits the nominations and papers via email to ronaldwattsaward [at] eurac.edu by 30 April 2026.
Award
For 2026, the award comprises a return flight to the IACFS annual conference in Ottawa, Canada, in October 2026, plus three nights of accommodation, and a certificate. The award winner will be invited to present their paper at the conference.
For further information and queries, please visit www.iacfs.org and contact evamaria.belser [at] unifr.ch (Professor Eva Maria Belser) or ronaldwattsaward [at] eurac.edu.
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.
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.
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
There are currently no events available.