Dr. Barrington Walker
Author, Historian of Modern Canada and Equity, Diversity, Inclusion Specialist
About Dr. Walker
Barrington Walker, Ph.D. holds a doctoral degree in Canadian History from the University of Toronto (Canada). A historian of Modern Canada, his research and teaching interests are in histories of Black Canada, race, immigration, and the law.
Dr. Walker is currently Vice Provost Equity and Inclusion and Professor of History at McMaster University. Before arriving at McMaster, he was the inaugural Associate Vice President Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Professor of History at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo Ontario. He led the development of Laurier’s first institution-wide EDI strategy and helped guide the university’s initiatives as part of the federal Dimensions Pilot Program, which seeks to foster transformative change within the research ecosystem at Canadian postsecondary institutions.
From 2001-2019, he was member of the History Department at Queen’s University Kingston. During those years he taught both at the undergraduate and graduate levels and supervised and mentored over 40 graduate students.
Walker also served on the committee that drafted the Scarborough Charter. It commits signatories to redressing anti-Black racism, fostering Black inclusion.
He is an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Specialist in the University sector. He was a member of the drafting team for the Scarborough National Charter on Anti Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Universities. He sits on the Board and Executive of the Federation of the Social Sciences and Humanities and he is the Chair of its inaugural Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization Committee.
Dr. Walker is often consulted for national television, print and radio media