Barrington Walker

Vice-Provost, Equity and Inclusion

McMaster University

Barrington Walker is the Vice-Provost, Equity and Inclusion, and a professor of History, at McMaster University. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Toronto. Prior to his appointment at McMaster University on May 1, he was professor of History at Wilfrid Laurier University (Canada) as well as the Senior Advisor, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in the Office of the Provost and VP Academic. Before coming to Wilfrid Laurier University, he was an associate professor of History at Queen’s University (Canada). A historian of Modern Canada, his work focuses on the histories of Blacks, race immigration and the law. It seeks to illuminate the contours of Canadian modernity by exploring Canada's emergence as racial state through its histories of white supremacy, slavery, colonization/immigration, segregation and Jim Crowism. Much of his work considers how these practices were legitimized, and in some instances contested, by the rule of law and legal institutions.