Directing the Development of a University Centre of Criminology

The original sod out of which the University of Toronto's Centre of Criminology grew was a proposal that I drew up while teaching a course in criminology as part of the LL.B. curriculum in the Faculty of Law at Dalhousie University in 1958-59.1 The proposal reviewed the extent of criminological teaching and research in Canada, and drew particular attention to the lack of implementation of the recommendations of the Fauteux Committee - a committee established in 1956 by the Canadian federal government to study the country's penal system and to make recommendations for change and improvement. 2 In its report, the Fauteux Committee had reiterated the exhortations of the Archambault Royal Commission, in 1938, 3 that the universities in Canada should become actively involved in the education and training of persons suitable to serve in the penal system.