James L Turk
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Professor James Turk is Director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University. With an A.B. (magna cum laude) from Harvard University, an M.A, from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, Professor Turk has been a Knox Fellow at the University of Cambridge, Executive Director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, and Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto.
He writes and speaks extensively on freedom of expression, academic freedom, intellectual freedom, civil liberties, university governance, and related public policy issues.
Professor Turk has received a number of awards for his work, including the Intellectual Freedom Award for outstanding contributions to intellectual freedom in Canada from the Canadian Federation of Library Associations/Fédération Canadienne des Associations de Bibliothèques (2023), the Les Fowlie Intellectual Freedom Award from the Ontario Library Association (2019), the Milner Memorial Award for contributing significantly to an understanding and strengthening of academic freedom in Canada from the Canadian Association of University Teachers (2018), the Peter C. Dooley Legacy Award from the University of Saskatchewan Faculty Association (2014), the Jay Newman Award for Academic Integrity from the University of Guelph Faculty Association (2013), and the Distinguished Member Award from the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education (2012).
He also has been Executive Assistant to the National President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Director of Education for the Ontario Federation of Labour, and Research Director for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of Canada. He serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group. His most recent paper is, “Academic Freedom in Canada: Its Origins, Components, and Limits,” Canadian Labour & Employment Law Journal 25(No. 1) 2023.
