Hi! I'm Jacquie Briggs. I completed my PhD in Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto in late 2021 - yes, my defense took place via Zoom! My PhD was a study of a previously-unknown federal legal aid program for Indigenous persons on trial for murder in Canada. I am adapting the dissertation manuscript into a book under contract with UBC Press titled "Defend and Punish: Colonialism, Capital Punishment, and Indigenous Legal Aid in Canada, 1870-1970."

I have provided contract research services on the history of colonialism and Indigenous legal aid in Canada for the British Columbia First Nations Justice Council (2023). My peer-reviewed work on the Department of Indian Affairs and the criminal justice system in Canada has appeared in the Canadian Historical Review (2019), in Studies in Law, Politics & Society (2020), and the Toronto Star (2016). The 2019 article was awarded the Political History Article prize by the Canadian History Association, and the Peter Oliver Prize by the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History. 

I was born in the territory of the Dish With One Spoon wampum covenant (Toronto), and I identify as a Settler of Irish and English ancestry.  I am a proud alumni of the Decolonizing Education (2017-2018) and Indigenous Research Methods (2019-2020) certificates from the Centre for Indigegogy (check out the Centre here). I have taught Political Science, Criminology, Law & Society, and Legal History courses at University of Toronto,  University of Ottawa, Carleton University,  and Concordia University in Montreal.

Feel welcome to contact me at jacq.briggs[at]utoronto.ca