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September 16, 1940 – November 4, 2025

It is with the greatest regret that the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations announces the death of Institute Fellow and former Director (2006 – 2009), Dr. Thomas J. Courchene. Tom was the founding director of the Queen’s School of Policy Studies, and one of the great treasures of Canada’s public policy community. The volume and variety of his public policy research and publications were prodigious, and one would be hard pressed to find many significant issues of Canadian public policy to which he had not made a notable contribution. Moreover, the impact of Tom’s work was augmented or magnified by the fact that he chose to work as a political economist, one who recognized the correctness of Gilpin’s observation that “The polity is much more influenced by economic developments than many political scientists have appreciated, and the economy is more dependent upon social and political developments than economists in general have admitted.” This approach and the accessibility of his writing made it relatively easy for concerned observers of public policy and its formulation to understand the policies and positions Tom advocated and see why the issues mattered.

Tom was born in Wakaw, Saskatchewan and was educated at the University of Saskatchewan, Princeton University, and the University of Chicago. His primary academic bases were Western University and then Queen’s University, where he held the Stauffer-Dunning Chair of Policy Studies and subsequently served as the Jarislowsky-Deutsch Professor of Economic and Financial Policy. He also made significant contributions as a visiting professor or scholar at multiple other universities and research institutions, both in Canada and abroad, and served on various boards and bodies. Included in the latter were terms as Chairman of the Ontario Economic Council and as a Board member of the Economic Council of Canada.

Tom’s contributions to public policy and academe have, of course, been formally recognized: He was an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.  He was also the recipient of the Molson Prize awarded by the Canada Council for lifetime achievement in the social sciences. In addition, two of his books—including his final book, Indigenous Nationals Canadian Citizens: From First Contact to Canada 150 and Beyond, which he published with the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations in 2018—earned the Donner Prize for the best book in public policy.  Tom was also the recipient of honorary doctorates from the University of Regina, Western University, and the University of Saskatchewan.

Tom was clearly an academic who sustained an intense level of activity throughout his career. Despite this, it should be noted that he was always available both to his students and colleagues and to others who requested his assistance. This writer can attest that this generosity went back at least to his senior year as an undergraduate, when he gave up his Saturday mornings to attend my lectures in Introductory Economics, and take lecture notes for his younger brother who had a necessary Saturday job!

Thomas J. Courchene O.C., S.O.M., Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S.C. will be missed by all who knew him.

John R. Allan

John R. Allan is a past Director of the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations; a former member of the Department of Economics at Queen's; and Vice President Emeritus, and Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Regina.