Celebrating the 2023 Molson Prize Winners: Françoise Baylis and Joséphine Bacon
The 2023 Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize winners are philosopher and researcher Françoise Baylis in the social sciences and humanities category, and poet Joséphine Bacon in the arts category.
Every year, the Canada Council awards two Molson prizes of $50,000 to distinguished figures from Canada—one in the social sciences and humanities and the other in the arts. Funded from the income of a $1 million endowment given to the Council by the Molson Foundation, the prize encourages recipients to continue contributing to the cultural and intellectual life of Canada. The Canada Council administers the awards in conjunction with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
We asked this year’s winners to reflect on their work—career accomplishments, the advantages of risk taking, and aspirations.
Françoise Baylis
The Canada Council for the Arts awarded a 2023 Molson Prize to Françoise Baylis as one of Canada's most influential researchers of philosophy and bioethics.
I am most proud of the graduate students and postdoctoral fellows that I have had the privilege of working with over the years.
Francoise Baylis
Françoise Baylis is a bioethicist, professor and philosopher who holds a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Western Ontario. She is currently with the International Science Council and Distinguished Research Professor Emerita at Dalhousie University. She is renowned for her academic research in healthcare ethics at the intersection of policy and practice. Her advocacy and activism are grounded in a commitment to “make the powerful care.” Baylis is the author of Altered Inheritance: CRISPR and the Ethics of Human Genome Editing. In 2022, she was awarded the Killam Prize for the Humanities.
What are you most proud of in your career?
I am most proud of the graduate students and postdoctoral fellows that I have had the privilege of working with over the years. They are clever, smart, accomplished, and nice people doing important work in academia, advocacy and activism. I hope that I played some small part in inspiring them to use their talents to make the world a better place for us all. I know that they helped me to improve my own work when they challenged my ideas and exposed me to news ways of interpreting contemporary problems. Together, we modelled knowledge production as a collaborative endeavour.
Risk-taking is another thing that’s often connected to career success—have you taken any risks that were essential to your success?
Throughout my career I have tried to identify and correct morally unjust situations. Sometimes the actions I have taken have been perceived by others as ‘risk-taking.’ I have only ever experienced them as “doing the right thing.”
I am a first-generation Canadian. I am mixed-race. My father is British. My mother is Bajan. My mother, Gloria Baylis, is the first successful case of racial discrimination in employment in Canada. I look White.
My first academic employer required me to complete a recurrent performance report that was also used to collect race data based on self-identification. There were five discrete categories; mixed-race was not among them. The category that applied to me was ‘Other.’ When I subsequently received the form to complete anew, it was preprinted with previously submitted information, but I was now identified as ‘White.’ I objected to this reclassification.
At the time, I was an untenured assistant professor. Against well-meaning advice from colleagues, I challenged the institutional practice. This was the first of many efforts, over many years, to hold universities accountable for harmful and discriminatory practices and policies.
What is your most ambitious dream?
When I was a much younger person, I wanted to use my talents to change the world; to make it a better place. Over the years, I have learned that while I have the requisite moral imagination, I don’t have the political power to bring about the kinds of changes that I think are necessary. Years ago, this insight had me shift my goal to something more modest—“to make the powerful care.” My hope is that if they care, they will use their power to bring about change. My professional mantra is tempered by humility insofar as I recognize that “we are all frail and fallible.”
Joséphine Bacon
The Canada Council for the Arts awarded a 2023 Molson Prize to Joséphine Bacon for her notable contributions to literature.
My greatest pride is being able to speak words in my language, Innu-aimun.
Josephine Bacon
Joséphine Bacon is an Innu poet from Pessamit, born in 1947. A filmmaker and speaker, she is considered a beacon of Quebec literature and a great cultural ambassador for First Nations. Heavily involved in the Indigenous literary and artistic scenes, she has inspired younger generations to take pride in their Indigenous heritage and to defend their languages and their culture. She has published four collections of poetry with publisher Mémoire d’encrier: Bâtons à message · Tshissinuatshitakana (2009), Nous sommes tous des sauvages (2011, written with José Aquelin), Un thé dans la toundra · Nipishapui nete mushuat (2013) and Uiesh · Quelque part (2018). In collaboration with Institut Tshakapesh, she has also published the anthology Nin Auass · Moi l’enfant (2021, written with Laure Morali). Joséphine Bacon has received numerous awards and distinctions.
What are you most proud of in your career?
My greatest pride is being able to speak words in my language, Innu-aimun. Having gone from oral tradition to writing words in my language, and then inspiring others to do the same—that’s my greatest source of pride!
Risk-taking is another thing that’s often connected to career success—have you taken any risks that were essential to your success?
In the end, the biggest risk was daring to write in my language, so that the Elders would read my work, and so that future generations can find their history in Innu-aimun poetry. Because only through the language can they access their history. The poetry I write is intimately tied to our identity and our memory, and our legs keep moving forward. Making Innu-aimun not into a sitting language but into a language that moves forward—that is the biggest risk!
What is your most ambitious dream?
My biggest dream is seeing my grandchildren and great-grandchildren happy. Before I go, when I look at my children, I want to see happiness and a deep inner peace. And for them not to be stopped by fear.
Help us celebrate this year’s winners of the #MolsonPrize
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