Date of death: May 27, 2025
A chapel service will be held on May 29, 2025, 2:00pm at The United Hebrew Memorial Chapel, 28 Ewen Road followed by interment at Adas Israel Cemetery, 1224 Upper James St.
Janet Ajzenstat died on Tuesday May 27th at the Shalom Village nursing home in Hamilton, Ontario. Her son, Sandor, was with her. She was 89.
Janet’s academic work helped revolutionize Canadian political history, arguing, against prevailing opinion, that the Canadian founders were political philosophers, with strong, distinct, and learned ideas about the nature of liberal democracy and the extent to which it could make room for particularities. She wrote several books, the first of which, The Political Thought of Lord Durham, was published in 1988 and is still in print. Her most influential work might prove to be Canada’s Founding Debates, on which she was lead editor. This work offers excerpts from the debates on confederation in all of the colonial parliaments, debates that treat the nature of democracy, liberty, rights, and law, the nature of the best governmental forms, and the nature of Canadian nationality; the volume also includes annotations and explanatory essays. These debates had not previously been published; the book is therefore an essential resource. In her intellectual autobiography, Discovering Confederation: A Canadian’s Story, 2014, she says that she is “sometimes referred to as a conservative but should by rights be regarded as a defender of the political constitution that ensures unconstrained and continuing deliberation among parties, interests, and philosophies of all political stripes.” Her awards include the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), the John T. Saywell Prize (2009), the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal (2002) and the Jules and Gabrielle Léger Fellowship (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 1985).
Born Janet Leslie MacDonald, she grew up in Toronto, attending Branksome Hall and then the University of Toronto where she studied Art and Architecture. In 1959 she married Sam Ajzenstat (d. 2013) and the two of them moved to Philadelphia where she became immersed in political activism, marching and letter writing against the Vietnam War and in favour of civil rights. When they moved back to Canada she took classes in Political Science at McMaster University, and eventually did graduate work at Toronto, where she studied with Allan Bloom and completed a PhD under the supervision of Peter Russell. She had visiting professorships at Brock University and at the University of Calgary University (one of her happiest years), and in 1993 was hired full time at McMaster. At the time of her death she was an emeritus professor there.
Janet is survived by her sister, Kady MacDonald Denton, her brother, Angus MacDonald, their children and grandchildren, and her son, Sandor Ajzenstat, daughter, Oona Eisenstadt, and granddaughter, Eila Planinc.
She was a remarkable woman, good at everything she turned her hands to. Sandor writes: “A few days ago I told Oona that I didn’t want Mum to ever die, but a while before that we had agreed that life without death would be meaningless. So, it is her spirit that will be living on, within our hearts, and in the hearts of others who have loved her.”
A funeral will be held at 2:00 pm on Thursday May 29th at United Hebrew Memorial Chapel, at 28 Ewen Road, Hamilton Ontario, L8S 3C4.
Memorial Contributions may be made to Shalom Village Nursing Home, Hamilton.
I am very sorry to hear of Janet’s passing. I was very fortunate to have worked with Janet co-editing a book in 1995, Canada’s Origins, Liberal, Tory, or Republican? She was a wonderful colleague – professional, demanding, fair. This was one of the best working relationships that I have had in academe. Janet was a leader in her field, her accolades much deserved. By coincidence today, prior to hearing about her death, I was going through some old files relating to our book and remembering what a positive experience it was working together. Janet was a pioneer in her field, a model for younger scholars trying to make their way through a demanding profession. Janet stood out. My sincere condolences to her family. It is a sad day for me.
My condolences to Janet’s family. I was very fortunate to work with Janet on a book we co-edited in 1995, Canada’s Origins: Liberal, Tory, or Republican? She was a wonderful colleague – professional, demanding, fair and supportive – in our collaboration.By coincidence earlier today, prior to learning of her passing, I had been going through some old files when we worked together and thinking of what a good time that was. She was a leader in Canadian academe, a role model for all new scholars. It is a sad moment for me.
Dear Sandor, Oona and Eila,
I’m saddened by the news of Janet’s death and will always remember how good she was to me and my family from the moment we moved to Canada from the UK and never stopped. Who else would invite our family of five over to dinner so often that it took me years to realise that we weren’t actually related? And the conversations over those dinners!
I will be sitting in silence from 2pm your time to commune with you all and to say my own goodbye to dear Janet from faraway Berlin.
May her memory be a blessing.
Love, Catherine
Sandor, Oona and Eila,
I am so sorry for the loss of Janet. May you be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
It was with great sadness to hear of Janet’s passing. My condolences go to her family. I’m hopeful she can now reunite with her beloved Sam whom she lost a dozen years ago.
Canadians (not just academics) lost one of the great teachers of what their regime is about. She will be best known for Canada’s Founding Debates which she edited with Paul Romney and William Gairdner. Its publication in 2003 was the first time many of the ratification debates in the provinces leading up to Confederation were made available to the public. That it took over 130 years for Canadians to have access to the debates that define their country is a signal failure of this country to teach its citizens the fundamentals of responsible government. I have taught this book to undergraduates for over 20 years and each year students tell me they finally “get” responsible government in a way their previous inadequate history or social studies education failed to impart. To paraphrase her student Travis Smith, Janet followed the Canadian founders in opposing the oligarchs.
Janet wrote or edited seven other books. All focused on the nature of the Canadian regime and posed the questions of political philosophy such as “what is liberty?,” “what is equality?”, “what system of law best protects both?,” and so forth. Indeed, perhaps Janet’s greatest academic achievement was to teach Canadians how to think philosophically about their regime. The founding wasn’t simply a bargain done out of convenience, nor a reflection of elite class interests. The founders were principled and thoughtful men who read deeply and widely the great texts of political philosophy that informed the English constitution they wished to adapt to our great northern land. Janet helped get us into their heads and see things as they saw them. A teacher can do no better than to guide her students to this height of thoughtfulness and statecraft.
In addition to her books, I’m also grateful I got to spend time with Janet. I saw her in Calgary and at various Civitas conferences. We had great discussions. I learned a lot from her, we disagreed on several points, and I was always better off having been in her company. I’m pleased to count many of her former students as friends.
Canada has lost Janet when perhaps it needs her the most. The best way to remember her is to rethink the great questions she taught us to ponder.
MRS :Janet Ajzenstat was my Client for many years did her Hair for her ,She was a great person very intelligent and Her conversations were very Educational.
Our deepest condolences to Her Family For there Loss.
May She Rest in Peace.
From :Mark Faraj Toma & Family.
Janet was a woman of vision, not afraid to take unpopular or unfashionable positions. I very much enjoyed collaborating with her on Canada’s Founding Debates, but that was just the mid-point of an association that spanned more than 20 years and is book-ended in my mind by two dinners: one on Parliament Hill in 1991, at a conference to contemplate 200 years of Canadian constitutionalism, and the other in Quebec City in 2014, at a sesquicentennial conference to commemorate and reconsider the Quebec Conference of 1864. Our perspectives on politics were very different, but we found common ground on the central importance of due process and the rule of law. Thank you, Janet!
Janet was one of the giants of our discipline and I’m saddened to hear about her passing. Her book on John Locke and Canadian Parliament is a masterpiece and I can only hope to one day write something as insightful and deep as that book.
Janet’s intellect was legendary and even though I was this up and coming scholar in the discipline, I always had deep respect for Janet which meant I was always very deferential and a little intimidated by her! I remember inviting her to talk to my graduate class at Laurier when I first started there as an instructor. After she spoke about her book, I timidly asked a question pushing her one of her arguments. She slowly turned her gaze at me and I thought, oh oh, my argument was about to get destroyed! Instead, she showed such grace with her answer, while at the same time, of course, gently showing why she thought my argument was incorrect! Canada is worse off without her.
Deepest condolences to Oona and Sandor and family. Janet and Sam Ajzenstat were some of my earliest kind and encouraging intellectual and political and Jewish role models. Whenever we had a question, Janet would encourage us to investigate it. Your family has such a special place in my heart. May you be comforted with memories of her love and inspiration.
Joanne Cohen
My deepest condolences to Sandor, Oona, and the entire family.
I had the great fortune to be taught by Janet at McMaster. I learned more about Canadian constitutionalism in that class than I subsequently learned in three years of law school, and those early lessons led me to a career studying law and politics. Janet was a remarkable woman, an insightful scholar, and an inspiring teacher. Not too long ago, I had my students read her classic ‘The Canadian Founding: John Locke and Parliament’ and it was a joy to watch yet another generation of students engage with her ideas, learn from her approach, and better appreciate the political institutions they have inherited. Her scholarship will endure.
Oona,
We are thinking of you at this difficult time and sending you our deepest sympathies.
Sincerely,
Don Abelson and Monda Halpern
Dear Oona and Sandor,
We are so very sorry for your loss. Thank you for your beautiful tribute. Your mother was clearly a gifted scholar and a remarkable person. We hope that you find comfort in your memories of her. We wish you and your entire family all the very best. Monda Halpern and Sonia Halpern
Dear Sandor,
Deepest condolences to you and your family on the loss of your mother. Your devotion to her in recent years was unwavering and inspiring. Thank you for sharing her bio – what a remarkable person she was!
Warmest wishes,
Amy Matchen
It is terribly sad to hear of Janet’s passing. Her written work and conversations over the years had a major impact on the thinking of so many. I count her among the guiding stars for my academic and practical work. My deepest sympathies to the family.
She was a remarkable and truly important thinker in Canada’s political tradition. It is poignant that she passed on the very day the King opened our Parliament, a day when so many of the conventions of responsible government that she explained to us and would have us cherish were on full display.
It’s sometimes said that Leo Strauss revived political philosophy. I think Janet revived Canadian political philosophy and made it a respectable area of scholarship again.
Few may recognize it now, but the nation owes her a huge debt of gratitude for her life’s work which continues to inspire and to guide many of us in our scholarship.
May her memory be for a blessing.
What a rich and powerful life she created for you and your family.
Thank you for sharing her academic work with us. It sounds to me like Canada’s Founding Debates should be required reading for full citizenship in this place we call home.
I am sending extra hugs to all.
Lesley