Royal Society of Canada

The Royal Society of Canada (RSC) is the oldest bilingual organization of Canadian scholars, artists and scientists in the fields of humanities, social sciences and sciences. Created in 1882 and incorporated under an Act of Parliament in 1883, the RSC aims to recognize and promote Canadian research and knowledge. In 2025, the RSC included more than 2,500 members. Members are elected for their contributions in the arts, the humanities and the sciences, as well as in Canadian public life. The Society’s headquarters are located in Ottawa, Ontario.

History

The RSC (also known as The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada), is the senior national organization for the promotion of learning and research in Canada. The Society was founded in 1882 by the Governor General, John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, and leading scholars of the day headed by Sir John William Dawson, principal of McGill University, and Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, educator and former premier of Quebec. In 1883, the Society was incorporated by an Act of Parliament.

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Did you know?
Since the RSC’s foundation succeeding Governors General of Canada have served as honorary patrons.

The founding group of 80 members were organized in four sections, including French and English literature and allied subjects, mathematical and physical sciences and geological and biological sciences.

Academies

The RSC remains one of the few bodies in Canada or elsewhere covering the entire range of scholarship and is now organized in three bilingual academies: the Academy of the Arts and Humanities, the Academy of Social Sciences and the Academy of Science. (See also Social Sciences; Science.)

Fellows

Election as a Fellow of the RSC remains a prized professional honour. As of 2025, this honour was shared by more than 2,500 Canadians. According to the RSC’s website, approximately 20 per cent of members identified French as their mother tongue. Each year, around 100 nominees may be elected. Fellowship comprises four categories: Honorary Fellows, Regularly Elected Fellows, Specially Elected Fellows and International Fellows.

Did you know?
The first woman elected to the RSC was Alice Wilson, a paleontologist, who joined the fellowship in 1938.

College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists

In 2014, the RSC launched the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists (also known as the RSC College). The RSC College compliments the Society’s three academies and recognizes the achievement of individuals within 15 years of having completed their post-doctoral program or its equivalent. Members are elected annually and membership to the RSC College is limited to seven years.

Institutional Members

In 2004, the RSC launched the Institutional Member Programme in order “to provide a mechanism by which, on the one hand, the Society could develop its programmes in conjunction with universities and, on the other hand, universities could have formal and direct input into the strategic orientation and governance of the Society”. To date, there are 66 Institutional Members of the RSC.

Activities and Influence

In its early years the RSC urged the creation of many now-existing national museums and scientific and cultural institutions. With the formation of many learned and scientific societies in specific disciplines it has given increasing attention to complex issues in health, environmental and social concerns requiring a broad, multi-disciplinary approach.

Annual meetings since 1883 have been augmented by national and international symposia, workshops and regional meetings held in centres across Canada and, since 1980, by a program of projects and commissions on important topics of the day. The results have generally been published in its Transactions, or in books and reports.

Internationally, ties to national academies in other countries have grown through a series of bilateral agreements for scholarly exchanges and by leading Canadian contributions to international programs, notably on environmental and social topics.

The RSC also rewards outstanding achievements and distinguished lifetime accomplishments in the humanities, basic and applied sciences and in public education, by awarding a score of medals, prizes and research awards.

Presidents of the RSC

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President	Term
Françoise Baylis	2025 to present
Alain-G. Gagnon	2022–25
Jeremy N. McNeil	2019–22
Chad Gaffield	2017–19
Maryse Lassonde	2015–17
Graham Bell	2013–15
Yolande Grisé	2011–13
Roderick Macdonald	2009–11
Yvan Guindon	2007–09
Patricia Demers	2005–07
Gilles Paquet	2003–05
Howard Alper	2001–03
William Leiss	1999–01
Jean-Pierre Wallot	1997–99
Robert Hall Haynes	1995–97
John Meisel	1992–95
Jules Deschênes	1990–92
Digby J. McLaren	1987–90
Alexander G. McKay	1984–87
Marc-Adélard Tremblay	1981–84
Robert E. Bell	1978–81
Robert E. Folinsbee	1977–78
Larkin Kerwin	1976–77
Samuel D. Clark	1975–76
Claude Fortier	1974–75
Guy Sylvestre	1973–74
John Tuzo Wilson	1972–73
Henry E. Duckworth	1971–72
Roy Daniells	1970–71
Claude E. Dolman	1969–70
Léon Lortie	1968–69
James M. Harrison	1967–68
Gerhard Herzberg	1966–67
William Kaye Lamb	1965–66
Léo Marion	1964–65
Maurice Lebel	1963–64
William H. Cook	1962–63
Arthur R. M. Lower	1961–62
Merton Y. Williams	1960–61
Henry G. Thode	1959–60
Pierre Daviault	1958–59
Thomas W. M. Cameron	1957–58
William A. Mackintosh	1956–57
George S. Hume	1955–56
Edgar William R. Steacie	1954–55
Jean Bruchési	1953–54
Guilford B. Reed	1952–53
Henry F. Angus	1951–52
John J. O'Neill	1950–51
Joseph A. Pearce	1949–50
Gustave Lanctot	1948–49
Walter P. Thompson	1947–48
Harold A. Innis	1946–47
Elwood S. Moore	1945–46
John K. Robertson	1944–45
Olivier Maurault	1943–44
James Bertram Collip	1942–43
Frederick W. Howay	1941–42
Robert C. Wallace	1940–41
Henry Marshall Tory	1939–40
Victor Morin	1938–39
Archibald G. Huntsman	1937–38
Lawrence J. Burpee	1936–37
Reginald W. Brock / George A. Young	1935–36
William Lash Miller	1934–35
Léon Gérin	1933–34
Francis E. Lloyd	1932–33
Sir Robert Falconer	1931–32
Charles Camsell	1930–31
Arthur S. Eve	1929–30
Camille Roy	1928–29
A. H. Reginald Buller	1927–28
James H. Coyne	1926–27
William A. Parks	1925–26
Sir John C. McLennan	1924–25
Thomas Chapais	1923–24
J. Playfair McMurrich	1922–23
Duncan Campbell Scott	1921–22
Arthur P. Coleman	1920–21
Robert F. Ruttan	1919–20
Rodolphe Lemieux	1918–19
William D. Lighthall	1917–18
Archibald B. Macallum	1916–17
Alfred Baker	1915–16
Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier	1914–15
Frank Dawson Adams	1913–14
William Dawson LeSueur	1912–13
William Frederick King	1911–12
Robert Ramsay Wright	1910–11
George Bryce	1909–10
Joseph-Edmond Roy	1908–09
Samuel E. Dawson	1907–08
William Saunders	1906–07
Alexander Johnson	1905–06
Benjamin Sulte	1904–05
George Taylor Denison	1903–04
James A. Grant	1902–03
James Loudon	1901–02
Louis-Honoré Fréchette	1900–01
William Clark	1899–1900
Thomas Coltrin Keefer	1898–99
Félix-Gabriel Marchand	1897–98
Cornelius O'Brien	1896–97
Alfred R. C. Selwyn	1895–96
Sir James MacPherson LeMoine	1894–95
George Mercer Dawson	1893–94
Sir John George Bourinot	1892–93
Joseph-Clovis-Kemner Laflamme	1891–92
George Monro Grant	1890–91
Henri-Raymond Casgrain	1889–90
Sir Sandford Fleming	1888–89
George Lawson	1887–88
Thomas-Étienne Hamel	1886–87
Sir Daniel Wilson	1885–86
Thomas Sterry Hunt	1884–85
Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau	1883–84
John William Dawson	1882–83

Only four women have held the position of President of the RSC the first being Patricia Demers (2005-07), the second Yolande Grisé (2011-13), the third Maryse Lassonde (2015-17) and the fourth Françoise Baylis (2025 to present).