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Robert Sutherland Hall

Accessibility [Accessibility Information]

Address: 138 Union Street

Building Code: POL SUTHER (formerly POLICY)

What's Inside

Completed in 1989, this facility was built to house the growing number of departments and institutes at Queen's concerned with the study of politics and governmental issues. The first Queen's courses in "political economy" were taught by Professor of Philosophy John Watson in 1877. In 1889 a separate Department of Political and Economic Science was founded by Adam Shortt, who later helped to found the modern Canadian civil service. Many distinguished politicians and civil servants have been Queen's alumni or professors, including Oscar Douglas Skelton, who was a special advisor to Mackenzie King and founded the Department of External Affairs, and W. Clifford Clark, the Minister of Finance who helped found the Bank of Canada. In February 2009, Queen's Board of Trustees unanimously approved a student-initiated motion to name the Policy Studies Building at 138 University Avenue after alumnus Robert Sutherland, Queen's alumnus, the first known university student and graduate of colour in Canada, British North America's first known black lawyer, and one of the University's most important early benefactors.