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As an undergraduate student of psychology at the University of Western Ontario, Boyd became curious about "the lack of fit between reality and public policy" in terms of the legality and illegality of drugs in Canada. He gained his law degrees at Osgoode Hall in Toronto. As a criminologist who specializes in patterns of homicide and drug abuse, Boyd was director of the school of Criminology at SFU for a three-year term beginning in 1993. He had joined SFU in 1978 and first served as director in 1987-1988, and then again in 1991. Boyd was involved in the release of wrongly convicted murderer David Milgaard. "It was one of my most enjoyable experiences, in terms of research and real world impact," he says. The Last Dance is his study of murder in Canada drawn from The National Archives Capital Case Files, 1867 to 1962, The Homicide Return of the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics and interviews with 40 convicted murderers.
High Society examines who takes drugs and distributes them in Canada, legal and otherwise, and challenges conventional attitudes, contending that the 'war' on drugs has little to do with public health concerns. The Beast Within was going to be titled Strangers Are Usually Men: Why Males Are The Violent Sex. He turned an equally critical look on doctrinaire feminism with Big Sister, an exploration of ways that some activists have generated a backlash against women's rights. While making clear his belief that feminism has been one of the progressive aspects of modern society, he states, "My opposition is to a poisonous strain of feminism, a concoction of regressive policies only masquerading as belonging to a vanguard of progressive thought or action. The people behind these policies oppose free expression and due process and favour solving complex problems through an inflexible imposition of punishment by state."
In 2009, He co-authored A Thousand Dreams: Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and the Fight for Its Future with former Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell and Lori Culbert.
Boyd has produced three television documentaries for Knowledge Network, two on drugs, one on murder. His 'Last Dance' video earned first place honours for educational video at AAMTEC 1990. He presented the Sorokin Lecture at the University of Saskatchewan in 1994. Boyd and his wife moved to a 12-acre property on Bowen Island in 1979. "It was just hippies and rednecks then," he says.
CITY/TOWN: Bowen Island
DATE OF BIRTH: October 30, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH: Deep River, Ontario
ARRIVAL IN BC: September, 1978
EMPLOYMENT OTHER THAN WRITING: university professor, town councillor
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
A Thousand Dreams: Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and the Fight for Its Future (Greystone, 2009)
Big Sister: How Extreme Feminism Has Betrayed The Fight For Sexual Equality (Greystone, 2004)
The Beast Within (Greystone, 2000)
Canadian Law, An Introduction (Harcourt Brace, 1994; 3rd edition, Nelson Thomson, 2002)
High Society, Legal and Illegal Drugs in Canada (Key Porter, 1991)
The Last Dance: Murder in Canada (Prentice-Hall, 1988)
The Social Dimensions of Law (Prentice-Hall, 1986)
Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
A Thousand Dreams: Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and the Fight for Its Future
[Alan Twigg / BCBW 2009] "Law"
High Society examines who takes drugs and distributes them in Canada, legal and otherwise, and challenges conventional attitudes, contending that the 'war' on drugs has little to do with public health concerns. The Beast Within was going to be titled Strangers Are Usually Men: Why Males Are The Violent Sex. He turned an equally critical look on doctrinaire feminism with Big Sister, an exploration of ways that some activists have generated a backlash against women's rights. While making clear his belief that feminism has been one of the progressive aspects of modern society, he states, "My opposition is to a poisonous strain of feminism, a concoction of regressive policies only masquerading as belonging to a vanguard of progressive thought or action. The people behind these policies oppose free expression and due process and favour solving complex problems through an inflexible imposition of punishment by state."
In 2009, He co-authored A Thousand Dreams: Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and the Fight for Its Future with former Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell and Lori Culbert.
Boyd has produced three television documentaries for Knowledge Network, two on drugs, one on murder. His 'Last Dance' video earned first place honours for educational video at AAMTEC 1990. He presented the Sorokin Lecture at the University of Saskatchewan in 1994. Boyd and his wife moved to a 12-acre property on Bowen Island in 1979. "It was just hippies and rednecks then," he says.
CITY/TOWN: Bowen Island
DATE OF BIRTH: October 30, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH: Deep River, Ontario
ARRIVAL IN BC: September, 1978
EMPLOYMENT OTHER THAN WRITING: university professor, town councillor
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
A Thousand Dreams: Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and the Fight for Its Future (Greystone, 2009)
Big Sister: How Extreme Feminism Has Betrayed The Fight For Sexual Equality (Greystone, 2004)
The Beast Within (Greystone, 2000)
Canadian Law, An Introduction (Harcourt Brace, 1994; 3rd edition, Nelson Thomson, 2002)
High Society, Legal and Illegal Drugs in Canada (Key Porter, 1991)
The Last Dance: Murder in Canada (Prentice-Hall, 1988)
The Social Dimensions of Law (Prentice-Hall, 1986)
Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
A Thousand Dreams: Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and the Fight for Its Future
[Alan Twigg / BCBW 2009] "Law"
