Michel Dorais

Michel Dorais is considered a pioneer in social work with LGBT+ people and young victims of sexual violence and exploitation. He has been very much involved in intervention as well as teaching and research. Advancing social policies and practices has been an important concern throughout his career. His radical, advanced thinking has left its stamp on the Faculty of Social Sciences and on Université Laval itself.

Knowledge sharing

As a professor, Michel Dorais has brought students courses on the reality of gender and sexual diversity. The Sexual Diversity and Social Intervention course he designed and taught is a notable example. Late in his career he was active on the committee to implement the Sexology Program, which launched in September 2024.

In 2021 Professor Dorais was the organizer of the free online LGBTQI+ Youth Summer School. Some 700 students from 20 different countries attended. The success of the school was a credit to the entire institution. He then co-wrote an online intervention guide based on the event.

A number of international master’s students and doctoral candidates have chosen Université Laval so they could work with Michel Dorais. He has supervised or co-supervised many theses and dissertations on gender and sexual diversity, sexual exploitation, juvenile prostitution, and homophobia. His work has shaped the generation that today staffs many of our government ministries and agencies as well as universities, CEGEPs and community organizations.

As director of Social Work from 2008 to 2021, Michel Dorais promoted scientific knowledge and its dissemination to the general public. He has been regularly solicited by major French-language media, both in Canada and in Europe.

He has written and published numerous articles and books, some of which have been translated or adapted into other languages. He has often been invited to seminars and conferences around the world.

Changing the world

Professor Dorais’s hard work and commitment have helped change minds and moved social practices forward, sharing the expertise developed at Université Laval.

He has worked closely with community organizations and numerous institutions like Institut national de santé publique du Québec to provide training for professionals. He and Université Laval’s continuing education team designed a course on welcoming gender and sexual diversity in the workplace for delivery in Government of Québec ministries and agencies.

Michel Dorais was a member of the expert committee that produced Rétablir la confiance (Restoring Trust), a report on supporting victims of sexual and domestic violence. He was invited to speak to Comité de sages sur l’identité de genre (committee of the wise on gender identity), the Commission on Culture and Education, the Special Commission on the Sexual Exploitation of Minors, and the Premier of Québec’s consultation on young people and bullying.

His research on male victims of sexual assault, youth trapped in prostitution, and sexually and gender diverse youth has been groundbreaking. He has put his expertise to work as a UQAM Research Chair in Sexual Diversity and Gender Plurality researcher and as a member of JEFAR Research Centre – Jeunes, familles et réponses sociales (Youth, Family, and Social Responses) and CRUJeF – Centre de recherche universitaire sur les jeunes et les familles (University Research Centre on Youth and Families).

He has received numerous awards, including the Academic Tribute Award from Fondation Émergence in 2022. He was awarded the Phénicia Medal from the Québec LGBT Chamber of Commerce in 2019 for career achievement. The Québec LGBT Council) awarded him its Grand Prix in 2012, recognizing his career commitment to the social inclusion of sexual diversity.