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  5. Institutional Distrust & Injustice

Institutional Distrust & Injustice

Project Funding: SSHRC Insight Grant, 2023-2026 
We hear, time and time again, that Western societies are facing a new crisis of trust—one that is marked by declining trust in public institutions. Yet institutional distrust, specifically among socially marginalized groups, has long been a concern in these societies. Included are the distrust of Black communities in the police, of LGBTQ+ people in health care, and of Indigenous peoples in child welfare. This project focuses on the chronic distrust by some marginalized communities in public institutions (esp., education, health care) and how this distrust is rooted in systemic injustice. The central aim is to develop a philosophical framework for understanding and responding to this problem. A secondary aim is to explore the likely impact on it of institutional uses of artificial intelligence.

Main Team Members:

  • Principal Investigator: Carolyn McLeod, PhD, FRSC (Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy)
  • Silke Birgitta Gahleitner, PhD (Clinical Psychology and Social Work, University of Applied Sciences, Berlin), Collaborator 
  • Corinne Lajoie, PhD (Philosophy), SSHRC Postdoctoral Researcher (Sept 2024-Aug 2026) 
  • Abraham Tobi, PhD (Philosophy), Western Postdoctoral Researcher (March 2026-Feb 2028) 
  • Clair Baleshta, PhD Candidate, Western (Philosophy)  
  • Hale Demir-Doğuoğlu, PhD Candidate, Western (Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies)

Selected Talks:  

  • McLeod, C. 2026. “Institutional Betrayal and Belonging,” keynote address for Distrust of Institutions workshop, Department of Philosophy and Center for Cognitive Studies, University of Chile, Santiago, January.  
  • Lajoie, C. 2026. “Disability Accommodations, Epistemic Injustice and Harms to Self-Trust,” Philosophy, Disability, and Social Change conference, University of Central Florida, January.  
  • Baleshta, C. 2025. “Earning Trust: Lessons from Harm Reduction,” Practices of Trust Symposium, Alice Salomon University of Applied Science, Berlin, April.   
  • Lajoie, C. 2025. “Excessive Verification and the Institution’s Distrust,” Guelph University, April.  
  • Balestha, C. and C. McLeod. 2025. “Trust and AI,” Canadian Philosophical Association meeting, George Brown College, Toronto, May.  
  • McLeod, C. 2025. “Institutional Betrayal and Belonging,” Old Dilemmas, New Voices: Feminist Ethics and #MeToo,” Reykjavik, Iceland, May.  
  • McLeod, C. 2024. “Trust, Belonging, and Reputation,” Trust and Reputation workshop, Saïd Business School, Oxford University, Oxford UK, June.  
  • Demir-Doğuoğlu, H. 2024. “Distrust, Privilege, and (In)vulnerability,” Sources of Trust: Navigating the Fragility of Certainty conference, Heidelberg University, Germany. 
  • Demir-Doğuoğlu, H. 2023. “Distrust, Privilege, and (In)vulnerability,” Trust, Integration, and Social Cohesion workshop, Memorial University, Newfoundland, June 21-23.  

(Related) Events and Projects:  

  • McLeod, organizer. Symposium on Institutional Distrust, proposal submitted for the 2026 Canadian Philosophical Association annual conference; Jason D’Cruz, Lajoie, McLeod, Alexis Morin-Martel, and Natalie Stoljar, speakers.  
  • McLeod, C. and J. Burkell, P.I.s. 2025-2026. “AI and Education,” funded by the Rotman Institute’s Think Tank Program.  
  • Lajoie, organizer. 2024-present. Feminist Philosophy of Trust Reading Group. 
  • Lajoie, guest producer. 2025. “SE01 E06: Trust and Antitrust,” thinking bodies (podcast), Anna Mudde and Kristin Rodier, hosts; McLeod, Demir-Doğuoğlu, Amy Mullin, and Laura Specker Sullivan, guests. 
  • Stoljar, N., A. Morin-Martel, and C. McLeod, organizers. 2025. Montreal Workshop on Institutional Trust and Distrust, McGill University, June 11-12 (with presentations by team members McLeod, Demir-Doğuoğlu, Lajoie, and Tobi) 
  • McLeod, C., Luke Stark, Jacquie Burkell, Emily Cichocki, and Jason Millar, organizers. 2023. “(Dis)Trust and AI: Perspectives from Across Disciplines and Sectors,” a three-day event organized by Western University, October 27-29. Information here.  
  • McLeod, C., Kharissa Edwards, and Sinead Osivwemu. 2021. “Race, Distrust, and Vaccine Hesitancy,” Public Lecture series on Race and Racism; Annual Library Lecture Series of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy and Western Philosophy, October.   

Selected Publications  

  • McLeod, C. 2025 (online, ahead of print). “Trust and Belonging,” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2025.2528381.  
  • Demir-Doğuoğlu, H. 2025 (online, ahead of print). “Only tall because somebody’s on their knees”: distrust, power, and the pursuit of invulnerability,” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2025.2528377.  
  • Lajoie, C. 2025. “Fear and Trust Under Conditions of Oppression.” The Moral Psychology of Fear. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. 
  • Lajoie, C. 2025. “Building Institutional Trustworthiness in Times of Crisis and Beyond Them: Lessons from Disability Scholarship and Activism” In Disability Justice in Public Health Emergencies. London: Routledge. 
  • Demir-Doğuoğlu, H. and C. McLeod. 2023. “Towards a Feminist Theory of Distrust.” In The Moral Psychology of Trust. Ed. M. Alfano, D. Collins, and I. V. Jovanović. Lexington. Pp. 125-143.  
  • McLeod, C. 2023. “Trust,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. E. N. Zalta and U. Nodelman, originally published 2006.