On December 3, 2016, Laurence McFalls from the Université du Québec à Montréal received the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon. It was conferred to him by the German Consul General Walter Leuchs (German Consulate General Montréal) on behalf of the German Federal President Joachim Gauck.
For more than 25 years, Laurence McFalls has served as an academic ambassador of German Studies. He has been active as a bridge builder and a translator between Canada and Germany, and he has engendered a sustainable impact on German-Canadian academic relations. He belongs to the pioneers of research about the GDR and the democratic revolution in East Germany. Last but not least, he was instrumental in the establishment of sustainable academic institutions promoting the internationalization of research and teaching in the field of the humanities and social sciences at the Université de Montréal, at the Universität Trier and the Universität des Saarlandes. For his achievements, he deserves highest recognition.
The Association for Canadian Studies in German-speaking Countries congratulates Laurence McFalls on this accolade.