Judith Fingard (b. 1943) is an historian with research interests in Canadian social history, including religion, class, gender, race and disability. She was educated at Dalhousie University and the University of London, from which she earned her PhD in 1970. From 1967-1997 she taught history at Dalhousie University, where she also served as the Dean of Graduate Studies (1990-1995), Assistant Dean (1989-1990), and Co-ordinator of Women's Studies (1989).

Since the late 1990s Fingard has served terms as president of the Canadian Historical Association and the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Association. For her contributions to Canadian history she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1991. She has received a number of awards and honours, including the John Lyman Book Award (1982), the Hilda Neatby Prize (1990) and the Evelyn Richardson Memorial Award (1990).

In addition to a wide range of scholarly articles, biographical entries and book reviews, Fingard is the author of the following books: The Anglican Design in Loyalist Nova Scotia (1972); Jack in Port: Sailortowns of Eastern Canada (1982); The Dark Side of Life in Victorian Halifax (1989); Halifax (Canada): The First 250 Years (1999), with Janet Guilford and David Sutherland; Mothers of the Municipality: Women, Work, and Social Policy in Post-1945 Halifax (2005), with Janet Guildford; and Protect, Befriend, Respect: Nova Scotia’s Mental Health Movement, 1908–2008 (2008), with John Rutherford.