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We are pleased to announce that two University of Ottawa graduate students in the Faculty of Law working on issues related to environmental justice have recently graduated.
Congratulations to Michelle Sanders, who recently completed her LLM, and Semie Sama, who recently defended her PhD!
Professor Nathalie Chalifour spoke at the 2017 conference organized by the Canadian Association of Environmental Law Societies (CAELS), a national collective of law students dedicated to addressing topical issues in environmental law. The conference, called Making Waves: Environmental Policy and Practical Change, was held in Ottawa on February 24-25.
The conference discussed the role of law in promoting environmental protection, and how the law can best be used to accomplish that goal. Professor Chalifour's presentation focused on constitutional environmental rights.
Professor Nathalie Chalifour will be speaking on a panel moderated by Professor Sophie Thériault at the Constitution 150 Conference in Ottawa on March 9. The panel, on the topic of Charter protection for the environment, also features Professor Lynda Collins (University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law), and Professor Jason MacLean (Lakehead University, Faculty of Law).
The conference marks the 35th anniversary of the patriation of the Canadian Constitution and the enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms against the background of Canada’s 150th birthday and the 150th birthday of Canada’s Constitution. The focus of the conference is on addressing today’s challenges of today and considering the challenges for the next 10-25 years.
Angela Lee, Professor Heather McLeod-Kilmurray, and Professor Nathalie Chalifour have published an op ed on Canada's Food Guide, arguing that sustainability considerations should feature more prominently in the current revision process.
The team highlight the fact that our daily food choices have broad-ranging impacts -- not only on our health, but also our environment. Drawing on the recent experiences of other countries, such as Sweden and Brazil, the op ed suggests that eating well is about more than just nutrition, and that the current revision process presents an important opportunity to help inculcate a more sustainable way of eating that can benefit individual consumers, local food producers, and our shared environment.
Pursuant to a five year SSHRC Insight Grant and the Faculty of Law’s own internal bursary program, Professors Nathalie Chalifour, Heather McLeod-Kilmurray and Sophie Thériault are recruiting a Research Fellow to complete graduate research on environmental justice in Canadian Law and Policy. The Research Fellow will be a full-time student enrolled in the University of Ottawa LLM (thesis) or Doctoral program. She or he will participate in research projects and pursue graduate research in one or more of these areas under the supervision of one of the project leaders, in partial completion of an LLM or a Doctorate at the University of Ottawa.
The candidate will conduct research on one of the project’s case studies. The case studies examine the way in which legal structures contribute to environmental injustices and the role of law in remedying these injustices. Specifically, candidates who are interested in conducting research on Climate Justice and Biodiversity and Indigenous Peoples in the North are sought. More information is available HERE.
In addition to her publications in academic journals on the timely topic of carbon taxes in Canada, Professor Nathalie Chalifour has recently contributed several op eds to iPolitics regarding this issue.
In the first, she argues that "the federal government has ample constitutional authority to implement a variety of GHG emissions policies, whether in the form of a national carbon price, a cap on emissions or other regulations", and that "If Ottawa wants to avoid a constitutional challenge from the provinces, it should consider designing the carbon price as a regulatory measure justified as something other than a pure tax."
In a later piece, she argues that "Ottawa also has the authority to establish the recently announced minimum carbon price floor. The key is to carefully design the policy so it falls within the parameters of a relevant constitutional power and in a way that avoids unnecessary intrusions onto provincial turf."
Professor Heather McLeod-Kilmurray, Professor Nathalie Chalifour, and PhD student Angela Lee are co-editing a forthcoming book on food law in Canada, scheduled for publication in 2017.
The goal of this edited volume - the first of its kind in Canada - is to offer a broad overview of both foundational and emerging issues in this burgeoning field of law, including critical perspectives.