News and events

Dr. Susan Breau has been appointed the new dean of Law at the University of Victoria. Since 2014, Dr. Breau has been the Head of the School of Law at the University of Reading, UK, and has a distinguished record of achievement as a researcher, teacher and administrator. Her scholarship engages with multiple forms of law and legal orders, particularly in the law of armed conflict, international humanitarian law, international human rights law and international disaster law. She completed her Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws and Masters of Arts degrees at Queen’s University. She practiced law in Kingston, Ontario, for almost 20 years before completing Master of Laws and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has taught and lectured at law schools throughout the United Kingdom and Australia. Dr. Breau was the Dorset Fellow in Public International Law at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.

By Jeremy Webber, Dean of Law I am delighted to announce that we will have three faculty members joining UVic Law this coming July: David Milward, Sarah Morales and Geoff Loomer.

The season is not over yet, but so far our mooting teams are having an amazing year! The UVic team won the BC Law Schools Moot in early February, came first and second in the Canadian Client Counselling Competition at the end of February and advanced on to the International competition in April, won best oralist in the Wilson moot and won Runner Up Best Factum in the Fox Intellectual Property Moot in late February as well.

A new law program at the University of Victoria is the world’s first to combine the intensive study of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous law, enabling people to work fluently across the two realms. Students will graduate with two professional degrees, one in Canadian Common Law (Juris Doctor or ‘JD’) and one in Indigenous Legal Orders (Juris Indigenarum Doctor or ‘JID’). Their education will benefit areas such as environmental protection, Indigenous governance, economic development, housing, child protection and education—areas where currently there is an acute lack of legal expertise to create institutions that are grounded in Indigenous peoples’ law and to build productive partnerships across the two legal systems.

On Wednesday, February 7, more than 150 people participated in an animated conversation with BC's most distinguished public-sector jurist, Ted Hughes QC, on his remarkable career in the pursuit of law in the public interest. Hughes was interviewed by CBC journalist Laura Lynch (herself a graduate of UVic Law in 1988). The event was opened by our special guest the Hon David Eby QC, Attorney-General of BC, and closed by our equally special guest Maureen Maloney QC, Professor at SFU, former Deputy Attorney-General of BC, and former Dean of Law at UVic – indeed the first woman to be appointed dean of a law school in BC.

The Faculty invites applications for up to two full-time tenure-track or tenured positions. The appointment will be at the rank of Assistant Professor or Associate Professor, with rank and tenure status determined after an assessment of accomplishments and experience. The expected start date would be 1 July 2018. In accordance with the University’s Equity Plan and pursuant to section 42 of the BC Human Rights Code, the selection for the first position will be limited to members of the following designated group: Aboriginal Peoples. Candidates for this position must self-identify. The selection for the second position is open to all applicants. We encourage applicants for the second position to self-identify Indigenous and other characteristics relevant to UVic Law’s diversity commitments.

Val Napoleon, one of Canada's most influential Indigenous scholars, was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars on November 24, 2017. At the Celebration of Excellence in Winnipeg, Manitoba, a ceremony officially welcomed new members to the College. Val Napoleon holds the Law Foundation Chair of Aboriginal Justice and Governance at UVic. She is the founder of the university’s Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU), which is committed to the recovery and renaissance of Indigenous laws and the only dedicated unit of its kind in the country.

Trudi Brown, QC, is the first recipient of the Law Society of BC's Excellence in Family Law award. This much-deserved honour celebrates her significant influence on the family law bar in British Columbia as an inspiring leader and mentor. This award is also a recognition of Ms Brown's contribution to legal education. She taught Family Law at UVic in 2010, as well as giving workshops, judicial training and supervision of many co-op and articling students over the years. She was also a member of the Board of Governors at the University of Victoria from 2002-2008, during which time she served two years as Chair of the Board.

On Friday, November 10th, five teams of UVic students headed to UBC's Allard School of Law to compete in the 14th annual Environmental Law Negotiation Competition. The event was organized by the UBC Environmental Law Group and sponsored by Edwards, Kenny & Bray LLP. Twenty-four teams of two from UVic, UBC, and TRU participated in tripartite negotiations between a government, Indigenous organization, and sport fishing association. After two rounds of competition, teams had a chance to network with the judges who were all local environmental lawyers. The final round of competition followed the networking session and a first-year UVic team consisting of Fauziya Issa and Mbaka Wadham won. Congrats Fauziya and Mbaka!

Professor Asad Kiyani has been awarded the Antonio Cassese Prize for International Criminal Law Studies for 2015–2016 by the Board of Editors of the Journal of International Criminal Justice. The award recognizes significant contributions to public international law.

The University of Victoria Faculty of Law in conjunction with the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, the International Law Association and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network of Canada are hosting a two-hour lunch time seminar on Climate Change, International Law and the Green Economy. The seminar will take place on Aug 28th at 12pm in the faculty workroom. The guest speakers for this seminar are Professor Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger and Dr. Markus Gehring.

The Centre for Asia Pacific Initiatives presents: Michael Peil, Vice-Dean of Jigme Singye Wangchuck Law School, Bhutan will discuss Bhutan's new law school curriculum. 12:30 pm Room 158 Fraser Building University of Victoria

Looking at how life has “bounced back” (or not) after the 2011 TEPCO nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, this talk builds on critiques of the neoliberal virtue of resilience by examining the value placed on multispecies resilience after Fukushima. Describing multispecies resilience as forgiving makes visible the affective as well as material economies within which other animals become instrumental to redeeming a future for catastrophic capitalism.

It is often said that Indigenous peoples’ relationship to the land – and Indigenous peoples’ law – are sacred. What does “sacred” mean in this context? What should it convey to non-Indigenous Canadians when they engage with Indigenous peoples? How can you understand another person’s sense of the sacred? Two of UVic’s leading Indigenous scholars, John Borrows and Val Napoleon, will discuss the sacred in Indigenous law and reconciliation. They are key figures in UVic’s proposed dual-degree program in Canadian law and Indigenous law. In this conversation, they will explore the nature of Indigenous law and pose important – and challenging – questions about the role of the sacred. Free event, Registration required: