Deborah Curran

Office Hours

 By appointment only.

About Deborah Curran

I am a Professor at the University of Victoria who is cross-appointed in the Faculties of Law and Social Sciences (Director, School of Environmental Studies). Focusing on our relationships with land, water, and how we make responsible decisions relating to them, my courses include water law, environmental law, municipal law, environmental solutions and the environmental law clinic. My research includes all aspects of adapting water law and governance, responsible land use and how Indigenous law is shaping state law. As the Executive Director with the Environmental Law Centre I supervise students working for community and Indigenous organizations. For over 20 years I have supported community and Indigenous organizations on creating sustainable communities using green bylaws and new models for watershed governance.

Graduate supervision

I supervise graduate students interested in water law, watershed governance, Indigenous-Crown relationships, conservation, healthy foodscapes, environmental law, and municipal law (land use regulation). Please note - I do not supervise graduate students working in the sciences.

Publications

Access Deborah's research on real estate, land use and sustainability law through the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). See also Google Scholar.

Journal publications:

• Curran, D., S. Hunt / Tłaliłila’ogwa and D. Scott. “Anti-Colonial Imperatives for Transforming Environmental Law: From Environment to Ecology and Rights to Relationships” Justice, Ecology, Law and Place (forthcoming)
• Curran, D., T. Gleeson and Z. Huggins. “Applying a science-forward approach to groundwater regulatory design” (2023) 31:4 Hydrogeology Journal 853-871 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-023-02625-6
• Curran, D. and Dolkhar, T. “Legal pluralism and Environmental Governance: The Regulatory Design Potential of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness and Canada’s Reconciliation Approaches” (2022) 54 Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis 68-95 https://doi.org/10.1080/27706869.2022.2087978
• Allard, C. and Curran, D. “Indigenous Influence and Engagement in Mining Permitting in British Columbia, Canada: Lessons for Sweden and Norway?” Environmental Management (2021) https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-021-01536-0
• Curran, D., Chief M. Slett, E. Kung. “Ǧviḷ̓ás and Snəwayəɬ: Indigenous laws, economies and relationships with place speaking to state extractions” South Atlantic Quarterly (2020) 119 (2): 215–241 https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-8177735
• Curran, D. “Indigenous Processes of Consent: Repoliticizing Water Governance Through Legal Pluralism” (2019) 20:3 Water 570-586 https://doi.org/10.3390/w11030571 
• Curran, D. “The Adaptation Potential of Water Law in Canada: Changing Existing Water Use Entitlements” (2019) 44:3 Water International 278-291 https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2019.1570053 
• Curran, D. “‘Legalizing’ the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements: Colonial Adaptations Towards Reconciliation and Conservation” (2017) 62:3 McGill Law Journal 813-860
  * Winner of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers Scholarly Paper Award 2018
• Curran, D. “Leaks in the System: Environmental Flows, Aboriginal Rights and the Modernization Imperative for Water Law in British Columbia” (2017) 50:2 UBC Law Review 233-291

Books:

• Curran, D., C. Owens, H. Thorson, E. Vibert (eds.) Out There Learning: Critical Reflections on Off-Campus Study Programs (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019)

Book chapters:

• Curran, D. and V. Napoleon. “Ethnoecology and Indigenous Legal Traditions in Environmental Governance” in N.J. Turner (ed) Indigenous Peoples’ Land Rights and the Roles of Ethnoecology and Ethnobotany: Strategies for Canada’s Future (McGill-Queens University Press, 2020) 269-281
• Curran, D. “Foodscapes Protection in Canada: Indigenous and Colonial Foodscapes in Law” in McLeod-Kilmurray, H., A. Lee and N. Chalifour (eds.) Food Law in Canada (Toronto: Carswell-Thompson Reuters Canada, 2019) 151-173

Other work:

• Green Bylaws Toolkit
• Reconciliation as Jurisdiction: Implementing Government-to-Government Agreements: I have reviewed most of the agreements between Indigenous and state governments in BC and evaluated their impact on state jurisdiction. In addition to presenting widely on how these agreements create ecological limits in state law, several reports and papers will explain their significance for Indigenous communities and cooperative federalism.
• Water Law: With Professor Martin Olszynski (University of Calgary), we are completing the first book on water law in Canada. 

Recognition and awards:

• University of Victoria Provost's Award in Engaged Scholarship 2021
• Canadian Association of Law Teachers Scholarly Paper Award 2018
• Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia Land Champion 2016