Environmental Law Courses
Environmental Law (CML 3369)
Professor Heather McLeod-Kilmurray
Introduction to Canadian and Ontario legislative framework for environmental protection, including pollution control techniques, enforcement and prosecutorial action, environmental rights, corporate liability and due diligence, environmental assessment, and measures directed at sustainable development and biodiversity.
Droit de l’environnement (CML 3769)
Droit de l'environnement - Plan de cours
Professor Nathalie Chalifour
Ce cours offre une introduction aux défis environnementaux (incluant la pollution de l’air et de l’eau, l’accumulation des contaminants dans l’environnement et la conservation de la diversité biologique) et aux principes fondamentaux du droit de l’environnement au Canada (notamment les principes de la common law et la législation fédéral et de l’Ontario pertinents à la protection de l’environnement). Le cours abordera les thèmes suivants : le partage des compétences législatives concernant les questions environnementales, les recours environnementaux en délits civils et en droit administratif, les infractions environnementales, le rôle du public, le droit international et les approches économiques.
Studies in International Law: International Environmental Law (CML 4108A)
International Environmental Law.doc
Professor Jamie Benidickson
This course will examine the nature and significance of international law, policy and institutions in contemporary responses to global environmental issues ranging from endangered species to climate change. Other topics to be considered include international air and water pollution, the transportation of hazardous wastes, and ocean resources. In addition to the particularities of each of these issues, we will be concerned with international law making processes, with the enforcement and effectiveness of international environmental law, with the relationship between international environmental law norms and the Canadian domestic regime, and with the inter-relationships between international environmental law and other international regimes governing trade, human rights and war, for example.
Études en droit international: Droit international de l’environnement (CML 4508A)
Droit international de l’environnement.doc
Professor Nathalie Chalifour
Ce cours est une introduction à la nature et à l’importance du droit, des politiques et des institutions internationales pour répondre aux enjeux environnemental à l'échelle mondiale, tels que la conservation de la biodiversité et le changement climatique. D’autres sujets à l’étude seront la pollution transfrontière de l’eau et de l’air, le transport des déchets dangereux, les ressources en eau douce. Nous étudierons également la création des coutumes, conventions et normes en droit international, les mécanismes de mise en œuvre de ces normes, et la relation entre le droit international de l’environnement et les autres régimes internationaux, tels que le commerce international et le droit de la personne.
Studies in Public Law: Water Law (CML 4104A)
Professor Jamie Benidickson
This course will provide an understanding of the legal framework affecting the allocation and protection of water supply in the domestic and international contexts. By way of background we will consider basic systems of water rights (riparianism, appropriation, and administrative allocation). In addition, we will examine constitutional authority over water management in Canada and principles developed in the international context to address water-related problems. More specific topics include: public rights in water and waterways; principles of administrative allocation and water-taking permits; conservation and water rationing; water pricing; municipal supply arrangements; water and human rights; the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement; water diversion and exports.
Studies in Public Law: Natural Resources Law (CML 4104F)
Natural Resources Law Syllabus.doc
Professor Stewart Elgie
For students to understand the main laws governing the management and conservation of natural resources in Canada (especially Ontario). A main theme of the course will be forest ecosystems and the competing claims on their resources. The course will begin by looking at ownership of and constitutional jurisdiction over natural resources. Then it will review the laws governing forest management, wildlife and endangered species, parks, and environmental assessment. As time permits, we may also cover other resource topics such as fisheries or mining. Different perspectives on resource management will be introduced, including economic and ethical perspectives. To provide a comparative perspective, the course will draw on regulatory and judicial approaches in the U.S. Also, Aboriginal issues will be touched on. But the main concentration will be on Canadian legislation concerning conservation, allocation, and resolution of competing demands for scarce resources.
Toxic Torts (CML 4162)
Professor Lynda Collins
Toxic torts are torts that involve environmental contamination and/or defective chemical products (e.g. pharmaceuticals). Because they frequently deal with poorly understood synthetic chemicals, toxic torts raise fascinating questions of law and policy. Where the health effects of a chemical are unknown, who should bear the burden of this uncertainty – plaintiffs or defendants? How do we deal with plaintiffs who can prove that a particular product made them ill, but cannot identify which defendant manufactured the product that they ingested? The study of toxic tort also raises more fundamental questions concerning the use of private law strategies in the environmental field. What is the role of tort law in the project of environmental protection? Can private citizens hold governments accountable for their negligent failure to enforce environmental laws? This seminar will allow students to pursue an advanced understanding of this cutting-edge area of tort/environmental law. We will address the law, policy, and practice of toxic torts. The seminar will be an active learning environment and students will be encouraged to develop and express their own analyses of the issues.
Planning and Environmental Assessment Law (CML 4114JF)
Instructors: Charles Birchall
Rodney Northey
of Birchall Northey
This seminar course will introduce students to the major initiatives of planning and environmental assessment law over the past decade, including smart growth, greenbelts, source water protection, and infrastructure master plans. Students will learn the triggers, procedures, and standards of the Ontario Planning Act, Environmental Assessment Act, Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act, Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, and the proposed Places to Grow Act and Drinking Water Source Protection Act. Students will also learn about federal environmental planning through consideration of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, and the National Capital Act and its Commission. Key legal precedents will be gathered from across the Province and other Canadian and common law jurisdictions. Case studies will focus on planning in the nation=s capital. Students will be encouraged to write law and policy papers that relate to current planning and infrastructure debates.
Animals and the Law (CML 3374G)
Animals and the Law Syllabus.doc
Professor Daphne Gilbert
This course will examine the legal classification of non-human animals, the laws that govern their treatment, as well as a number of topics that fall within the general headings “animal law” and “animal rights.” Such topics include: the historical and philosophical treatment of animals, and how such treatment has impacted the ways in which people see and speak about animals; how humans interact with and use animals; current animal protection laws; recent political campaigns to reform animal protection laws; “standing” and the problems of litigating on behalf of animals; the classification of animals as “property” and whether such classification is appropriate or important; and whether current legal protections for animals are sufficient, or, in the alternative, whether new legal strategies, such as “legal personhood” or fundamental “legal rights” for animals should be pursued.
Courses Complimentary to Environmental Law
Aboriginal Peoples and the Law (CML 2301)
Professor Patricia Stirbys
This course will examine the legal status of Aboriginal Peoples (Indian, Metis and Inuit) with reference to common law, statute and Constitutional provisions. In addition, the course will examine the nature and scope of Aboriginal title and Aboriginal rights. We will also focus on the legal issues surrounding the existence of Aboriginal self-government. The legal status of both past treaties and the more modern treaties (comprehensive land claims) will be addressed. International law as it pertains to the development of rights to self-determination in general and human rights in particular for Aboriginal Peoples will be discussed. This area of the law is particularly useful to study because it highlights the relationship that exists between power, community morality and the law, perhaps more than any other area of the law. The Canadian attitude (as reflected in judicial opinion) to race, culture and difference is brought into sharp focus as one examines the legal doctrines of Aboriginal law.
Les autochtones et le droit (CML 2701)
Professeure Manon Lavoie
Cours d’introduction au droit autochtone. Sujets traités: situation juridique des peuples indiens, métis et inuit dans le système juridique canadien; processus de revendications territoriales et accords; droits ancestraux et droits issus des traités; statuts constitutionnels spéciaux; droits constitutionnels enchâssés; chasse; pêche; droits de piégeage et d’assemblée; auto-détermination; droit coutumier; lois fédérales spéciales et ententes administratives; tutelle de la Couronne; peuples autochtones et développement économique; régime foncier des réserves; droit international relatif aux peuples autochtones; expériences juridiques de différents pays.
Advanced Aboriginal Law (CML 4162)
Professor Bradford Morse
This seminar, offered since Winter 2001, is a joint endeavour with University of Oklahoma School of Law (with Professor Lindsay Robertson). Since 2003 it has included Monash University School of Law (with Professor Melissa Castan), with Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand (Professor Catherine Iorns and colleagues) joining in 2004. In 2006 the seminar included the University of Saskatchewan (Professor Paul Chartrand) along with Oklahoma, Monash, the University of Queensland (Professor Margaret Stephenson) and the University of Auckland (Professor Nin Thomas). The course in Winter 2007 will include Saskatchewan, Oklahoma, Monash, Auckland and likely other law schools to be finalized in the fall of 2006. Our course consists of a 2 hour component solely amongst us in Ottawa and 2 hours per week through videoconference involving students and professors from all the law schools involved. The students and professors will participate live via our Videoconferencing facility in Room 102. A chat group will be established to foster increased interaction among the students in the Faculties outside of the formal class sessions. All teaching materials are posted through a course website. The seminar will concentrate upon a selection of critical issues arising among the participating countries in which the similarities and differences in domestic law, as well as the objectives of Indigenous peoples in these countries, will be explored in detail from a comparative perspective. In the past, the seminar has included sessions on: the discovery doctrine, aboriginal and treaty rights, constitutional structuring of the relationship, fiduciary/trustee obligations, community recognition processes, self-determination and jurisdiction, economic development, taxation, land claims, religious freedom and international indigenous rights. The precise topics will be determined in consultation with the other participating law schools and students participating in this course.
Municipal and Planning Law (CML 3203)
Instructors: Alan Cohen, Doug Kelly and Ursula Melinz
Seminar dealing with municipalities, the exercise of powers, municipal liabilities and obligations, prosecutions, challenges to municipal decisions, and land-use planning. Emphasis is on the application of “theory” to “practice” with guest lecturers, case studies, class participation, and a mock hearing or paper.
Droit municipal (CML 3503)
Professeur Stéphane Émard-Chabot
Partout dans le monde, le phénomène de l’urbanisation continue de prendre de l’ampleur et le Canada compte parmi les pays les plus urbanisés de la planète. Avec le nombre croissant de personnes vivant dans les grands centre urbains et avec le nombre croissant de responsabilités qui incombent aux administrations municipales, la « ville » devient l’entité gouvernementale et juridique la plus pertinente pour la grande majorité des citoyens. La capacité des villes de répondre aux défis de l’avenir tout en préservant un tissu social sain dépendra, en partie, des pouvoirs juridiques qui leur sont conférés. En utilisant comme exemples concrets les enjeux variés des villes modernes (fiscalité, ordures, étalement urbain, transport, qualité de l’eau, etc.), le cours de droit municipal explore la place de la ville dans le contexte constitutionnel et juridique canadien. L’examen plus approfondi de ces questions ce fera à la lumière des diverses lois ontariennes pertinentes. Le but du cours est d’encourager les étudiants et étudiantes à réfléchir, de façon générale, aux questions importantes touchant les villes. De façon individuelle, chaque étudiante et étudiant choisira un enjeu précis qui l’intéresse pour faire une étude plus poussée de cette question.
Biotechnology and Law (CML 4114JE)
Professor Patricia Kameri-Mbote
The course will look at the interface between law, science and technology. It will highlight current and future developments in biotechnology pointing to the legal implications of these developments. It will also critically evaluate the regulation of biotechnology in select developed and developing countries. Issues arising from intellectual property protection for biotechnology innovations will also be discussed. The following topics will be considered: Product liability and safety law and biotechnology; Legal issues in human genetics and genomics; Legal issues in plant and food technologies and laboratory and industrial biotechnology; International laws and Regulations; Convention on Biological Diversity; Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety; TRIPS: International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture; Codex Alimentarius.