News and Events
Environmental Law Lunch Series
Since 1996 the faculty has hosted the Environmental Law Lunch Series with speakers drawn from the ranks of professionals and practitioners around Ottawa, public officials and visitors to the capital. Presentations typically focus on current legislative and policy developments with plenty of time for questions and discussion amongst participants. Previous speakers have included environmental consultants such as Francois Bregha, John Moffet and Hajo Versteeg, government officials, parliamentarians and members of environmental agencies such as David McGuinty (National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy), Fred Roots (Science Advisor Emeritus, Environment Canada), Brian Emmett (Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development), Heather Smith (Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency), David Near (Environment Canada), Anne Daniel (Environment Canada), Avrim Lazar (Environment Canada), Hon. Charles Caccia (House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development), and Sarah Richardson (Commission for Environmental Cooperation).
Unless otherwise noted, all presentations are held in Fauteux 351, from 11:30-1:00. A light lunch is also served
2011-12 Series
Sept 28
Jamie Benidickson, uOttawa
"Toilet Training for the 21st Century"
Nov 16
Rick Smith, Executive Director, Environmental Defence
"Slow Death by Rubber Duck: Dealing With the Toxins in Everyday Life"
Feb 8
Hélène Trudeau, Université de Montréal
«Précaution, subsidiarité et mondialisation : les défis d'une gestion adéquate des risques environnementaux au Canada»
March 21
Edith Brown Weiss, Georgetown Law
TBD
News
Welcome to Professor Chidi Oguamanam
Chidi Oguamanam, LL.M., Ph.D. (British Columbia) is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa (Common Law Section). Until recently, he was the Director of the Law and Technology Institute at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Dr. Oguamanam’s practice and academic interests focus on various legal and policy issue-linkages to intellectual property law. He writes, teaches and consults in the areas of Law and Technology (including biotechnologies), Biodiversity, Agricultural Knowledge Systems, Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous Knowledge, Intellectual Property, Human Rights and Global Knowledge Governance, and Contract Law. He is a fellow of Canada Institutes of Health Research Program in Ethics of Health Research and Policy, a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law at McGill University, Montreal and a member of Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society and the Nigerian Bar Association. Dr. Oguamanam is frequently involved in the processes of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in technical expert and other capacities on many issue areas including Genetic Use Restriction Technologies, Access and Benefit Sharing and capacity building for Indigenous and Local Communities. His recent book is Intellectual Property in Global Governance: A Development Question (Routledge, 2011).
Professor Oguamanam will be teaching CML 4112E Interdisciplinary Studies in Law: Agricultural Knowledge Systems, Biodiversity and Food Security.
Congratulations to the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law!
The American Bar Association 2011 Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy was presented to the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law at the ABA’s annual meeting on August 7 by the ABA’s Energy, Environment and Resources Section and the Standing Committee on Environmental Law.
CENTRE LAUNCH
On June 9th, the Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability (CELGS) celebrated its launch at the Museum of Nature, here in Ottawa. The event, jointly organized with the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, was held during the Academy’s international conference Designing Law and Policy for the Transition to Sustainable Energy: The Case of Biofuels
The launch was a great success, with more than 100 guests in attendance
from the academic community, government, the private sector and the NGO
community.
Professor Emiritus Philippe Crabbé, former director of uOttawa’s
Institute of the Environment and Economy, officially launched the
Centre, while David Runnalls, former President and now Distinguished
Fellow of the International Institute for Sustainable Development
(IISD), and Senior Fellow of Sustainable Prosperity, delivered the
keynote address.
CELGS wishes to recognise the generous contributions of the Law
Foundation of Ontario and the University of Ottawa for making this event
possible. We also wish to thank our guests for their encouragement and
for making our event a success. We invite you to visit our website to
learn more about the Centre, its projects and its researchers
Common Law Competes at Willms & Shier Environmental Law Moot Court Competition (detail )
New Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability
The Board of Governors at the University of Ottawa has approved a new Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability based at the Faculty of Law. The idea for this new centre dedicated the areas of environmental law and global sustainability was initially conceived of by then Faculty of Law professors—“the Environmental Law Group”—who share common interests and expertise.
The Environmental Law Group's longstanding tradition of mentoring students, planning and presenting lecture series on various topics related to law and the environment, hosting national and international conferences and engaging in high caliber and high impact research will continue as the Centre's primary goal is to make significant contributions to Research, Teaching and Community outreach in these fields.
The Centre will therefore harness the existing academic strengths of its researchers and partner institutions (the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, Sustainable Prosperity and the uOttawa-Ecojustice Environmental Law Clinic), and continue developing and fostering new projects, activities, and relationships with various faculty and institutions both on and off campus.
Click here to view a story on the new centre from Canadian Lawyer Magazine, published on July 12, 2010.
For further information, please contact Caroline Couillard at droitenvironnement@uOttawa.ca.
ELSA holds fundraiser for Ecojustice
The Environmental Law Students’ Association (ELSA) has donated the proceeds from a fundraising event held in February to the uOttawa-Ecojustice Environmental Law Clinic.
ELSA succeeded in raising over $300 directly from students at the benefit event, which featured musical performances from various law students as well as Professor Lynda Collins. A steadfast supporter of the Clinic, ELSA has hosted the fundraiser for the last three years.
ELSA is an entirely student-run association, composed of a 15 member executive and 127 general members. Its purpose is to promote environmental law at uOttawa and carry out local initiatives to improve the sustainability of the Faculty of Law and the university as a whole.
Grants awarded
LL.M. graduate Gideon Emcee Christian (’08) has been awarded a doctoral fellowship of $105,000 for the next three years from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to support his thesis, “Sustainable Legal Framework for Transboundary Movement and Management of Electronic Waste.”
Now in the first year of his doctoral studies, Gideon’s research examkines the transboundary movement of used electrical and electronics equipment (UEEE), or e-waste, from developed to developing countries. In particular, he is studying the situation in his home country of Nigeria, the largest recipient of e-waste in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Civil Law Section’s Professor Markus Gehring, Jean Monnet Chair in Sustainable Development Law, will supervise the thesis. Common Law Professors Amir Attaran and Lynda Collins are members of the thesis committee.
Gideon obtained his LL.B. from the University of Lagos in Nigeria, and earned his LL.M. at uOttawa in the Law and Technology Program. He is a two-time winner of the International Development Research Center (IDRC) Internship Research Award, (2008, 2009) worth a combined value of $100,000. He is also a member of Nigerian Bar, the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS).
Prof. Benidickson received a Standard Research Grant of $80,580 over three years for his project “The Lake of the Woods: Resource Management and Watershed Governance.” The project will examine the Lake of the Woods region, an important multi-jurisdictional watershed, to produce a comprehensive case study informing the interaction between natural and social systems. Specifically, the project will address the relationship between changing water uses and the evolving legal and institutional framework for water protection.
Prof. Elgie’s “Greensky Knowledge Platform” project received a Public Outreach Dissemination Grant of $98,500 in the category of Innovation, Leadership and Prosperity. The Greensky Knowledge Platform will be an interactive web space designed to magnify the Sustainable Prosperity Research and Policy Network’s existing activities, reach and impact, while fostering a dynamic online dialogue to advance environment-economy research and policy development. The new web platform will allow a growing pool of experts to interact and broadcast their knowledge more effectively, and will serve as an instructional model for similar networks. Prof. Elgie will be supported by Co-Applicants from three other institutions, including the University of Alberta, Carleton University and Université du Québec à Montréal, as well as by fellow Common Law colleague and Canada Research Chair, Professor Ian Kerr.
Prof. Benidickson Receives Funding for Workshop on Environmental Policy and Sustainability
Professor Jamie Benidickson has been awarded a grant of over $17,000 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and a further $3000 from the Research Grants and Ethics Services at the University of Ottawa to fund a one-and-a-half day workshop entitled, “Charles Caccia: Contributions to Environmental Policy and Sustainability” which was held May 13-14th 2010.