Undark: Indigenous forest gardens help bolster land rights arguments
Undark: Indigenous forest gardens help bolster land rights arguments johnstone Wed, 05/01/2024 - 09:48 External Link Source: Undark Faculty in the News General Public...
Learn MoreCanadian Immigration Updates
Applicants to Master’s and Doctoral degrees are not affected by the recently announced cap on study permits. Review more details
The Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC is one of the world’s leading centres for legal education and research. Its faculty members engage in research with local, national, and global impact and provide students with some of the most extensive and innovative curricular opportunities of any Canadian law school.
The Peter A. Allard School of Law's innovative researchers, inspiring teachers, and outstanding graduates have established our national reputation and global reach. The Faculty is committed to preparing our students to become exceptional global citizens, to conducting leading-edge research that serves our community nationally and internationally, and to promoting the values of a just, civil and sustainable society.
The Allard School of Law is proud to foster a research environment that pulls faculty, students, and visitors into collaborative and challenging research projects. Our outstanding graduate programs offer students the opportunity to study law from within law’s wider social, economic, and political context, and select courses from a comprehensive and progressive curriculum that emphasizes foundational knowledge, scholarly innovation, ethics, and the development of professional skills.
Legal research that employs the perspectives of different disciplines, contexts, and methodologies makes the Allard School of Law an exciting and rewarding research centre. And, as the stories on the Allard School of Law research portal show, research done here changes peoples’ lives.
The Allard School of Law's more than 10,000 alumni include:
- The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
- The Right Honourable Kim Campbell, PC, CC, OBC, former Prime Minister of Canada
- The Honourable Ujjal Dosanjh, former Premier of British Columbia and former Canadian Minister of Health
- The Honourable Mike Harcourt, OC, former Premier of British Columbia
- The Honourable Lance Finch, QC, retired Chief Justice of British Columbia
- The Honourable Frank Iacobucci, CC, QC, LSM, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
- The Honourable Wally Oppal, QC, former Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, former Attorney General of British Columbia, and former Minister responsible for Multiculturalism
- The Honourable Steven L. Point, OBC, former Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, and current UBC Chancellor and Provincial Court Judge
- The Honourable Alfred Scow, CM, OBC, first Indigenous lawyer called to the British Columbia bar and first legally trained Indigenous Judge in the province
- Justice Ardith Walkem, QC, first Indigenous woman judge in the province, and both an LLB and LLM alumna
- The Honourable Patricia Proudfoot, OBC, first female judge in BC
Research Centres
Research Facilities
Allard Hall, home of the Allard School of Law, creates a welcoming and inspiring learning, research and meeting place for students, faculty, staff and the wider legal community.
Opened in 2011, the $56-million four-storey, 141,000 square-foot building and $56-million facility includes flexible, modern teaching spaces, a replica courtroom, and dedicated spaces for the faculty’s nearly 650 students, 45 full-time faculty, plus alumni and guests. Classroom video displays and webcasting technology will connect UBC students with law schools and communities globally. A three-storey multipurpose forum with floor-to-ceiling windows converts from a social area to an auditorium for special events and lectures. The new state-of-the-art UBC Law Library serves as an academic hub for students and the legal community.
With powerful learning and sustainability features, Allard Hall – named after donor and alumnus Peter A. Allard – provides a space to advance legal research and education in Canada, expand the Faculty’s presence in the community, and honour its ties to BC First Nations.
Research Highlights
The Allard School of Law is home to a dynamic, accomplished, and diverse group of faculty who make innovative and influential contributions to understanding the underpinning of the law, cutting edge developments in legal practice, the development of policy, and the progress of civil society at both national and international levels. The Faculty’s research is regularly cited by scholars, courts, and policymakers across the country and around the world.
The Allard School of Law has led Canada in curricular and research innovation with important programs focusing on areas including social justice, business law, environmental law, sustainability and Asian legal studies. Our faculty members carry out their research and teaching objectives with a commitment to pursuing social justice.
Key areas of faculty research include international law, Indigenous legal studies, environmental law and sustainability, migration, human trafficking, affordable housing, and criminal law and policy. Allard Hall is home to Centres of business law, environmental law and natural resources, Asian legal studies, and feminist legal studies.
Allard Hall is also home to affiliated law reform organizations: British Columbia Law Institute, which includes the Canadian Center for Elder Law Studies, and the UN-affiliated International Center for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy.
Graduate Degree Programs
Recent Publications
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Peter A. Allard School of Law.
Recent Thesis Submissions
Doctoral Citations
A doctoral citation summarizes the nature of the independent research, provides a high-level overview of the study, states the significance of the work and says who will benefit from the findings in clear, non-specialized language, so that members of a lay audience will understand it.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Dr. Min explored the relationship between law and border on the Korean peninsula and beyond. She conducted a series of focused case studies on particular border sites. Her study revealed the ways in which law, as material reality, ideology, metaphor, and technology, enables and disables the movement of persons, things, and symbols across borders. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Ilumoka analysed the evolution of colonial law in Nigeria, taking a case study of the development of land law and women's land rights. She notes that the colonial classification of law as "customary" and "modern" persists today and is misleading. She argues for law reform focusing on substantive issues of justice and access to land. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Ramirez-Espinosa conducted research into three judicial cases: Delgamuukw in Canada, Nibutani Dam in Japan and Zirahuen in Mexico. She concluded that in these three cases, the Indigenous plaintiffs' claims could not succeed due to issues of uncertainty in the law, lack of adequate remedies and the use of a concept of sovereignty that is outdated. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2014 | Dr. Kaushal studied how the law treats group difference. She used the concept of jurisdiction to illuminate the work that law does to separate and contain groups. This research reveals the legal landscape of diversity and furthers the study of accommodating diversity in contemporary societies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Marsden studied the role of law in the lives of individuals with uncertain migration status. She found that these migrants faced barriers both in workplace rights and in obtaining access to education, health care, and social benefits. She argues that social exclusion of migrants is maintained through these areas of the law. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Cochran explored the meaning and consequences of the term "common sense" when it is invoked in legal judgments. Her study focussed on issues of poverty and inequality. She showed that, while the concept of "common sense" can be conservative and majoritarian, it also has aspects that promote egalitarianism and political reflection in legal judgment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Labman looked at the development and operation of Canada's voluntary refugee re-settlement program. She analyzed the intersection of rights, responsibility and obligation in the absence of a legal scheme for resettlement. Her research demonstrates the pervasive influence of law and how this affects refugee access to protection. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Diab explored debates about security after September 11. His findings highlight a gap between arguments in favour of extraordinary measures and evidence about the nature of outstanding threats. He concluded that while serious risks remain, a better understanding of those risks will help us to preserve core rights in times of fear. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Parmar examined a dispute over water between indigenous peoples in India and CocaCola, using ethnographic, legal and historical research. This study shows that meaningful resolution of such disputes requires recognition of the historical and social contexts that are often overlooked in legal analysis and popular reporting of such disputes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Nwapi examined the feasibility of bringing a criminal or civil suit in Canada, against Canadian companies, for wrongs allegedly committed overseas. He focused on the bases that Canadian courts use for exercising jurisdiction over conduct outside of this country. He found that Canada holds prospects for success in such litigation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Law (PhD) |