The University of Ottawa’s Forum on
Water Law and Governance

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OUR MISSION

The University of Ottawa’s Forum Water and Law and Governance is a national multistakeholder initiative whose mission is to foster dialogue, and facilitate the mobilization and dissemination of knowledge on critical water issues from coast to coast to coast.

WITH SUPPORT FROM

1

FOSTERING DIALOGUE

The purpose of this multidisciplinary, plurijural project is to foster dialogue between:

  • Scholars
  • Governmental and policy actors
  • Interest groups
  • Private sector
  • Community groups
  • Canadians

To exchange ideas on what are, to them, the most pressing water governance and legal priorities

A JOINT PROJECT BETWEEN THREE UOTTAWA CENTRES

 

 

Leading public law researchers from both the Common Law and Civil Law sections of the Law Faculty

 

Rich in expertise ranging from cultural and social policy, urban and territorial governance, to federal, multi-level governance and global governance.​


 

 

Home to one of the largest concentrations of environmental law professors of any law school in Canada

Our team

Lead researchers

Marie-France Fortin

Lead investigator

Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa

Eric Champagne

Co-investigator

Director, Centre on Governance

Associate Professor, School of Political Studies

Heather McLeod-Kilmurray

C o - i n v e s t i g a t o r

 Co-Director, Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability  

Thomas Burelli

Co-investigator

 Co-Director, Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability.

Postdoctoral fellows

Alexandre Lillo

Affiliated with the Public Law Centre

Research project:

“Reflections or Mirages? A Study of Participation and Representation Mechanisms in Water Governance in Canada“

Lauren Touchant

Affiliated with the Centre on Governance and the Centre on Environmental Law and Global Sustainability

Research project:

“Water governance in the Arctic “

Affiliated researchers

Roxanne Guérard

Forensic expert for the Ministry of Justice
Affiliated with the Public Law Centre

Research project:

“Harmonization of municipal and regional water management regulations and practices in Quebec”

Cristina D’Alessandro

Affiliated with the Centre on Governance

Research project:

“Tools, policies and initiatives deployed by local governments in support to coastal adaptation against sea level rise”

Our members

We have harnessed the expertise of researchers from different backgrounds and who have different networks to:

    • Collaborate in sharing their perspectives on water governance and
    • Increase knowledge mobilization by engaging with all impacted actors and facilitating dissemination of research results and exchange of information.

WATER LAW AND ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Jamie Benidickson (Water law)

Sarah Berger Richardson (Food and agriculture)

Thomas Burelli (International environmental law and natural resources)

Nathalie Chalifour (Sustainable development)

Heather McLeod-Kilmurray (Environmental law and climate change)

GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC POLICY​

Eric Champagne (Multi-level governance)

André Lecours (Federal governance)

Anne Mévellec (Urban and local governance and public policy implementation)

Sylvie Paquerot (Politics of water)

Louis Simard (Public participation and public policy tools)

Jennifer Wallner (Federalism, comparative provincial politics and intergovernmental relations)

PUBLIC LAW AND INDIGENOUS LEGAL TRADITIONS​

Aimée Craft (Indigenous legal traditions and water law, decolonization of water governance)  

Marie-France Fortin (State liability)

David Robitaille (Federalism and rights and freedoms)

Vanessa MacDonnell (Constitutional law and federalism)

Sophie Thériault (Environmental and aboriginal law) 

Student researchers:

  • Loriel Koudoha, Master’s degree candidate in Economics
  •  Florence Robert, Undergraduate student in Law
  •  Stéphanie Ouellet, Undergraduate student in Public Administration
  • Yasmine Benjelloun, Master’s degree candidate in Sociology
  •  Luke Boal, Master’s degree candidate in Public Administration
 
Coordinator, Centre on Governance: Anna Bogic, University of Ottawa
Digital communication manager: Mahyar Sherafat Naseri, University of Ottawa