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
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