I have been a professor in the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section, since 2005. In the 2023-24 academic year, I was co-chair of the Senate Committee on Academic Freedom. In that role, I was part of a group that conducted a listening tour of teaching staff affected by security issues on the uOttawa campus in the summer and early fall of 2023. The Committee has been directly involved in creating workshops and teaching materials for faculty and students on the role of academic freedom at universities.
I have experience with many facets of academics at the University of Ottawa. During my five years on the Committee for the Evaluation of Undergraduate Programs, I met program directors and teaching staff in almost every faculty, and I learned a lot about the different ways that we teach and learn at the University.
I understand the important relationship between unions and the University of Ottawa: for six years (2018-2024), I have been a member of the Board of the Association of Professors of the University of Ottawa (APUO). I saw negotiations up close as part of the negotiating team for the 2021-2024 Collective Agreement.
I was recently involved in helping our Reconciliation and Decolonization Committee implement a new course on Indigenous Legal Traditions into the first-year law program that responds to Call to Action 28 from the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
I am a member of the Diversity Committee of the Carleton County Law Association (CCLA), which acts as a sounding board on equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives of our local bar association. The CCLA provides a great link for the University to the local professional community.
I serve on many boards, including that of the Ottawa Japanese Community Association, Compassionate Ottawa (a group dedicated to changing the way that our community supports people nearing the end of life), and the Income Security Advocacy Clinic (a legal aid clinic that does test case litigation for Ontarians with insecure incomes).