Rakhi Ruparelia
Rakhi Ruparelia
Associate Professor (on leave)

B.Sc. (McGill)
B.S.W. (ibid.)
LL.B. (Ottawa)
M.S.W. (Carleton)
LL.M. (Harvard)

Room
57 Louis Pasteur St. Room 358
Phone
Office: 613-562-5800 ext. 3324
Office: 613-562-5124


Biography

Prior to pursuing her LL.M. degree at Harvard University, Professor Ruparelia taught torts at the University of Ottawa and then clerked at the Court of Appeal for Ontario.

After completing her graduate studies, Professor Ruparelia joined the Prison Reform Advocacy Center in Cincinnati, Ohio where she established and directed a community legal clinic to assist ex-prisoners with legal issues impeding their transition back to society.

Her current research interests include torts, criminal law, critical race theory, and feminist legal theory.  Her recent publications have considered the impact of criminal law on racialized communities, as well as the capacity of tort law to redress racial discrimination. She is the co-editor of "Critical Torts", a collection of essays that explores the potential and limitations of tort law as a progressive tool for social change.

In addition to her teaching and research, Professor Ruparelia has conducted judicial training sessions on issues surrounding sexual assault and domestic violence. In addition, she has worked with the National Judicial Institute to plan and deliver anti-racism training to judges. Professor Ruparelia also has participated as a member of the Canadian Bar Association Standing Committee on Equity and the National Steering Committee of the National Association of Women and the Law (N.A.W.L.).

List of Publications

Edited collections:

  • Sanda Rodgers, Rakhi Ruparelia & Louise Bélanger-Hardy (eds), Critical Torts (Markham: LexisNexis, 2009) (400 pages).
    Visit the editors' website.
  • Jane Doe, Carol Latchford, Rakhi Ruparelia & Elizabeth Sheehy (guest eds), Women Resisting Rape: Feminist Law, Practice, Activism (2010) 28:1 Canadian Woman Studies (Special Issue).
    Visit the editors' website.

Chapters in books:

  • “The Colour of Feminist Scholarship” in Kathleen Lahey et al (eds), Arctic/Northern Women: Situating Law and Justice in Development and Gender Equality (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2016) (forthcoming) (Refereed).
  • “All That Glitters Is Not Gold: The False Promise of Victim Impact Statements” in Elizabeth Sheehy (ed), Sexual Assault in Canada: Law, Legal Practice and Women’s Activism (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2012) 665 (Refereed).
    View this publication on SSRN
  • “‘I Didn’t Mean It That Way!’: Racial Injury as Negligence” in Sanda Rodgers, Rakhi Ruparelia & Louise Bélanger-Hardy (eds), Critical Torts (Markham: LexisNexis, 2009) 81 (Refereed).
    Reprinted from “‘I Didn’t Mean It That Way!’: Racial Injury as Negligence” (2009) 44 Supreme Court Law Review (2d) 81. 
    View this publication on SSRN

Papers in refereed journals:

  • “Guilty Displeasures: White Resistance in the Social Justice Classroom” (2014) 37 Dalhousie Law Journal 815.
    View this publication on SSRN.
  • “Erring on the Side of Ignorance: Challenges for Cause Twenty Years After Parks” (2014) 92 Canadian Bar Review 267.
    View this publication on SSRN.
  • “Legal Feminism and the Post-Racism Fantasy” (2014) 26 Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 81.
    View this publication on SSRN
  • “‘Denying Justice’: Does the Tort of Negligent Investigation Go Far Enough?” (2008) 16:1 Tort Law Review 48.
    View this publication on SSRN.
  • “Giving Away the ‘Gift of Life’: Altruistic Surrogacy and the Assisted Human Reproduction Act” (2007) 23:1 Canadian Journal of Family Law 11.
    View this publication on SSRN
  • “Does No ‘No’ Mean Reasonable Doubt? Assessing the Impact of Ewanchuk on Determinations of Consent” (2006) 25 Canadian Woman Studies 167.
    View this publication on SSRN.

Conference Proceedings:

  • Ewan Kirkland (ed), “The Invisibility of Whiteness in the White Feminist Imagination”, 5th Global Conference, Images of Whiteness (Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2015) (forthcoming) (refereed).

Opinion Pieces: