As members of the RSC Task Force on COVID-19, Professors Colleen Flood and Vanessa Gruben have helped develop important health-focused policy briefings. Professor Flood served as a member of the Working Group on Long Term Care, and also authored a report entitled “Reconciling Civil Liberties and Public Health in the Response to COVID-19”, alongside Professor Vanessa MacDonnell, Adjunct Professor Bryan Thomas, and Professor of Medicine Kumanan Wilson. Professor Gruben, meanwhile, served as the Chair of the Working Group on Harm Reduction, which also received contributions from Professor Martha Jackman.
Other Common Law professors also contributed to reports or collections of essays generated by the task force. Professor Aimée Craft, for example, contributed to the Working Group on Indigenous Health and Wellness. And Professor Stewart Elgie contributed to the Working Group on Economic Recovery.
Professor Flood is the Director of the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics, and Professor Gruben is one of the Centre’s founding faculty members. Dr. Tracy Vaillancourt, of uOttawa’s Faculty of Education, is also a member of the Centre and serves as the Chair of the RSC task force.
The Common Law Section extends its sincerest gratitude to all of the task force members and contributors for their exceptional public policy and knowledge mobilization efforts. This important work continues.