The University of Ottawa’s Public Law Centre has enthusiastically welcomed Professor David Robitaille, a Full Professor in the Civil Law Section, as its new Co-Director. He joins Professor Vanessa MacDonnell of the Common Law Section in a unique partnership between the two sections.
Professor Robitaille has earned numerous awards and grants for his research and publications. His recent research, funded by SSHRC, focuses on the interaction between provincial and federal jurisdiction in the areas of interprovincial transportation, rights and freedoms, and the environment.
Professor Robitaille served as Director of the Revue générale de droit from 2012 to 2014. He is currently legal counsel to the Quebec Environmental Law Centre (CQDE) and at DHC Avocats, a municipal law firm in Montreal. In recent years, he has appeared before the Quebec Court of Appeal, the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Federal Court of Appeal in constitutional and environmental law cases. He is legal counsel for the CQDE and Équiterre in the Carbon Reference, which will be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada this fall.
Professor Robitaille teaches Constitutional Law, Human Rights and Freedoms, and Local Government Law. He is also a regular media contributor, where he explains and comments on different issues related to public law.
Professor Robitaille replaces the Centre's founding Co-Director, Professor Peter Oliver. The Centre is grateful to Professor Oliver for his decade-long work to establish a centre in public law and for his dynamism, dedication and leadership, which have contributed to the visibility of the Centre and to its reputation for excellence in research both nationally internationally.
The uOttawa Public Law Centre is Canada’s leading centre for public law research, debate and engagement. The Centre is bilingual, multijural and interdisciplinary. It brings together experts from inside the Faculty of Law and the University with domestic and international collaborators, visiting scholars, fellows and affiliated graduate students to create new opportunities for research and engagement across the spectrum of public law and public policy subjects.
The Centre supports and carries out innovative and interdisciplinary research, which it disseminates to diverse audiences in Canada and globally. It leverages its convening power to bring together government representatives and civil society organizations for high-level discussions on public policy issues. And it organizes conferences, seminars and invited lectures that both intervene in current debates and seek to advance those debates.