Researchers

Martha Jackman, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Co-director of this project, is a bilingual constitutional law scholar with extensive expertise in the fields of social rights and social policy, focusing on poverty, equality, and the right to health. She has worked with many national community organizations, and has represented CCPI in Supreme Court of Canada interventions.

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Bruce Porter is a co-director of the CURA and the lead researcher for the Social Rights Advocacy Centre, a Community Partner. He has led innovative Charter and human rights research, litigation and law reform in Canada on a range of issues including the right to housing, the right to health and the failure to protect human rights under trade and investment agreements.   Bruce is the co-ordinator of the Charter Committee on Poverty Issues (CCPI), a key litigation voice for poor people in Canada. Internationally, he has been a leader in promoting enhanced accountability mechanisms for social rights at the UN. He worked extensively on the drafting of the historic new complaints and adjudication mechanism, (the Optional Protocol) to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. He has worked with civil society organizations, governments and the UN in enhancing social rights protections in domestic laws and institutions in many countries.

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Gwen Brodsky, Co-Director Poverty and Human Rights Centre, is a leading national and international expert on human rights law. She practises, teaches, and writes in the areas of human rights, constitutional law, and social rights. She has acted as counsel in many Charter cases, representing grassroots constituencies. She has written extensively about the Charter, with a particular focus on the relationship between social program entitlements and constitutional rights theory. Gwen Brodksy is the lead researcher for the Community Partner, Poverty and Human Rights Centre. She was appointed as a a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law in 2013.

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Barbara Cameron is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Political Science and Equity Studies at York University where she teaches courses in the fields of Canadian government, public law and public policy.  She is appointed to the graduate programs in Political Science and Women’s Studies. She has written extensively on issues related to gender and public policy, including training, trade, constitutional and social policy.  Her current research centres on problems of democratic accountability in the Canadian political system and the obstacles these present to the achievement of social rights. She works closely with non-governmental organizations, including labour, feminist and child care organizations. She is a research associate of the Centre for Policy Alternatives and serves on the Executive of York University’s Centre for Feminist Research.

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Shelagh Day is an internationally recognized expert on women’s social rights and equality rights, with many years of experience working with governments and non-governmental organizations. She is the publisher of the Canadian Human Rights Reporter, and she chairs the Human Rights Committee of the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA). She is the co-author of two books and numerous articles on constitutional equality rights and statutory anti-discrimination law. She has also written several studies on the impact on women's equality of restructuring Canada's social programs. Shelagh works internationally, preparing submissions and appearing on behalf of Canadian non-governmental organizations when United Nations treaty bodies are examining Canada’s compliance with its international human rights obligations.Shelagh Day is the lead researcher for the Community Partner FAFIA.

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Vincent Greason, Table ronde des OVEP de l’Outaouais (TROVEPO), has extensive experience in popular education, mobilization and social analysis. He is particularly interested in the impact of state reorganization on human rights practices in Québec. Vincent is presently on leave from the TROVEPO as he is the 2009-2010 Carold Institute fellow. Vincent is the lead researcher for the Community Partner, TROVEPO. 

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Lucie Lamarche, University of Ottawa – Gordon F. Henderson Chair in Human Rights – Research Director of University of Ottawa Human Rights Research and Education Centre, is an internationally renowned scholar in the area of social and economic rights. She teaches social law and international human rights and has researched and written extensively on social rights, constitutional and human rights, and women's equality issues. She is the author of a major treatise on international social rights. She has worked collaboratively with community groups for many years.

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Margot Young Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia, is a leading expert in the fields of equality rights, constitutional law, legal institutions, and social welfare law. She teaches and researches in the law and social justice stream at the Faculty. Professor Young is co-editor of the collection Poverty: Rights, Social Citizenship and Legal Activism (2007) and has co-authored recent briefs to CEDAW, CESCR and the U.N. Human Rights Committee.

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Leilani Farha, Executive Director, Canada without Poverty (CWP), is a world-recognized human rights practitioner and researcher, specializing in the housing and equality rights of racialized women, Indigenous Peoples and low-income communities. She was recently chosen by the UN Human Rights Council for the mandate of Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing.

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Sharon McIvor, Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, has devoted her life to the betterment of Aboriginal Women. She is a practicing lawyer and former member of the Equality Rights Panel of the Court Challenges Program. She has published numerous academic and legal articles on Aboriginal Women and is active in Aboriginal communities on human rights issues.

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