樱花影视

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Faculty of Law

Deborah Curran

Deborah Curran

Professor

Accepting graduate students

Contact:
250-853-3105
ORCID:
Credentials:
BA Hons (Trent University), LLB (UVic), LLM University of California Berkeley
Area of expertise:
Environmental law, water law, water governance, municipal and land use law, natural resources, regulatory design
Related links:

Biography

I am a Professor at the 樱花影视 who is cross-appointed in the Faculties of Law and Social Sciences (School of Environmental Studies). Focusing on our relationships with land, water, and how we make responsible decisions relating to them, my courses include water law, environmental law, municipal law, environmental solutions and the environmental law clinic. My research includes all aspects of adapting water law and governance, responsible land use and how Indigenous law is shaping state law. As the Executive Director with the Environmental Law Centre I supervise students working for community and Indigenous organizations. For over 20 years I have supported community and Indigenous organizations on creating sustainable communities using green bylaws and new models for watershed governance.

Education

  • BA Honours – Trent (1991)
  • LLB – UVic  (1995)
  • LLM – University of California, at Berkeley (2002)

Selected journal publications

  • Curran, D., S. Hunt / Tłaliłila’ogwa and D. Scott. “Anti-Colonial Imperatives for Transforming Environmental Law: From Environment to Ecology and Rights to Relationships” Justice, Ecology, Law and Place (forthcoming)
  • Curran, D., T. Gleeson and Z. Huggins. “” (2023) 31:4 Hydrogeology Journal 853-871
  • Curran, D. and Dolkhar, T. “Legal pluralism and Environmental Governance: The Regulatory Design Potential of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness and Canada’s Reconciliation Approaches” (2022) 54 Legal Pluralism and Critical Social Analysis 68-95
  • Allard, C. and Curran, D. “?” Environmental Management (2021) 
  • Curran, D., Chief M. Slett, E. Kung. “” South Atlantic Quarterly (2020) 119 (2): 215–241 
  • Curran, D. “” (2019) 20:3 Water 570-586 
  • Curran, D. “” (2019) 44:3 Water International 278-291 
  • Curran, D. “‘” (2017) 62:3 McGill Law Journal 813-860
    * Winner of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers Scholarly Paper Award 2018
  • Curran, D. “” (2017) 50:2 UBC Law Review 233-291

Selected books

  • Curran, D., C. Owens, H. Thorson, E. Vibert (eds.) Out There Learning: Critical Reflections on Off-Campus Study Programs (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019)
Book chapter:
  • Curran, D. and V. Napoleon. “Ethnoecology and Indigenous Legal Traditions in Environmental Governance” in N.J. Turner (ed) Indigenous Peoples’ Land Rights and the Roles of Ethnoecology and Ethnobotany: Strategies for Canada’s Future (McGill-Queens University Press, 2020) 269-281
  • Curran, D. “Foodscapes Protection in Canada: Indigenous and Colonial Foodscapes in Law” in McLeod-Kilmurray, H., A. Lee and N. Chalifour (eds.) Food Law in Canada (Toronto: Carswell-Thompson Reuters Canada, 2019) 151-173

Other work

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Special projects

  • Reconciliation as Jurisdiction: Implementing Government-to-Government Agreements
    I have reviewed most of the agreements between Indigenous and state governments in BC and evaluated their impact on state jurisdiction. In addition to presenting widely on how these agreements create ecological limits in state law, several reports and papers will explain their significance for Indigenous communities and cooperative federalism.
  • Water Law
    With Professor Martin Olszynski (University of Calgary), we are completing the first book on water law in Canada.
 

Recognition and Awards

  • 樱花影视 Provost's Award in Engaged Scholarship 2021
  • Canadian Association of Law Teachers Scholarly Paper Award 2018
  • Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia Land Champion 2016
 

Courses

  • Law 104: Law, Legislation and Policy

  •  Law 317: Real Property Transaction 

  • Law 329: Environmental Law  

  • Law 353: Environmental Law Centre Clinic

  • Law 353a: Environmental Law Centre Clinic Intensive  

  •  Municipal Law and Sustainability 

  • Law 384/ES 403: Field Course in Reconciliation and Place-based Law 

  • Law 392: Water Law 

  • ES 411: Environmental Solutions – ES 411 

Graduate supervision

I supervise graduate students interested in water law, watershed governance, Indigenous-Crown relationships, conservation, healthy foodscapes, environmental law, and municipal law (land use regulation). Please note - I do not supervise graduate students working in the sciences.