Law and Disability in Canada: Cases and Materials, 2nd Edition

Laverne Jacobs, B.A. (Hons) (McGill), LL.B. (McGill), B.C.L (McGill), Ph.D. (Osgoode), is a Full Professor and the Research Chair in Disability Equality and Administrative Justice at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law. She is also Canada’s elected member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Professor Jacobs researches, writes and teaches in the areas of law and disability, administrative law and human rights. Her scholarship is characterized by an interest in and engagement with the lived experiences of persons with disabilities when those experiences connect with the everyday operations of the administrative justice system.

Professor Jacobs has published and presented extensively in her fields, both in Canada and internationally. Her articles and book chapters examine disability equality theory, transportation inequality for persons with disabilities, disabled women and income security, community living and the law, and access to postsecondary education, among other issues. Her research has appeared in such journals as the International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies and the Osgoode Hall Law Journal.

Ruby Dhand, B.A. (Western Ontario), M.A. (Carleton), LL.B. (Ottawa), LL.M. (Toronto), Ph.D. (Osgoode), is a Full Professor in the Faculty of Law at Thompson Rivers University (TRU). She was called to the Bar in Ontario in 2008. Dr. Dhand joined the TRU Faculty of Law in 2012. Dr. Dhand has been awarded a number of Tri-Agency research grants, including the SSHRC Insight Development Grant, the SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant, the CIHR Fellowship in Health Law and Policy, the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, along with multiple Law Foundation of British Columbia Grants. Her major areas of research are mental health law (civil and forensic), human rights law, health law and policy, disability law, access to justice, the impact of race, culture, ethnicity and other intersectional factors upon the law, clinical legal education and science and law. Dr. Dhand has published extensively in refereed journals, including the International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, the Supreme Court Law Review, Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, the Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law, the Manitoba Law Journal (Criminal Law Edition) and the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies.

The Honourable Judge David Ireland, B.A. (Hons.) (Ebor), LL.B. (Manitoba), LL.M. (Manitoba), was called to the Manitoba Bar in 2011. His legal practice in criminal law included both defence and prosecution work. Professor Ireland was also involved in public interest legal work concerning inquests and public inquiries as well as human rights litigation pertaining to disability. In 2016, Professor Ireland was appointed to the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba, where he taught criminal law and procedure, evidence law and advocacy. Professor Ireland was also a co-editor of the Manitoba Law Journal annual special edition in criminal law as well as an editor of the criminal law research website, robsoncrim.com. As an academic, he authored or co-authored articles and book chapters on legal topics such as plea-bargaining in the sentencing process, judicial treatment of sexual assault trials, the law of privilege in Canada, generation and deployment of common law police powers, and jury trials. He is also the co-author of the UBC Press book, Privacy in Peril: Hunter v Southam and the Drift from Reasonable Search Protections. Judge Ireland was appointed to the Provincial Court of Manitoba in 2023, and was appointed an Associate Chief Judge in 2026.

Richard Jochelson, B.Sc. (Calgary), LL.B. (Calgary), LL.M. (Toronto), Ph.D. (Osgoode), is Dean and Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba. He holds a Ph.D. in Law from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, an LL.M. from the University of Toronto, and an LL.B. from the University of Calgary, where he graduated with the Gold Medal in Law. Before entering academia, Professor Jochelson completed his articling year as a law clerk to the Alberta Court of Appeal and the Court of Queen’s Bench, followed by practice at one of Canada’s largest national law firms. He later spent a decade teaching criminal law and constitutional law at another Canadian university before
joining Robson Hall.

Professor Jochelson’s research focuses on criminal law, constitutional law, policing powers, criminal speech regulation, disability and legal decision-making, empirical approaches to criminal justice, and legal pedagogy. His
work frequently examines the evolution of police powers, constitutional protections against state interference, and the ways in which courts shape criminal justice institutions. He has authored and edited numerous peer-reviewed articles and several books.

Freya Kodar, B.A. (McGill), LL.B. (Victoria), LL.M. (Osgoode), is Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria (UVic), and a former Associate Dean, Administration and Research. She co-chairs the university’s Accessibility Committee and is a Trustee of UVic’s Long Term Disability Trust. Her research focuses on income and financial security across the life course. She researches and teaches in the areas of consumer law and policy, pension law and policy, debtor and
creditor relations, disability and the law, and feminist analysis of the law. Before pursuing graduate studies, she articled and practised law with two legal aid clinics in British Columbia.

Odelia Bay, B.Journ. (Ryerson), J.D. (Ottawa), LL.M. (Columbia) is a Ph.D. candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. Her dissertation project examines how workers with episodic disabilities balance the competing needs of self-care and work. She has published on these themes in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Prior to starting her doctorate, Odelia completed her Master of Laws degree at Columbia Law School, where she was also awarded a Graduate Student Fellowship with the Future of Disability Studies Project at Columbia University. She also holds a Juris Doctor in English Common Law from the University of Ottawa and a Bachelor of Journalism from Ryerson Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).

Odelia articled in union-side labour law and is called to the Ontario Bar. She has taught a number of law school courses, including labour law and critical race theory and is currently the Legal Writing Specialist at TMU’s Lincoln Alexander School of Law, TMU. Prior to studying law, Odelia worked as a broadcast journalist with both CBC and CTV. Currently, Odelia is also working to help create and build the Canadian Association of Lawyers with Disabilities – Association canadienne des juristes en situation de handicap, and the co-coordinator of the Disability Legal Studies Critical Research Network at the Law and Society Association.