Reporting to the Associate Dean, EDI, the Office of EDI works collaboratively with students, faculty, staff and other units across the law school to create an environment where everyone to feels welcome and individuals and groups who have not had a voice can be their true selves. Our office also serves as a resource for our community, providing subject matter expertise, consultation, data production and analysis, training and workshops.
Our goal is to meet people where they are and ensure accessible and meaningful opportunities for everyone. Our view is centered on empathy and respect for individual circumstances.
In alignment with both the UBC and the Allard School of Law’s strategic plans, we are committed to values of excellence, integrity, respect, academic freedom and accountability.
Learn more about What is EDI, UBC’s Strategic Plan: Shaping UBC’s Next Century and the Peter A. Allard School of Law Strategic Plan (2023).
Our community has a long-standing and deeply held commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion. As our 2023 Strategic Plan affirms, “[C]ommunity lies at the heart of everything we do at Allard Law, and our approach to fostering trust and collegiality within our community is informed by consideration of wellness, equity, fairness and collaboration.”
We have created the EDI Office at Allard Law to support and uphold this commitment. Professor Supriya Routh, Associate Dean, EDI, and this office will serve as a resource for our community, offering subject-matter expertise, consultation, data analysis, training and workshops, as well as support for faculty, staff and student events.
In a community that is as global, diverse and dynamic as ours, you can expect to find divergent viewpoints and perspectives. The absence of differing points of view would indicate an apathetic, staid culture that was unwilling and unable to imagine difference. The opposite is true at UBC and our law school, and the EDI Office will also facilitate community conversations about difference and inclusion, with the goal of identifying shared community values. Where we do not have consensus on values, the EDI Office will help our community be deliberate about how we approach these important conversations and help us address our diverse perspectives with empathy, curiosity and intentionality.
Respecting and welcoming divergent viewpoints is only the beginning. My goal for our EDI Office is that it helps foster an environment where all members of our community feel respected and valued and know that they belong at Allard Law. I invite you to join me in working together with our Associate Dean, EDI and our EDI Office in moving forward towards this shared goal.
Ngai Pindell
Dean and Professor, Peter A. Allard School of Law
I’m pleased to serve as the Peter A. Allard School of Law’s inaugural Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. My role as the Associate Dean, EDI is informed by my scholarly and teaching interests on social justice, human diversity and exclusions from legal imagination, deliberative democracy and law, and postcolonialism and law. I also bring to this role my lived experience as a racialized immigrant and a primary caregiver of a child.
In my role as the Associate Dean, EDI, I am assisted by two fabulous colleagues, Mio Tomisawa and Carlos Nuñez, who constitutes the newly created EDI Office at Allard Law. Our work is premised on the understanding that our modern legal imaginations and institutions are the creation of a historical period that was narrow in its worldview and colonial in its imposition. Our legal imaginations and institutions have excluded the concerns of certain groups—historically, persistently, or systemically marginalized (HPSM) groups—from their purview. By emphasizing diversity as a foundational component of legal education and legal practice, our approach to EDI seeks to address this historical constraint in the study and practice of law.
Additionally, as a public university, the University of British Columbia advances principles of substantive equality and multiculturalism expressed under the Canadian Constitution. As the former Supreme Court Justice Claire L’Heureux-Dubé notes, “in Canada, diversity is not a debate—it is a constitutionally recognized value.” Allard Law’s EDI agenda furthers the constitutional principle of multiculturalism by seeking to better integrate HPSM groups in legal education and practice.
Targeted Interventions
As the inaugural Associate Dean-EDI, I am interested in making targeted interventions in the activities of the law school and its relationship to the legal profession that facilitate meaningful inclusion of HPSM groups in legal education, and eventually, the legal profession. We believe that students should be the primary focus of EDI initiatives at the school because they will eventually lead the change towards a more inclusive legal profession. We will focus on three areas: student admissions, student support, and student engagement with the legal profession. We aim to consult and brainstorm with students in improving our targeted recruitment and a holistic admissions process, strengthening our academic and wellness support programs, and consolidating relationship with the legal profession to promote inclusivity and cultural competence in the profession.
Collaboration and Support
Our EDI initiatives will be developed in consultation with the community. We will collaborate with faculty members and the university administration in continuing to hire faculty from HPSM groups. Once hired, we will focus on consequential support for faculty so that we are able to retain them. Similarly, we will be intentional about hiring staff from HPSM groups and supporting their career development within the school. All of our interventions will be informed by the individual lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff. Institutional interventions are significantly more effective when they take into account specific lived experiences and respond to those experiences in creating conditions for inclusion.
Capacity Building
Capacity building on EDI principles and policies is centrally important so that, as a community, we are clear about the rationale and aim of our EDI initiatives. Accordingly, we aim to organize regular training and conversations on a range of themes related to social justice, diversity, inclusivity, and equity. We will also support conversations and trainings organized and promoted by student groups, including student affinity groups, faculty colleagues, and staff colleagues.
Our work to integrate EDI principles is not only an institutional agenda but also a cultural reorientation. This cultural reorientation is a collective endeavour, and as the Associate Dean, EDI, I look forward to working with the entire Allard Law community to take our EDI agenda forward.
Supriya Routh
Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and Associate Professor
Mio Tomisawa, Senior Manager (she/her)
Mio Tomisawa is the inaugural Senior Manager of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Office at the Peter A. Allard School of Law. As the Senior Manager of the Office, Mio offers overall leadership to Allard Law School’s EDI programing. Mio’s degree in education is an asset for the EDI Office, wherein she leads Allard’s capacity building initiatives on equity, diversity, and inclusivity by developing and delivering educational and training programs to support learning and growth of students, faculty, and staff members.
Her aim is to promote an inclusive environment at Allard Law through long-term capacity-building of the Allard community. Mio was formerly an Admissions Advisor at Allard Law where she helped facilitate meaningful partnerships and organized large-scale events aimed at increasing access to legal education. She also worked with the Allard Law Admissions Committee to review applications and admissions policies from the perspective of equity, diversity and inclusion. Mio will be bringing her expertise on law school applicant outreach from her former role to her new role as the Senior Manager, EDI, wherein concerns of student diversity and inclusivity form the core of her agenda.
Since 2018, Mio has been working with different faculties at UBC and brings a wealth of experience from various roles across the university, where she has consistently championed inclusive practices and supported the development of a more equitable campus community. Her knowledge of the organizational structure of the university and her connection to various UBC faculties will aid in better establishing and integrating Allard Law’s EDI agenda with that of the university’s EDI policies and priorities.
Her extensive experience in training and facilitation, coupled with her accreditation as an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), allows her to effectively guide individuals and teams in their EDI journeys. Mio is currently enrolled in a Masters of Education program in Adult Learning and Education at UBC.
Mio contextualizes her work as a second-generation (nisei) Japanese-Canadian, daughter of immigrants, and a neurodiverse learner. Her degree in Biology with a Minor in Commerce, alongside her experience in research and academia focused on cancer vaccines in Wales, UK, further enriches her professional experience. This scientific foundation complements her work in EDI, providing her with a unique perspective on the intersection of research, education, and inclusive practices alongside her role in mentoring BIPOC students in STEM. Mio looks forward to working closely with the Allard community in furthering the School’s EDI agenda.
Outside of work, Mio enjoys connecting with her environment through walks, pottery, and watercolor painting. She is also an avid board game enthusiast, often spending time with friends over a good game.
Mio is grateful to be a guest on the traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Stó:lō Nations.
Carlos Nunez, Coordinator (he/him)
Carlos Nunez is the Coordinator of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Office at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, UBC. He is part of Allard Law’s inaugural EDI Team, wherein he implements EDI strategies, programs, and initiatives to foster a culture of respect, inclusivity, anti-racism, and decolonization through various educational, capacity-building, and networking efforts. Trained in law, Carlos holds an LLB Degree from Mexico with a specialization in Labor Law and Social Security. After graduating from law school, Carlos primarily worked in the financial sector.
He was an in-house counsel at the Citigroup in Mexico for several years, where his legal practice expanded to a range of substantive areas related to pension funds. The establishment of Mexico’s private pension system and the rapid expansion of pension funds prompted his involvement in various sectors. Carlos' specific contributions included collaborating with regulatory authorities in developing the rules, manuals and guidelines that currently govern the institutions of pension funds; and training stakeholders on the objectives of the new regulations. He managed litigation strategies related to individual retirement account pension funds, coordinating with more than 50 law firms throughout the country.
Carlos brings his vast legal experience to his position as the Coordinator of Allard Law’s new EDI Office. With a strong commitment to justice and equity, Carlos is dedicated to promoting a culture of inclusivity, respect, diversity, and equity at Allard Law, using his previous training and practical experience to impact his current working environment positively.
Before assuming the role of the EDI Coordinator, Carlos worked as an Administrative Assistant for the Graduate Program at Allard Law since January 2022, gaining a deep understanding of academic administration, organizational management, and the diverse needs of graduate students.
When he is not working, Carlos enjoys watching sports and cheering his son in the games and competitions that he participates in.
Carlos is grateful to live on the traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Stó:lō Nations.
Supriya Routh, Associate Dean of Equity Diversity & Inclusion (he/him)
Supriya Routh is an Associate Professor at the Allard School of Law. His research interests include theory of labour and employment law, legitimacy of law-making for sustainable livelihoods, social justice and global value chains, postcolonialism and informal workers in the Global South, human rights and international labour law, and workers’ collective action. His socio-legal research agenda straddles the disciplines of law, political philosophy, and sociology.
Supriya’s current SSHRC-funded research examines Indigenous normative ideas on the relationship between livelihood activities (work) and sustainability of nature. By examining the idea of sustainable livelihood (sustainable development) as contemplated by the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation (PKFN) in the Northwest Territories, his research aims to contribute to non-Eurocentric and postcolonial legal imaginations in regulating sustainable development by generating empirical data and contributing to the theoretical literature on law, postcolonialism, and development.
Supriya is the author of Enhancing Capabilities through Labour Law: Informal Workers in India (Routledge, 2014) and scholarly articles on labour law, legal legitimacy, regulation of informal economic activities, workers’ collective action, regulation of work and environment, corporate social responsibility, right to information, and legal education. He is the co-editor (with Vando Borghi) of Workers and the Global Informal Economy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Routledge, 2016). Supriya has also co-authored / co-edited teaching and reference books namely, the Labour and Employment Law: Cases, Materials, and Commentary, Nonth Edition (Irwin Law, 2018) and Amartya Sen and Law (Routledge, 2020).
Prior to joining the Allard School of Law, Supriya was an Assistant and Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria, where he also held an appointment as an Associate at the Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives. Before moving to Canada, he was an Assistant Professor at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences in India.
Supriya accepts graduate students (LLM and PhD) on the broad themes of sustainable development and law, labour and employment law, law and postcolonialism, and law and social justice. He looks forward to reading good research proposals in these areas.
