Peter A Allard School of Law

The Marlee Kline Lecture in Social Justice

This lecture honours the memory of Marlee Gayle Kline, a member of the Faculty from 1989. Professor Kline died in 2001 after a lengthy and determined struggle with leukemia. Her work on feminist legal theory and critical race theory, child welfare law and policy, law's continued colonialism, and restructuring of the social welfare state is internationally acclaimed. This lectureship not only recognizes Marlee's rich contribution to the law school community but also reflects her belief in the central role social justice concerns must play in legal education and law.

Past Marlee Kline Lectures

2025

Gillian Calder, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria
Topic: The Importance of Creativity, Empathy and Imagination to Legal Education in Canada
Delivered February, 2025


2024

Adelle Blackett, Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University
Topic: The Fierce Urgency of Now: Transforming Employment Equity for Us All
Delivered March, 2024


2023

Sylvia McAdam (Saysewahum), Assistant Professor, Windsor Law, University of Windsor
Topic: Skirting Around Colonialism
Delivered March 6, 2023


2022

Brenda Cossman, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Topic: The New Sex Wars: Sexual Harm in The #MeToo Era
Delivered March 10, 2022


2021

Donna E. Young, Dean of Law, Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University 
Topic: Say Her Name: Law and Activism at the Intersection of Race and Gender
Delivered February 8, 2021

2020

The Honourable Lynn Smith, QC, Former Justice, Supreme Court of British Columbia
Topic: Real hate in a virtual world: misogyny in cyberspace
Delivered January 28, 2020

2019

Sonia Lawrence, Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
Topic: What we talk about when we talk about rights: infinite loops and uncertain futures for feminist legal strategies
Delivered January 15, 2019

2018

Jacinta Ruru, Professor, Faculty of Law, University Otago and Co-Director, Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence
Topic: Honouring our Ancestors in Law: Legal Personality and Indigenous Governance of Lands and Waters
Delivered January 31, 2018

2016

Constance Backhouse, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa 
Topic: Canada's first Lesbian Sexual Assault Trial
Delivered November 9, 2016

2015

The Honourable Kim Pate, Member of the Canadian Senate from Ontario.
Topic: The Terrible Truth about Canadian Crime
Delivered October 29, 2015

2014

Bonnie Sherr Klein, Filmmaker, Author, Disability Rights Activist
Topic: “I am who you are”
Delivered January 30, 2014

2013

Jean Teillet, Author & Lawyer   
Topic: The Métis of the Northwest: Finding Justice for an Invisible People
Delivered January 17, 2013

2012

Hester Lessard, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria
Topic: Jurisdictional Justice and the “Dream of Democracy”: Missing Voices in the Struggle for Insite
Delivered January 26, 2012

2011

Ruthann Robson, Professor, City University of New York School of Law
Topic: UnSettled- - Exploring the links and dissonances amongst five colonial / post-colonial societies. Themes include land, indigenous peoples, family, sexuality, gender, class, and the possibilities of forgiveness.
Delivered March 3, 2011

2010

Tracey Lindberg, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria
Topic: De(CON)struction: Canadian Law and Indigenous Women
Delivered March 25, 2010

2008

Camille Nelson, Professor, St. Louis University School of Law
Topic: “Racializing Disability, Disabling Race: Policing the Intersection of Race and Mental Disability”
Delivered October 16, 2008

2007

Carol Smart, Professor of Sociology and Co-Director, Morgan Centre for the Study of Relationships and Personal Life, University of Manchester
Topic: “Memory, Law and Family Secrets”
Delivered November 1, 2007

2006

Lucie White, Louis A. Horvitz Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Topic: “Rights Based Development: Bringing It All Back Home”
Delivered October 19, 2006

2005

Didi Herman, Professor of Law & Social Change at Kent Law School, U.K.
Topic: “An ‘Unfortunate Coincidence’: Jews and Jewishnessin English Courts”
Delivered October 24, 2005

2004

The Honourable Judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Saskatchewan Provincial Court, Member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation
Topic: The Inaugural Marlee Kline Lecture in Social Justice
Delivered October 14, 2004

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