Debra Parkes

Where did you attend university for your undergraduate degree? Law School? Any other degrees/ schooling?

Trinity Western University (BA 1993), UBC (LLB 1997), Columbia University (LLM 2001)

 

When did you come to UBC as a professor?

2016

 

What courses will you be teaching at Allard in 2019-2020?

Federalism, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, & Penal Policy

 

What are your research interests?

I have the privilege of holding the Chair in Feminist Legal Studies. My scholarly work examines the challenges and possibilities of addressing societal injustices through rights claims. I bring an intersectional feminist lens to gender inequality and injustice in the criminal legal system, the incarceration of women, the limits of prison reform, and the framing and adjudicating of prisoners’ rights claims.

 

What is or was your non-law dream job?

Celebrity chef

 

What is your favourite judicial decision and why?

Sauvé v Canada, [2002] 3 SCR 519, a case in which a ban on prisoner voting was struck down as unconstitutional. The case a rare example of our highest court strongly affirming the rights of incarcerated people and holding the government to a high standard in its attempts to limit rights.

 

What is your favourite book or movie?

I love everything written by Eden Robinson but especially Monkey Beach.Cele

 

What’s a UBC Campus hidden gem that more people should know about?

Greenheart TreeWalk in the UBC Botanical Gardens! You get to walk on rope ladders/bridges in the treetop canopy.