Suzanne Bouclin

Profile

Suzanne Bouclin

Full Professor and Vice Dean of Research

D.C.L. (McGill University)
LL.M. (University of Manitoba)
M.A. (Criminology/Gender Studies, University of Ottawa)
LL.B. (University of New Brunswick with Civil Law exchange McGill University)
BA (Social Sciences, University of Ottawa)

Room

57, Louis-Pasteur St., Room FTX 394

Phone

Office: 613-562-5800 ext. 3381

Office: 613-562-5124

[email protected]

Biography

Dr. Suzanne Bouclin is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work is grounded in feminist, socio-legal, and critical approaches to law. She examines how law takes shape in institutions, social practices, and cultural representations, with particular attention to power relations, structural inequalities, and the lived experiences of marginalized people and communities.

Deeply committed to social justice, she brings together academic work and service to the community. In 2014, she founded the Ticket Defence Program, a mobile legal clinic for people experiencing homelessness in Ottawa. She has also worked with several national legal organizations to promote a more equitable and inclusive practice of law, including the Ontario Bar Association, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, the Court Challenges Program of Canada, the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, and the National Association of Women and the Law. Her mediation practice is an extension of this commitment: she brings her expertise in dispute resolution to the service of access to justice, including as a mediator with the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

A dedicated, bold, and innovative teacher, Professor Bouclin is recognized for her commitment to experiential learning and the practical training of jurists. In 2026, she received the Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Ottawa’s Common Law Section. Her teaching extends her feminist, socio-legal, and critical commitments by emphasizing practice-based legal education, access to justice, and the lived realities of marginalized people.

Courses

CML 3774 Dispute Resolution (Advanced)(3 crédits) – In French

Through practical exercises, this course develops students’ skills in negotiation, mediation, and arbitration across a range of legal contexts. It satisfies the advocacy requirement.

CML 3512 Theory and Practice in Law and Social Justice — 3 credits (in French)

Using films as a starting point, this course invites students to reflect on the relationships between law, power, and social justice

Selected Publications

Books

Suzanne Bouclin, An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Dispute Resolution (JFD Éditions, 2024)
Suzanne Bouclin, Women, Film and Law: Cinematic Representations of Female Incarceration (UBC Press, 2021).

Law, Film, and Legal Culture

Suzanne Bouclin, « Repères pour l’analyse des rapports entre droit et cinéma », Revue de droit de l’Université de Sherbrooke (à paraître en 2026).
Suzanne Bouclin, “Cinelegal Techniques”, dans Karen Crawley, Thomas Giddens et Timothy Peters, dir., The Routledge Handbook of Cultural Legal Studies (Routledge, 2024).
Suzanne Bouclin, “Favela Law in City of God” (2018) 7 Annual Review of Interdisciplinary Justice Research 42–67.
Suzanne Bouclin, “Women’s Suffrage: A Cinematic Study” (2014) 12:7 Literature, History of Ideas, Images and Society.
Suzanne Bouclin, “Producing Film as Legal Knowledge” (2012) 9 International Journal of the Humanities.
Suzanne Bouclin, “Punishment in Film”, dans W. Miller et J. G. Golson, dir., The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia (Sage, 2012).
Suzanne Bouclin, “Women-in-Prison Movies as Feminist Jurisprudence” (2009) 21:1 Canadian Journal of Women and the Law / Revue femmes et droit.
Suzanne Bouclin, “Feminism, Law, Film”, dans Kim Brooks et Carissima Mathen, dir., Women, Law, and Equality: A Discussion Guide (Irwin Law, 2010) 119–176.

Access to Justice, Homelessness, and Marginalization

Suzanne Bouclin, « Exploiter des techniques cinélégales pour mieux ressentir les effets qu’a la réglementation sur les personnes en situation d’itinérance » (2019) 34:2 Canadian Journal of Law and Society / Revue canadienne droit et société 227–241.
Suzanne Bouclin, « Faire basculer le climat de profilage social à Ottawa : le Programme de contestation des contraventions » (2016) 22:1 Profilage social et judiciarisation de la marginalité 123–157.
Suzanne Bouclin, “Identifying Pathways and Experiences of Street-Involvement Through Case Law” (2015) 38:2 Dalhousie Law Journal 345–383.
Suzanne Bouclin, “Regulated Out of Existence: A Case Study of Ottawa’s Ticket Defence Program” (2014) 11 Journal of Law and Equality 35–83.
Suzanne Bouclin et Marie-Andrée Denis-Boileau, « La cyberjustice comme réponse aux besoins juridiques des personnes itinérantes : son potentiel et ses embûches » (2013) 31:1 Recueil annuel d’accès à la justice de Windsor 25–45.
Suzanne Bouclin et Julie Pastora Sala, « Une analyse de la réglementation des personnes itinérantes selon une perspective pothienne » (2013) 25:1 Canadian Journal of Women and the Law / Revue femmes et droit 1–30.
Suzanne Bouclin et Priyanka Vittal, “The Insite Decision and the Case for Supervised Consumption Facilities in Ottawa” (2012) 1:1 Canadian Journal of Poverty Law 91–120.

Dispute Resolution, Mediation, and Legal Pedagogy

Suzanne Bouclin et Patricia Harewood, « L’incidence des préjugés inconscients sur les processus de négociation et de médiation » (2022) 100:3 Revue du Barreau canadien 515.
Suzanne Bouclin, “Marginalized Law Students and Mentoring” (2017) 48:2 Ottawa Law Review 357.
Suzanne Bouclin, “Roderick Macdonald’s Andragogy: Producing Fairness Through Education”, dans Daniel Jutras, Rosalie Jukier et Richard Janda, dir., The Unbounded Level of the Mind: Rod Macdonald’s Legal Imagination (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015) 33–40.
Suzanne Bouclin, Gillian Calder et Sharon Cowan, “Playing Games with Law”, dans Zenon Bankowski, Maksymilian Del Mar et Paul Maharg, dir., Beyond Text in Legal Education (2011).

Technologies, Legal Subjectivities, and Access to Law

Suzanne Bouclin, Teresa Scassa, Amy Salyzyn et Jena McGill, “Developing Privacy Best Practices for Direct-to-Public Tech Tools: Observations and Lessons Learned” (2020) 18:1 Canadian Journal of Law and Technology.
Suzanne Bouclin, Jena McGill et Amy Salyzyn, “Mobile and Web-based Legal Apps: Opportunities, Risks and Information Gaps” (2017) Canadian Journal of Law and Technology 229.
Suzanne Bouclin, “Producing Legal Subjectivities through Online Media”, dans Anna Poletti et Julie Rak, dir., Identity Technologies: Producing Online Selves (University of Wisconsin Press, 2014) 229–246.
Suzanne Bouclin, “YouTube and Muslim Women’s Legal Subjectivities” (2013) 3:7 Oñati Socio-Legal Series 1158–1183.

Sex Work, Marginalized Labour, and Regulation

Suzanne Bouclin, “Regulating Sex Work in Canada” (2012) 3 Public Law 387.
Suzanne Bouclin, “Dancers Empowering (Some) Dancers: The Intersection of Race, Class and Gender in Organizing Marginal Workers” (2006) 13:3 Race, Gender and Class 98.
Suzanne Bouclin, “Bad Girls Like Good Contracts: Ontario Erotic Dancers’ Resistance over Three Decades”, dans Elizabeth Faulkner et Gayle MacDonald, dir., Victim No More? Women Resisting the Label of Law (Fernwood Press, 2009) 46–60.