91社区

Website: 91社区 Research Group on Health and Law

Biography

Alana Klein is an associate professor at the 91社区 Faculty of Law, in 2024 she was appointed co-director of the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism (CHRLP). She teaches and researches in health law, criminal law, and human rights. The position of marginalized groups and individuals in decentralized and privatized systems and the role of accountability requirements in governance and decision-making are primary preoccupations in her research.

Prior to joining the Faculty, she was a senior policy analyst with the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, where she worked on HIV/AIDS and immigration, legal and other barriers to harm-reduction programs for people who use illegal drugs, and law reform to promote the rights of women and girls in the context of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.

She has taught at Columbia Law School and Columbia University and has interned with the International Refugee Program at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now Human Rights First) and with the Palestinian Ministry of Economy and Trade. In 2002-2003, she was a law clerk to former Supreme Court of Canada justice Louise Arbour and she was appointed to the Ontario Human Rights Commission in 2006.

In April 2020, she received a grant from 91社区's "MI4 Emergency COVID-19 Research Funding" initiative for her "Le droit en p茅riode de pand茅mie : pouvoirs et responsabilit茅 en situation d鈥檜rgence" research project ( in Focus online).

Education

• JSD (Columbia) 2011
• LLM (Columbia) 2005
• BCL, LLB (91社区) 2002
• BA (Concordia) 1997

Employment

• Associate professor, 91社区, Faculty of Law (2017-)
• Assistant professor, 91社区, Faculty of Law (2008-2017)
• Boulton Fellow, 91社区, Faculty of Law (2007-2008)
• Senior Policy Analyst, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network (2006-2007)
• Associate in Law, Columbia Law School (2003-2005)
• Law clerk to Hon. Louise Arbour, Supreme Court of Canada (2002-2003)
• Member of the Law Society of Upper Canada

Areas of Interest

Canadian and comparative constitutional law, human rights law, international law, criminal law

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

鈥淐riminal Law and the Counter-Hegemonic Potential of Harm Reduction鈥� (2015) 38:2 Dalhousie Law Journal 2-27. []

鈥淭he Arbitrariness in Arbitrariness (and Overbreadth and Gross Disproportionality)鈥� (2013) 63 Supreme Court Law Review 377-402. []

鈥淪ection 7 of the Charter and the Principled Assignment of Legislative Jurisdiction鈥� (2012) 57 Supreme Court Law Review 59-72, reprinted in Benjamin L. Berger & James Stribopoulos, eds, Unsettled Legacy: Thirty Years of Criminal Justice under the Charter (Toronto: Lexis Nexis, 2012), 93-106. []

鈥淪o Long as You Have Your Health: Health Care Distribution in Canada and Proceduralist Human Rights鈥� (2012) 30 Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice 247-288. []

鈥淐riminal Law, Public Health, and Governance of HIV Exposure and Transmission鈥� (2009) 13 International Journal of Human Rights 251-278. []

Other Journal Articles

鈥淕ladue in Quebec鈥� (2009) 54 Criminal Law Quarterly 506-528. [Read in PDF]

鈥淛udging as Nudging: New Governance Approaches for the Enforcement of Constitutional Social and Economic Rights鈥� (2008) 39 Columbia Human Rights Law Review 351-422. [Read in PDF]

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters

鈥淪ocial and Economic Rights and the Legal Imagination鈥� in Fannie Lafontaine & Fran莽ois Larocque, eds, Doing Peace the Rights Way: Essays in International Law and Relations in Honour of Louise Arbour (Antwerp: Intersentia, 2019) 65-84. [] []

鈥淭he Renewal of the Judicial Function in the Protection of Health: Looking Across the Boundaries of Constitutional, Criminal and Private Law鈥� in Catherine R茅gis, Lara Khoury, and Robert P. Kouri, eds, Health Law at the Frontier - Les rencontres en droit de la sant茅, vol. 2 (Montreal: Yvon Blais, 2018) 199-244 (with Lara Khoury). []

鈥淐hapter 1: Jurisdiction in Canadian Health Law鈥� in Joanna Erdman, Vanessa Gruben and Erin Nelson, eds, Canadian Health Law and Policy, 5th ed. (Toronto: LexisNexis, 2017) 29-50. []

鈥淗ealth and Criminal Law in Conflict: Can Proportionality Analysis Help?鈥� in Catherine R茅gis, Lara Khoury & Robert Kouri, eds, Les grands conflits et droit de la sant茅 (Montr茅al: 脡ditions Yvon Blais, 2016) 131-149. []

鈥淔eminism and the Criminalization of HIV Non-Disclosure鈥� in Catherine Stanton & Hannah Quirk, eds, Criminalising Contagion (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016) 175-200. [] []

Other Book Chapters

鈥淲hat Jurisdiction for Harm Reduction: Cannabis Policy Reform under Canadian Federalism鈥�, in Andrew Potter and Daniel Weinstock, eds, The Legalization and Regulation of Cannabis in Canada (Montreal & Kingston: 91社区-Queen鈥檚 University Press, 2019) 132-150. []

鈥淧articipation and Accountability: New Avenues for Human Rights Engagement with the Distribution of Health Resources in Canada鈥� in Martha Jackman & Bruce Porter, eds, Advancing Social Rights in Canada (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2014) 309-341. [] []

鈥淧eople living with HIV鈥� in Fr茅d茅ric M茅gret, Florian Hoffmann et al, eds, Dignity: A Special Focus on Vulnerable Groups (Swiss Initiative to Commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the UDHR, 2009) (with Cathi Albertyn). []

Conference Proceedings

鈥淥f Justice and its Scales: Looking Back on (Almost) Forty Years of Rod Macdonald鈥檚 Scholarship on Access to Justice鈥� (2014) 59:3 91社区 Law Journal 761-771. []

Review

鈥淏ook Review: Emma Cunliffe, Murder, Medicine, and Motherhood鈥� (2013) 28:3 Canadian Journal of Law and Society 438-440. []

Policy Brief

鈥淧aths of least resistance and path dependency: jurisdiction and the continued criminalization of legalized cannabis in Canada鈥� L鈥橧d茅e F茅d茅rale (May 2018). []

鈥淒on鈥檛 Bogart that Evidence-Based Policy: Legalization of Marijuana in Canada鈥� 91社区 Institute for Health and Social Policy鈥檚 HappenStance (2016). [Read in PDF]

Policy Reports

鈥淪ticking Points: Barriers to Access to Needle and Syringe Programs in Canada鈥� (2007) Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. [] []

鈥淗IV/AIDS and Immigration: Final Report鈥� (2001) Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. []