Debra Haak
@debrahaak.bsky.social
law prof @queensulaw.bsky.social: constitutional law, criminal law, human rights, women’s rights
research: prostitution/sexwork, sex/gender, sex/violence
retired litigator
SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=2778566
research: prostitution/sexwork, sex/gender, sex/violence
retired litigator
SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=2778566
PSA: sex work law in Canada
Kloubakov clarified the law but researchers continue to misstate the law
Sex work (involving sexual touching) is illegal. Purchasing is an offence. Providers are a party to that offence (however they will not be prosecuted) 1/2
Kloubakov clarified the law but researchers continue to misstate the law
Sex work (involving sexual touching) is illegal. Purchasing is an offence. Providers are a party to that offence (however they will not be prosecuted) 1/2
One of the most frustrating things about commentary on Canada's criminal prostitution laws & constitutional challenges is the consistent claim that sex work is legal. It is not legal 1/
Sex work on trial: What the recently dismissed Constitutional challenge means theconversation.com/sex-work-on-...
Sex work on trial: What the recently dismissed Constitutional challenge means theconversation.com/sex-work-on-...
Sex work on trial: What the recently dismissed Constitutional challenge means
Canada’s criminalization framework continues to undermine sex workers’ safety and exclude their voices from shaping laws that govern their lives.
theconversation.com
November 12, 2025 at 10:12 AM
PSA: sex work law in Canada
Kloubakov clarified the law but researchers continue to misstate the law
Sex work (involving sexual touching) is illegal. Purchasing is an offence. Providers are a party to that offence (however they will not be prosecuted) 1/2
Kloubakov clarified the law but researchers continue to misstate the law
Sex work (involving sexual touching) is illegal. Purchasing is an offence. Providers are a party to that offence (however they will not be prosecuted) 1/2
One of the most frustrating things about commentary on Canada's criminal prostitution laws & constitutional challenges is the consistent claim that sex work is legal. It is not legal 1/
Sex work on trial: What the recently dismissed Constitutional challenge means theconversation.com/sex-work-on-...
Sex work on trial: What the recently dismissed Constitutional challenge means theconversation.com/sex-work-on-...
Sex work on trial: What the recently dismissed Constitutional challenge means
Canada’s criminalization framework continues to undermine sex workers’ safety and exclude their voices from shaping laws that govern their lives.
theconversation.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:01 PM
One of the most frustrating things about commentary on Canada's criminal prostitution laws & constitutional challenges is the consistent claim that sex work is legal. It is not legal 1/
Sex work on trial: What the recently dismissed Constitutional challenge means theconversation.com/sex-work-on-...
Sex work on trial: What the recently dismissed Constitutional challenge means theconversation.com/sex-work-on-...
Call for proposals is live! Join us!!
Women, Disability, and Intersectionality:
Designing for Equality and Leaving No One Behind
Mar 13-14, 2026
#flsq #women #disability #intersectionality #feministlegalstudies #disabilitystudies
femlaw.queensu.ca/sites/flswww...
Women, Disability, and Intersectionality:
Designing for Equality and Leaving No One Behind
Mar 13-14, 2026
#flsq #women #disability #intersectionality #feministlegalstudies #disabilitystudies
femlaw.queensu.ca/sites/flswww...
femlaw.queensu.ca
October 31, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Call for proposals is live! Join us!!
Women, Disability, and Intersectionality:
Designing for Equality and Leaving No One Behind
Mar 13-14, 2026
#flsq #women #disability #intersectionality #feministlegalstudies #disabilitystudies
femlaw.queensu.ca/sites/flswww...
Women, Disability, and Intersectionality:
Designing for Equality and Leaving No One Behind
Mar 13-14, 2026
#flsq #women #disability #intersectionality #feministlegalstudies #disabilitystudies
femlaw.queensu.ca/sites/flswww...
Reposted by Debra Haak
In case you missed it ➡️ One exceptional post-grad law student will be awarded the $25K CBA Viscount Bennett Fellowship. Don't let this opportunity pass you by! Deadline: November 18. https://bit.ly/46y2RG6
October 30, 2025 at 1:00 PM
In case you missed it ➡️ One exceptional post-grad law student will be awarded the $25K CBA Viscount Bennett Fellowship. Don't let this opportunity pass you by! Deadline: November 18. https://bit.ly/46y2RG6
Reposted by Debra Haak
Opportunity! See Gender & Justice website for details-please circulate in your networks @drlandislife.bsky.social @afipcollective.bsky.social @marissaesque.bsky.social @veronicagago.bsky.social @requenaaguilar.bsky.social @oxfordcsae.bsky.social @fosfeminista.bsky.social @thinkcrea.bsky.social
October 15, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Opportunity! See Gender & Justice website for details-please circulate in your networks @drlandislife.bsky.social @afipcollective.bsky.social @marissaesque.bsky.social @veronicagago.bsky.social @requenaaguilar.bsky.social @oxfordcsae.bsky.social @fosfeminista.bsky.social @thinkcrea.bsky.social
Reposted by Debra Haak
📣General registration for4th joint annual conference 'A feminist Politics of Radical Hope in a Time of Oppression'
is now open.
Details: www.lexnetwork.org/radical-hope...
LEX now reviewing membership applications
Details: lexnetwork.org
@sharronfitz.bsky.social @genderandjustice.bsky.social
is now open.
Details: www.lexnetwork.org/radical-hope...
LEX now reviewing membership applications
Details: lexnetwork.org
@sharronfitz.bsky.social @genderandjustice.bsky.social
Radical-hope-conference – LEX Research Network
www.lexnetwork.org
September 3, 2025 at 5:00 PM
📣General registration for4th joint annual conference 'A feminist Politics of Radical Hope in a Time of Oppression'
is now open.
Details: www.lexnetwork.org/radical-hope...
LEX now reviewing membership applications
Details: lexnetwork.org
@sharronfitz.bsky.social @genderandjustice.bsky.social
is now open.
Details: www.lexnetwork.org/radical-hope...
LEX now reviewing membership applications
Details: lexnetwork.org
@sharronfitz.bsky.social @genderandjustice.bsky.social
Reposted by Debra Haak
Join us Oct 31-Nov 1 for the Vulnerability, Inequality and Justice Workshop, in person or virtually.
This workshop brings together scholars from across Canada to explore the concept of vulnerability in law and its role in the equality & justice project. Register now: allard.ubc.ca/about-us/eve...
This workshop brings together scholars from across Canada to explore the concept of vulnerability in law and its role in the equality & justice project. Register now: allard.ubc.ca/about-us/eve...
Vulnerability, Inequality and Justice Workshop
This workshop brings together scholars from across Canada to critically engage with the concept of vulnerability in different areas of law and its role in the equality and justice project.
allard.ubc.ca
October 27, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Join us Oct 31-Nov 1 for the Vulnerability, Inequality and Justice Workshop, in person or virtually.
This workshop brings together scholars from across Canada to explore the concept of vulnerability in law and its role in the equality & justice project. Register now: allard.ubc.ca/about-us/eve...
This workshop brings together scholars from across Canada to explore the concept of vulnerability in law and its role in the equality & justice project. Register now: allard.ubc.ca/about-us/eve...
Reposted by Debra Haak
I’m in standing room at @torontobluejays.bsky.social , behind accessible seating, where a kid/teen in a wheelchair is distraught because he can’t see anything with everyone standing up. If anyone happens to be in a box or something with extra seats, this is your chance to do a good deed.
October 26, 2025 at 12:57 AM
I’m in standing room at @torontobluejays.bsky.social , behind accessible seating, where a kid/teen in a wheelchair is distraught because he can’t see anything with everyone standing up. If anyone happens to be in a box or something with extra seats, this is your chance to do a good deed.
Reposted by Debra Haak
Help us spread the word! The $25,000 CBA Viscount Bennett Fellowship for post-grad law students is seeking applications. Deadline to apply is November 18: bit.ly/46y2RG6
October 20, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Help us spread the word! The $25,000 CBA Viscount Bennett Fellowship for post-grad law students is seeking applications. Deadline to apply is November 18: bit.ly/46y2RG6
Save the date!
Feminist Legal Studies Queen's Annual Conference: March 13-14, 2026 @queensulaw.bsky.social
Women, Disability, and Intersectionality: Designing for Equality and Leaving No One Behind
Watch this space for further information including call for papers!
femlaw.queensu.ca/conferences/...
Feminist Legal Studies Queen's Annual Conference: March 13-14, 2026 @queensulaw.bsky.social
Women, Disability, and Intersectionality: Designing for Equality and Leaving No One Behind
Watch this space for further information including call for papers!
femlaw.queensu.ca/conferences/...
FLSQ Conference 2026 | Feminist Legal Studies
Women, Disability, and Intersectionality: Designing for Equality and Leaving No One Behind International Women's Day Annual Conference, Feminist Legal Studies Queen's and the Queen's Faculty of Law, ...
femlaw.queensu.ca
October 20, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Save the date!
Feminist Legal Studies Queen's Annual Conference: March 13-14, 2026 @queensulaw.bsky.social
Women, Disability, and Intersectionality: Designing for Equality and Leaving No One Behind
Watch this space for further information including call for papers!
femlaw.queensu.ca/conferences/...
Feminist Legal Studies Queen's Annual Conference: March 13-14, 2026 @queensulaw.bsky.social
Women, Disability, and Intersectionality: Designing for Equality and Leaving No One Behind
Watch this space for further information including call for papers!
femlaw.queensu.ca/conferences/...
From a review of Jurist in Context
William Twining: the man who radicalised the middle ground by David Sugarman
William Twining: the man who radicalised the middle ground by David Sugarman
October 14, 2025 at 1:05 PM
From a review of Jurist in Context
William Twining: the man who radicalised the middle ground by David Sugarman
William Twining: the man who radicalised the middle ground by David Sugarman
I was sad to learn of William Twining’s death. He was my partner’s LLM supervisor; we spent time together most recently in 2019 before the world locked down. I’m sure I have a better photo somewhere, but this one captures that one simple day at his home. My deepest condolences to Penelope and family
October 14, 2025 at 12:31 PM
I was sad to learn of William Twining’s death. He was my partner’s LLM supervisor; we spent time together most recently in 2019 before the world locked down. I’m sure I have a better photo somewhere, but this one captures that one simple day at his home. My deepest condolences to Penelope and family
An excellent read!
To serve future needs beyond those AI can meet, lawyers will require a new foundation that puts their humanity at the centre of who they are and what they do, expressed through (1) their legal intuition, (2) their professional integrity, and (3) their personal trustworthiness
To serve future needs beyond those AI can meet, lawyers will require a new foundation that puts their humanity at the centre of who they are and what they do, expressed through (1) their legal intuition, (2) their professional integrity, and (3) their personal trustworthiness
New from me at Substack: In the post-AI legal sector, lawyers will be called on for different functions than before. Here are three essential attributes lawyers must possess to meet that new demand. We need to start training lawyers to develop them -- now. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/three-core...
October 14, 2025 at 12:07 PM
An excellent read!
To serve future needs beyond those AI can meet, lawyers will require a new foundation that puts their humanity at the centre of who they are and what they do, expressed through (1) their legal intuition, (2) their professional integrity, and (3) their personal trustworthiness
To serve future needs beyond those AI can meet, lawyers will require a new foundation that puts their humanity at the centre of who they are and what they do, expressed through (1) their legal intuition, (2) their professional integrity, and (3) their personal trustworthiness
Reposted by Debra Haak
My article for the Law Institute Journal (LIJ) October 2025 special issue on lawyers’ wellbeing is now available on my Substack. Please have a read and if you can help me grow my audience, I’d be very grateful for a share if you like the article 🙏🏼
open.substack.com/pub/lucindas...
open.substack.com/pub/lucindas...
On ethics and wellbeing
Global perspectives on regulating lawyer wellbeing
open.substack.com
October 12, 2025 at 10:46 AM
My article for the Law Institute Journal (LIJ) October 2025 special issue on lawyers’ wellbeing is now available on my Substack. Please have a read and if you can help me grow my audience, I’d be very grateful for a share if you like the article 🙏🏼
open.substack.com/pub/lucindas...
open.substack.com/pub/lucindas...
It begins, it has an end,
this is what you will
come back to, this is your hand.
-You Begin
@margaretatwood.bsky.social
readalittlepoetry.com/2011/03/22/y...
this is what you will
come back to, this is your hand.
-You Begin
@margaretatwood.bsky.social
readalittlepoetry.com/2011/03/22/y...
You Begin by Margaret Atwood • Read A Little Poetry
March is almost ending, and I haven't written anything I could be proud of. Drought, drought, says the Muse. But it's a lie. I am running away because I don't
readalittlepoetry.com
October 6, 2025 at 11:11 AM
It begins, it has an end,
this is what you will
come back to, this is your hand.
-You Begin
@margaretatwood.bsky.social
readalittlepoetry.com/2011/03/22/y...
this is what you will
come back to, this is your hand.
-You Begin
@margaretatwood.bsky.social
readalittlepoetry.com/2011/03/22/y...
And yet as a Toronto sports fan, the risk of loss was real
October 4, 2025 at 11:26 PM
And yet as a Toronto sports fan, the risk of loss was real
Sex-motivated violence should be treated like a hate crime
www.brandonsun.com/opinion/2025...
www.brandonsun.com/opinion/2025...
Opinion: Sex-motivated violence should be treated like a hate crime
Canada recently introduced the Combatting Hate Act, legislation that will create three new criminal offences intended to strengthen protections against hate. The first new offence targets hate crimes....
www.brandonsun.com
October 4, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Sex-motivated violence should be treated like a hate crime
www.brandonsun.com/opinion/2025...
www.brandonsun.com/opinion/2025...
For hate crime legislation to be more than symbolic, crimes motivated by hatred must be reported, recorded, prosecuted and sentenced as hate crimes for all identifiable groups — not just some of them. With Myrna Dawson @theconversation.com
theconversation.com/sex-motivate...
theconversation.com/sex-motivate...
October 3, 2025 at 10:19 AM
For hate crime legislation to be more than symbolic, crimes motivated by hatred must be reported, recorded, prosecuted and sentenced as hate crimes for all identifiable groups — not just some of them. With Myrna Dawson @theconversation.com
theconversation.com/sex-motivate...
theconversation.com/sex-motivate...
Reposted by Debra Haak
The road to reconciliation begins with truth
Mishiikenh Kwe ~ Anishinaabe
c. 2022
Mishiikenh Kwe ~ Anishinaabe
c. 2022
September 30, 2025 at 11:02 AM
The road to reconciliation begins with truth
Mishiikenh Kwe ~ Anishinaabe
c. 2022
Mishiikenh Kwe ~ Anishinaabe
c. 2022
Good discussion of balancing autonomy and harm. Also important: “The science of decision making tells us that there are two fundamental things. What do you think of the evidence, and what are your values and preferences around applying that evidence.”
www.statnews.com/2025/09/22/e...
www.statnews.com/2025/09/22/e...
Author of reviews of gender affirming care decries ‘egregious misuse’ of the findings to justify bans
Gordon Guyatt, a co-author of systematic reviews of gender-affirming care, calls use of the findings to justify banning care "egregious."
www.statnews.com
September 22, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Good discussion of balancing autonomy and harm. Also important: “The science of decision making tells us that there are two fundamental things. What do you think of the evidence, and what are your values and preferences around applying that evidence.”
www.statnews.com/2025/09/22/e...
www.statnews.com/2025/09/22/e...
I'm pleased to see that sex is included as an identifiable group for the purpose of proposed hate crime and intimidation offences. But see my co-authored article w Myrna Dawson addressing current failures to treat male violence as hate (link in comment)
www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en...
www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en...
C-9 (45-1) - LEGISinfo - Parliament of Canada
C-9 (45-1) - LEGISinfo - Parliament of Canada
www.parl.ca
September 20, 2025 at 11:14 AM
I'm pleased to see that sex is included as an identifiable group for the purpose of proposed hate crime and intimidation offences. But see my co-authored article w Myrna Dawson addressing current failures to treat male violence as hate (link in comment)
www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en...
www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en...
Mr. Williams is alleged to have sexually assaulted more than 300 victims between the ages of 12 and 18 at a provincially run youth detention centre
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
Former swim instructor in Nova Scotia faces dozens of sexual-abuse charges
Donald Williams, 75, was arrested at his home last week in Dartmouth and faces 66 charges
www.theglobeandmail.com
September 17, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Mr. Williams is alleged to have sexually assaulted more than 300 victims between the ages of 12 and 18 at a provincially run youth detention centre
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...
Reposted by Debra Haak
I wrote a thing. As someone who survived the 1970s and kept the receipts.
Shocked by Epstein’s birthday book? That culture was everywhere before feminism | Rebecca Solnit
Feminism exposed the ubiquity of child abuse, rape, sexual harassment and domestic violence – and helped fight that culture
www.theguardian.com
September 13, 2025 at 12:00 PM
I wrote a thing. As someone who survived the 1970s and kept the receipts.
Reposted by Debra Haak
“The science on the subject is pretty clear: according to the New England Journal of Medicine, rape is about four times more likely to result in diagnosable PTSD than combat."
September 14, 2025 at 8:22 PM
“The science on the subject is pretty clear: according to the New England Journal of Medicine, rape is about four times more likely to result in diagnosable PTSD than combat."