SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Revitalizing the Ilnu Legal Order and Reclaiming Jurisdiction over Child and Family Services
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5

Florence Robert is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Law of the University of Toronto with research interest in Indigenous legal orders, pedagogies and methods. Florence is a 2021 graduate of the LL.L. program at the University of Ottawa where she received the University Gold Medal for Civil Law for the highest cumulative grade point average in the entire civil law program and the Dean of the Civil Law Section’s Prize in recognition significant contributions made to the law school community. In 2022, Florence completed a judicial clerkship at the Federal Court under Justice Martine St-Louis and was called to the Québec bar in 2023. Following her clerkship, Florence completed her Master of Laws (LL.M.) thesis at the University of Toronto on Indigenous legal pedagogy and the decolonization and Indigenization of Canadian legal education under the supervision of Professor John Borrows. Her SJD thesis seeks to document the values, principles, rules, and processes that govern group regulation and conflict resolution related to children, youth, and families within the Ilnu legal order.

Since 2022, Florence is a Part-Time Professor (Long Term Nomination) at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law, where she teaches transsystemic courses in constitutional law, property law, family law and Indigenous legal orders.

Education
Licentiate in Law - University of Ottawa (2021)
Master of Laws (Long Thesis) - University of Toronto (2024)
Awards and Distinctions
2023-2024 Ontario Graduate Scholarship Recipient
University Gold Medal for Civil Law (2021)
Dean of the Civil Law Section’s Prize (2021)
Prix du Barreau du Québec de la Faculté de droit de l’Université d’Ottawa (2021)
Francine Lefebvre-Landry Prize (2021)
Cain Lamarre Prize (2021)
Dean’s Honour list (2018 – 2021)
Professional Affiliations
Member of the Quebec Bar
Selected Publications

Sophie Thériault, Eva Ottawa & Florence Robert, “L’enseignement des traditions juridiques autochtones à la Section de droit civil de l’Université d’Ottawa : entre opportunités et défis pour une formation juridique décolonisée” (2024) 15 Cahiers Portalis (to be published). 

Sophie Thériault, Eva Ottawa & Florence Robert, “First Nations, COVID-19, and the Implications of Spatial Restrictions in a Settler Colonial Context” in Colleen M. Flood, Y.Y. Brandon Chen, Raywat Deonandan, Sam Halabi & Sophie Thériault, eds, Pandemics, Public Health, and the Regulation of Borders: Lessons from COVID-19 (England: Routledge, 2024) 89 (Book Chapter).

Florence Robert, “Pierre Rousseau, Une véritable justice équitable, décolonisée, par et pour les peuples autochtones. Québec : Presses de l’Université Laval, 2023, 220 pp” (2023) 38:2 Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société 292 (Book Review).

Aimée Craft, Florence Robert & Caitlin De Simone, “The Canada Water Agency as an Opportunity to Decolonize Water Governance” in Marie-France Fortin, Alexandre Lillo, Éric Champagne, Lauren Touchant & Thomas Burelli, eds, Canada Water Agency: Multisectorial Issues of Law and Governance (Montréal: LexisNexis, 2022) 39 (Book Chapter).

Research Interests
Aboriginal Law
Canadian Constitutional Law
Comparative Law
Family Law
Indigenous Legal Traditions
Supervisor
Committee Members