headshot of robin whitehead, assistant professor

robin whitehead

assistant professor
robin.whitehead@lakeheadu.ca
+1 807-343-8010ext. 7858
pa3005
mon-fri 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
date joined lakehead: 
august 2021
previous teaching/work: 

professor whitehead is a member of the law society of british columbia and worked as a lawyer in small firms and in private practice on civil litigation, criminal defence, environmental, and administrative cases, prior to and during her doctoral studies. she has also worked as an analyst for the library of parliament where she assisted the house of commons standing committee on public safety and national security and provided legal and policy research, briefings, and drafting services to members of parliament.

research interests: 

professor whitehead’s research considers human rights and mental health disability discrimination and is informed by critical disability theory and mad studies. her current work explores police-involved deaths of persons who experience mental health disability in canada and the opportunities for, or limitations to, accountability afforded by human rights and constitutional law.

current courses taught:

critical race theory, administrative law

select publications:

robin whitehead & jennifer chandler, "biocriminal justice: exploring public attitudes to criminal rehabilitation using biomedical treatments" (2020) 13 neuroethics 55.

robin whitehead, "policing mental health disabilities" c13 in j. chandler & c. flood, eds, law and mind: mental health law and policy in canada (toronto: lexisnexis, 2016).