Lori Chambers is a professor in the department of Women’s Studies at Lakehead University and is the current Undergraduate Chair of the department as well as a member of the Senate. She teaches in the areas of feminist theory, queer studies and women’s legal history and contemporary legal issues. Professor Chambers research focuses on adoption, intimate partner and sexual violence, and human rights legislation. Professor Chambers is also working on a project concerning access to nutritious and culturally appropriate food in Sandy Lake First Nation, which is funded by the CURA. Prior to her arrival at Lakehead, she taught at the University of Toronto, McMaster University, the University of Guelph and Brock University.
Dr. Chambers has been the recipient of numerous academic awards including the 2001 and 2008 Alison Prentice Awards for the best book in Ontario women’s history, the 2004 Lakehead University Contribution to Teaching Award, the 2007 Lakehead University Contribution to Research Award, the 2009 Lakehead University Distinguished Researcher Award, and the 2011 Canadian Journal of Law and Society’s English Language Article Prize.
Professor Chambers has published three monographs for the Osgoode Society and numerous articles about women’s studies and family law.
See also: Lakehead University Department of Women Studies website: . Professor Chambers can be reached at lchambe2@lakeheadu.ca.
Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History Books
A History of Adoption Law in Ontario, 1921-2015 (Toronto: The Osgoode Society and University of Toronto Press, 2016)
Misconceptions: Unmarried Motherhood and the Ontario Children of Unmarried Parents Act, 1921-1969 (Toronto: The Osgoode Society and University of Toronto Press, 2007), 240 pp.
Married Women And Property Law In Victorian Ontario (Toronto: The Osgoode Society and University of Toronto Press, 1997), 272 pp.
Chapters in Osgoode Society Books
‘Married Women’s Property Law Reform, Couples, and Fraud in Canada West / Ontario, 1859-1900’ in Blaine Baker, Donald Fyson, eds. Essays in the History of Canadian Law, Volume XI: Quebec and the Canadas (Toronto: The Osgoode Society and University of Toronto Press, 2013) pp. 427 – 459.
‘Social Workers, Courts and the Implementation of the Children of Unmarried Parents Act, 1921-69’ in Jim Phillips, R. Roy McMurty, and John Saywell, eds., Essays in the History of Canadian Law: Volume X – A Tribute to Peter N. Oliver (Toronto: The Osgoode Society and University of Toronto Press, 2008), pp. 388-409.
Other Legal History Publications
Chambers, L., Zweep, D., and Verrelli, N. “Paternal Filicide and Coercive Control: A Review of the Evidence in Cotton v. Berry, University of British Columbia Law Review 51 (3) (2018). Refereed.
Chambers, L. “Boil-Water Advisories and Government (In)Action: The Politics of Indigenous People and Potable Water in Pikangikum First Nation”, Journal of Canadian Studies, 51 (2) (spring 2017), 289-310. Refereed.
Chambers, L., and Verrelli, N. “A Missed Opportunity: The Investigation of the RCMP in Matters Related to R. v. Ryan”, Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 32 (1) (spring 2017), 117-136. Refereed.
Chambers, L., and Burnett, K. “Jordan’s Principle: The Struggle to Accees On-Reserve Medical Care for High Needs Indigenous Children in Canada”, American Indian Quarterly, (2) (spring 2017), 101-124. Refereed.
MacLean, J., Verrelli, N., and Chambers, L. “Battered Women and Duress: A Critique of the Supreme Court of Canada’s Decision in R. v. Ryan”, Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, 29 (1) (spring 2017), 60-82. Refereed.
Nicholas, J., and Chambers, L. “In Search of the Monkey Girl: Disability, Child Welfare and the Freak Show in Ontario in the 1970s”, Journal of Canadian Studies, 50 (3) (fall 2016), 639-668. Refereed.
Burnett, K., Hay, T., and Chambers, L. “Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Hunger: Federal Indian Policy in Northern Canada since 1945”, Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 17.2 (summer 2016). Refereed.
Burnett, K., Hay, T., and Chambers, L., “Setting the Table: Northern Food Subsidy Programs and the (Re) colonization of Indigenous Bodies”, Critical Race and Whiteness Studies, 11 (1) (winter 2015). Refereed. OPEN ACCESS : www.acrawsa.org.au/files/ejournalfiles/254Burnettetal2015111.pdf.
‘In the Name of the Father: Children, Names and the Law in English Canada’ University of British Columbia Law Review, Vol 43, 2010, pp. 1 – 45.
‘Women’s Work, Relationship Breakdown and the Division of Farm Property’ Canadian Journal of Law and Society, Vol 25, 2010, pp. 75 – 96.
‘Unprincipled Exclusions: Transgender Jurisprudence, Feminist Theory and Kimberly Nixon’ Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, Vol 19, 2007, pp. 305 – 334.
‘Unwed Mothers, The Children’s Aid Society, Adoption and the Rhetoric of Choice in Ontario, 1921-1969’ Ontario History, Vol 98, 2006, pp. 161 – 182.
‘Alimony and Orders of Protection: Escaping Abuse in Hamilton-Wentworth, 1837-1900’ Ontario History, Vol 95, 2003, pp. 113 – 135 (with John Weaver).
‘The Story of her Wrongs”: Abuse and Desertion in Hamilton, 1859-1892’ Ontario History, Vol 93, 2001, pp. 107 – 126 (with John Weaver).
‘Illegitimate Children and the Children of Unmarried Parents Act’ in Lori Chambers and Edgar-Andre Montigny, eds., Ontario Since Confederation: A Reader (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000), pp. 235– 259.
‘ “You Have No Rights, Only Obligations”: Putative Fathers and the Children of Unmarried Parents Act’ in Lori Chambers and Edgar-Andre Montigny, eds., Family Matters: Papers in Post-Confederation Canadian Family History (Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 1998), pp. 115 – 134.
