Charis Kamphuis

Associate Professor

BA (Toronto), LLB (Saskatchewan), LLM (Osgoode), PhD (Osgoode)

Charis Kamphuis has a PhD from Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2009 after clerking at the Federal Court of Appeal of Canada. Charis describes her approach to research as activist engaged legal scholarship. Her work engages multiple fields of law and policy that touch on resource extraction, Indigenous rights, human rights defenders, corporate and state accountability and home-state extra-territorial responsibility. She has presented her research across Canada and internationally and has published peer-reviewed articles and chapters in European, American, Canadian and South American journals and books. Spanish translations of her work have also appeared in peer-reviewed journals based in Mexico, Columbia, Peru and Chile. Charis has also authored multiple pro bono reports and legal submissions to government bodies, courts and international bodies. Her publications are available on SSRN.

In 2011, Charis co-founded the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project (JCAP), a not-for-profit organization that provides legal support to communities in Latin America, Africa and Canada adversely affected by resource extraction. JCAP has made submissions to Canadian securities regulators, a federal Parliamentary Committee, the Canada Pension Plan Board, the Public Service Integrity Commissioner, the Office of the Information Commissioner, the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, the World Bank, domestic courts in Latin America, and United Nations bodies. Charis sits on the JCAP Board of Directors and supervises law students across Canada and beyond doing JCAP related legal research. Charis teaches an experiential learning seminar based on this work: Transnational Lawyering: Social Justice, Communities & Resources.

 Publications
Book Chapters
  1. "Contesting Indigenous-Industry Agreements in Latin America" in Dwight Newman & Ibironke Odumosu-Ayanu, eds, Indigenous-Industry Agreements, Natural Resources, and the Law (Routledge, 2020).
  2. “Effectiveness Framework for Home-State Non-Judicial Grievance Mechanisms” in Amissi M. Manirabona & Yenny Vega Cardenas, eds, Extractive Industries and Human Rights in an Era of Global Justice: New Ways of Resolving and Preventing Conflicts (LexisNexis, 2019) (with Leah Gardner).
  3. "Home-State Grievance Mechanisms: Law Reform Strategies in the Canadian Resource Justice Movement" in Isabel Feichtner & Markus Krajewski, eds, Human Rights in the Extractive Industries: Transparency, Participation, Resistance (Springer, 2019).
Law Review Articles
  1. "The Transnational Mining Justice Movement: Reflecting on Two Decades of Law Reform Activism in the Americas" (2020) 57 Canadian Yearbook of International Law forthcoming. 
  2. "Litigating Indigenous Dispossession in the Global Economy: Law's Promises and Pitfalls" (2017) 14:1 Brazilian Journal of International Law 165-225 (29,000 words – peer reviewed).
  3. "Canadian Mining Companies and Domestic Law Reform: A critical legal account" (2012) 13:9 German Law Journal 1456-1486 (10,400 words – peer reviewed).
  4. "Foreign Mining, Law and the Privatization of Property: A case study from Peru" (2012) 3:2 Journal of Human Rights and the Environment 217-253 (13,300 words – peer reviewed).
  5. "Derecho y la Convergencia del Poder Público y el Poder Empresarial: La Desposesión Campesina y La Coerción Privatizada en el Perú" (2012) 15 Revista Latinoamericana de Derecho Social: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas 57-112 [Translation – peer reviewed].
  6. "Foreign Investment and the Privatization of Coercion: The Forza Security Company in Peru" (2012) 37:2 Brooklyn Journal of International Law 459-508 (11,400 words).
  7. "La extracción de recursos mineros por empresas extranjeras y la privatización del poder coercitivo: un estudio de caso sobre la empresa de seguridad Forza" (2011) 68 Apuntes: Centro de Investigación de la Universidad del Pacifico 63-108; (2011) 22 Serie Nuevas Voces: Consorcio Global para la Transformación de la Seguridad 1-33 [Translation – peer reviewed].
  8. "The Principles and Practices of Aboriginal Equity Programs in Canadian Law Schools: A Comparative Study of the Saskatchewan College of Law" (2009) 3 Canadian Legal Education Annual Review 65-98 (11,300 words – peer reviewed).
  9. "Pay Equity and Community Based Organizations in Saskatchewan: Paradoxes and Challenges" in Student Public Policy Essays (Regina: Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy, 2007) 1-17 (5,000 words – peer reviewed).
Book Reviews & Special Issues
  1. "Gendering Civil Liberties and Gendering Dissent: An Introduction" (2017) 12 Special Issue of the Journal of Law & Equality (with Sonia Lawrence, Estair van Wagner & Cara Faith Zwibel) 1-9.
  2. Book Review of The Third World and International Order: Law Politics and Globalization by Antony Anghie, et al, eds, (2010) 12 International Community Law Review 471-7.
  3. Book Note on Making Equality Rights Real: Securing Substantive Equality under the Charter by Fay Faraday et al, eds, (2007) 70 Saskatchewan Law Review 483-4.
Research Reports
  1. "Consultation RE Revision of Voices at Risk Guidelines" submission to Human Rights & Indigenous Affairs Policy Division, Global Affairs Canada, on behalf of the Justice & Corporate Accountability Project (November 2018)
  2. "Canadian Economic Diplomacy: Policy Gaps, Human Rights Impacts & Recommendations" submission to the United Nations Working Group on Business & Human Rights on behalf of the Justice & Corporate Accountability Project submitted by Amnesty Intranational Canada (Feb 2018) (1,720 words).
  3. "Gendered Dissent: Workshop Report" Post-Workshop Report for the Gendered Dissent, Democracy & Law workshop, Institute for Feminist Legal Studies, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto (May 2014) (with Estair Van Wagner) (4,130 words).
  4. "Civil Society: Dissent, Democracy and the Law" Concept/Background Paper for the Civil Society: Dissent, Democracy & the Law Workshop, Centre for Human Rights & Legal Pluralism, Faculty of Law, McGill University, Montreal (Oct 2013) (with Pearl Eliadis) (3,400 words).
Facta in International Court Cases (Pro Bono)
  1. Jen Moore v the Ministry of the Interior and the Peruvian National Police – Amicus Curiae presented to First Penal Court Reos Libres with regard to constitutional challenge to decision of Peruvian Ministry of Interior to ban Canadian Jen Moore from entering Peru (2018) (8,950 words) (with Brandy Falkevitch).
  2. Oscar Avelino Mollohuanca Cruz and the Association of Livestock Producers of Huinipampa-Espinar v Glencore Antapacay Tintaya and the National Police Force of Peru – Amicus Curiae presented to Constitutional Court of Peru with regard to constitutional challenge to a service agreement between Peruvian police force and British mining company Glencore (2016) (6,200 words) (with Erik Thorsteinsson).
  3. Campesino Community San Andrés de Negritos v. Yanacocha Mine – Amicus Curiae presented to the First Civil Court of Cajamarca, Peru with regard to Campesino land rights claim against American mining company Newmont (2013) (12,300 words).
  4. Campesino Community San Andrés de Negritos v. Regional Office of Agricultura, General Office of Energy and Mining, and Yanacocha Mine – Factum for submission to the First Civil Court of Cajamarca, Peru arguing violations of Campesino land rights protected by domestic and international law (2010) (46,275 words).
  5. GRUFIDES v. The Republic of Peru – Petition submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging the Peruvian state's failure to address the persecution of human rights activists by American mining company and private security forces (2009) (11,300 words) (with Shin Imai).
Opinion Editorials & Articles
  1. Article, “Discussing public accountability of Canadian economic diplomacy in Mexico and Guatemala” CICADA News, Centre for Indigenous Conservation and Development Alternatives, (Fall 2019) Issue 2 at p 8, online.
  2. Editorial, “What responsibilities come with operating a public venue for the dissemination of ideas?” Kamloops This Week (October 1, 2019) online.
  3. Article, "Comunidad de San Andrés de Negritos vs. Minera Yanacocha: ¿Como despojar a comunidad campesina de su territorio para favorecer a la megaminería? Instituto de Defensa Legal (May 31, 2019) online (with Shin Imai and Juan Carlos Ruiz Molleda).
  4. Editorial, "Why does Justin Trudeau succumb to corporate pressure?" The Conversation (May 5, 2019) online.
  5. Blog, "Canadian government promises stronger monitoring of Canadian companies operating abroad" Due Process of Law Foundation (Washington, January 2018), online (with Shin Imai).
  6. Magazine Article, "Experiential Learning & Social Justice at TRU Law" 76 Advocate (Vancouver) 239-242 (2018).
  7. Editorial, "Independent accountability needed for Canadian mining companies abroad" The Hill Times (Ottawa, March 15, 2017) (with Penelope Simons & Shin Imai), online.
  8. Editorial, "A human rights policy for Canadian embassies is long overdue" The Hill Times (Ottawa, August 31, 2016) (with Danielle Ching), online.
 Research
Research Grants
  1. 2019 Centre for Indigenous Conservation and Development Alternatives, McGill University, Research Project: Legal Information for Marlin Affected Communities RE Imai v Global Affairs Canada ($5000).
  2. 2019 Thompson Rivers University, Research Accelerate Award, Research Project: Canadian Economic Diplomacy: State Practice, Legal Norms & Policy Reforms ($4,000).
  3. 2018 Thompson Rivers University, Undergraduate Apprenticeship Award, Research Project: Goldcorp’s Marlin Mine in Guatemala: Canada & the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ($3,000).
  4. 2016 Thompson Rivers University, Internal Research Fund, Research Project: Canadian embassy responses to social conflict with Canadian mining companies ($5,000).
  5. 2015 Thompson Rivers University, Undergraduate Apprenticeship Award, Research Project: Amicus Curiae for Peruvian Court on Police Independence ($3,000).
  6. 2014 Co-recipient with Estair van Wagner, Osgoode Hall Law School, Experiential Education Fund, Syllabus Design Project: "Praxicum Course: Civil Society, Dissent & the Law in Canada" ($3,500).
  7. 2010 Co-recipient with Pedro Grández Castro, Global Consortium on Security Transformation, 2010 3rd Small Grant Initiative, Research Project: "Rights, Mining Conflicts, and the Privatization of Security in Peru" ($7,000).
 Conferences
  1. July 2020 “Protest from a Comparative and Global Perspective”, panel on The New Fundamental Right to Social Protest, Institute of Legal Defense, Indigenous Peoples Group, Lima, Peru (invited/presenter/virtual panel live-streamed).
  2. Aug 2019 International Law Research Program Doctoral Scholarship Student Workshop, Centre for International Governance Innovation, Waterloo, ON (discussant/invited/funded).
  3. June 2019 "Rethinking Environmental Legal Education" at the Back to the Future: Re-Defining Canada’s Environmental Priorities, JELP Environmental Law Conference, Vancouver Island, BC (presenter).
  4. June 2019 "Consent & Contract: Thinking through the consequences of governing by ‘agreement’ in the extractive sector" at the Back to the Future: Re-Defining Canada’s Environmental Priorities, JELP Environmental Law Conference, Vancouver Island, BC (presenter).
  5. May 2019 "Indigenous Rights Recognition: Achievements, shortcomings, and where to from here?" at the Extractive industries & indigenous livelihoods: Tools of consent or conflict? Workshop, Helsinki University, Helsinki, Finland (presenter/invited/funded).
  6. Oct 2018 "Transnational Lawyering for Land Defenders in Peru" at the Communities, Law and the Mining Industry Conference, Allard Hall, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. (presenter/invited)
  7. Oct 2018 "Canadian Economic Diplomacy: Legal Strategies & Problematizations" at the Business & Human Rights Ideas Conference, Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability, Montreal. (presenter/funded/invited)
  8. Sept 2018 "Global Resources Extraction by Force: Law and Advocacy Strategies for Human Rights Defenders" at the workshop Looking into Law & Development: Pedagogies and Politics of the Frame at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. (presenter/funded/invited)
  9. Oct 2018 "Canadian Economic Diplomacy: Legal Strategies & Problematizations" at the Business & Human Rights Ideas Conference, Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability, Montreal
  10. June 2018 "Canada's Foreign Service & the Marlin Mine Conflict in Guatemala" at the Special Session: Legal Strategies to Address Goldcorp's Marlin Mine Closure workshop of the Centre for Indigenous Conservation and Development Alternatives held at McGill University. (presenter/invited/funded)
  11. May 2018 "Canadian Economic Diplomacy & the Rule of Law" at the BC Political Science Association Conference held at Thompson Rivers University. (presenter)
  12. April 2018 "Accountability & Transnational Resource Extraction: Legal Context in Canada" at the ELC Associates Teleconference on Mining & Human Rights: The Eritrean Miner Class Action organized by the Environmental Law Clinic, University of Victoria. (presenter/invited)
  13. Feb 2018 "Canadian Embassies, Economic Diplomacy & the Rule of Law" at the Economic Diplomacy, Mining companies & Land/Environment Defenders workshop held at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Ottawa. (presenter/invited/funded)
  14. Oct 2017 "Contesting Community Industry Agreements & Access to Justice" at the Law and Politics of Indigenous-Industry Agreements workshop held at the University of Saskatchewan. (presenter/invited/funded)
  15. Sept 2017 24 Years of Texaco/Chevron and Ecuador: What Happened in Lago Agrio and What Legal Action Has Accomplish, workshop convened by the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, Lusanne, Switzerland. (participant/invited/funded)
  16. May 2017 The Future of the Legal Academy in Canadian Environmental Law Workshop convened by the Centre for Law & the Environment, University of British Columbia. (participant/invited/funded)
  17. Mar 2017 "Indigenizing Initiatives at the Faculty of Law" as part of panel Toward Indigenizing Higher Ed: an online storytelling series, Thompson Rivers University.
  18. Aug 2016 "Indigenous Dispossession in the Global Economy: Law's Promises & Pitfalls" at Contextualizing Social Justice in International and Transnational Law workshop at University of Windsor. (presenter/funded)
  19. Jul 2016 "Home State Regulation in Canada" at Goethe-University Frankfurt, International Conference on Human Rights in the Extractive Industries: Conflicts and Regulatory Responses, organized by the Centre for Human Rights Erlangen-Nurnberg & Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, Frankfurt, Germany. (presenter/invited/funded)
  20. Mar 2016 "Indigenous Dispossession in the Global Economy: Law's Promises & Pitfalls", Faculty Speakers Series at the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan. (presenter/invited/funded)
  21. Jun 2015 "A Transnational Community-Based Agenda for Legal Research on Resource Extraction Conflicts in Latin America" at the Emerging International, Transnational and Domestic Law Issues in the Relationship between Extractive Industries and Indigenous Peoples, workshop at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) International Law Research Program, Waterloo (presenter/invited/funded)
  22. May 2014 "The Case for Studying the Legal Anatomy of Transnational Resource Extraction" at the Law and Inequalities: Global and Local, Law & Society Association (LSA) Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, Minnesota. (presenter)
  23. Jan 2014 "Canadian Activism & the Mining Justice Movement: A Critical Legal Account" at the Business, Human Rights & Law in Transnational Context conference, Ryerson University. (presenter)
  24. Oct 2013 "A Research Agenda for the Dissent, Democracy & the Law Research Network" at the Civil Society: Dissent, Democracy & the Law workshop, hosted by the Centre for Human Rights & Legal Pluralism, McGill University. (organizer/presenter/funded).
  25. Mar 2012 "Transformations of the Private and Public: Transnational Social Movements and Economic Globalization" at the Transnational Private Regulatory Governance: Regimes, Dialogue, and Constitutionalization conference organized by the Critical Research Laboratory in Law & Society, York University. (presenter)
  26. Jun 2011 "Foreign Investment and the Privatization of Coercion: A Case Study of the Forza Security Company in Peru" at the Global Law and Economic Policy workshop organized by the Institute for Global Law & Policy, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (presenter/funded)
  27. Jun 2011 "Theorizing Private and Public Power: Social Movements and Economic Globalization" at the Law, Change, and Regulatory Challenges in the Contemporary World Agora workshop organized by the Association of Transnational Law Schools (ATLAS) held at Deusto University Faculty of Law, Bilbao, Spain. (presenter/funded)
  28. Jan 2011 "Foreign Investment and the Privatization of Coercion" at the Praxis of Resistance: Community of Inclusions and Exclusion conferenced organized by the Toronto Group for the Study of Transnational, International & Comparative Law, held at the University of Toronto. (presenter/organizer)
  29. Oct 2010 "Peace Brigades International Protective Accompaniment in Mexico" at the International Legal Observation Report ‘Recalling the Rule of Law: Report of the lawyers' delegation to Mexico public panel organized by Peace Brigades International – Canada, Ottawa. (presenter/funded)
  30. Aug 2010 "El Litigio Estratégico Transnacional: Practicas de Participación e Inclusión con Comunidades Campesinas" [Strategic Transnational Litigation: Participation and Inclusion Practices with Campesino Communities] (with Karina Chuquilín) at the A Challenge for our Societies: Identities, Interculturalism, Legal Pluralism and Collective Rights conference of the Latin American Legal Anthropology Network (RELAJU), held at La Catolica University, Lima, Peru [presentation in Spanish].
  31. Jun 2010 "Procesos Administrativos del Despojo Campesino en la Edad de la Inversión Extranjera" [The Administrative Processes of Campesino Dispossession in the Age of Foreign Investment] at the Foreign Investment and Indigenous Peoples' Constitutional Right to Consultation public panel held at San Marcos National University, Lima, Peru [presentation in Spanish].
  32. Mar 2010 Minería y Derechos Humanos: La Colaboración Transnacional y el Derecho Comunitario [Mining & Human Rights: Transnational Collaboration in Community Lawyering] (with Karina Chuquilín) at the Strategic Litigation & the Inter-American Legal System workshop organized by the Inter-American Network for Public Interest Legal Clinics, held at American University, Washington, DC [presentation in Spanish/funded].
  33. Feb 2010 "Mining and Rights Abuses: Three Legal Strategies for Change" at the Law Union of Ontario Annual Conference, Toronto. (presenter)
  34. Nov 2009 "Blurring the Lines Between Public and Private Power: Yanacocha Mine in Peru" at the Transnational Corporations, Human Rights, and Environmental Justice in Developing Countries workshop convened by the United Nations University & Tranparencia Ecuador on, held in Quito, Ecuador. (presenter/funded)
  35. Nov 2008 "Transnational Collaborative Community Lawyering" at the Symposium on Applied Research in Legal Empowerment of the Poor, organized by the University of Ottawa Human Rights Research and Education Centre & the University of Winnipeg Global College, held at the University of Ottawa. (presenter)
  36. May 2006 "Social Justice Work: A feminist labour perspective" (with Esther Rootham) at the Feminism(s) in the Third Wave, Women Studies Program conference, held at the University of Alberta. (presenter/funded)
 Guest lectures and Presentations
  1. Mar 2020 “Transnational Lawyering with Land and Human Rights Defenders” guest lecture for POLI 4900 Non-Violent Resistance, Department of Philosophy, History & Politics, Thompson Rivers University. (invited).
  2. Nov 2017 "Regulating foreign investment for human rights?: Canadian mining abroad, normative problems and pragmatic trade-offs" at the Arts Colloquium Series, held at Thompson Rivers University. (invited)
  3. Apr 2017 "Debates and Issues in Legal Education in Canada" Interview for CRIM 3321, Sociology of Law, Thompson Rivers University Open Learning.
  4. Mar 2017 "The Law Governing Embassy, Company & Community Relations" guest lecture for POLI 2230 Canadian Government 2: Public Administration and Public Policy, Department of Philosophy, History & Politics, Thompson Rivers University. (invited)
  5. Oct 2016 "A Partial Anatomy of Indigenous Peoples & the Law of Resource Extraction in Canada" guest lecture for ANTH 3237 First Nations Natural Resource Management, Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Thompson Rivers University. (invited)
  6. Mar 2016 "Experiential Learning in Legal Education: The Justice & Corporate Accountability Project" at the University of Saskatchewan, College of Law, Student Seminar, Saskatoon. (presenter/invited/funded)
  7. Mar 2016 "Mining & the Public Interest" at the Council of Canadians Philosophers Café Speakers Series, Kamloops, BC.
  8. Mar 2015 "Experiential Learning in Legal Education: The Justice and Corporate Accountability Project" at the Engagement Series on Experiential Learning organized by the Centre for Student Engagement and Learning Innovation, Thompson Rivers University. (presenter)
  9. Nov 2014 "Community-based Legal Education in the Global Economy: Justice & Corporate Accountability Project" for the TRU Environmental & Natural Resources Law Club Speakers Series, Thompson Rivers University.
  10. Jul 2012 "Lawyering with Mining-Affected Communities in Latin America" guest lecture delivered to the course The Global South, Human Rights & Development, Department of Equity Studies, York University, Toronto. (invited)
 Curriculum Vitae
Charis Kamphuis
Contact

Email:
ckamphuis@tru.ca