Sandrine Ampleman-Tremblay, LLB, LLM, DCL

Area of Study / Keywords

Criminal Law State Accountability Police Sexual Violence Social Justice Legal Rights

About

Sandrine Ampleman-Tremblay, LL.B. (Laval), LL.M. (Toronto), DCL (McGill), is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta since July 2023, where she teaches courses in criminal law and legal history. In 2025, she received the Faculty of Law's Tevie H. Miller Teaching Award, which recognizes excellence in teaching by a full-time member of the Faculty of Law.

Ampleman-Tremblay's research focuses on sexual violence, individual and collective responsibility, and legal rights. Her current project entitled "Rethinking Legal Narratives & Criminal Responsibility: A Case Study of Extreme Intoxication" is funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant. The latter investigates criminal responsibility for extreme intoxication and pays specific attention to the tensions that s. 33.1 of the Criminal Code causes between mental health advocates and victims of intoxicated violence. Ampleman-Tremblay presented her work in national and international academic settings, civil society and academia joint initiatives, as well as podcasts. She also published in French and English in the Manitoba Law Journal, the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, the Ottawa Law Review, and the Dalhousie Law Journal, amongst others.

Professor Ampleman-Tremblay completed her DCL at McGill Law as a SSHRC Joseph-Armand-Bombardier scholar in 2023. Her engagement in student and Faculty life at McGill helped her develop a keen interest in legal education, with an emphasis on graduate studies and the experience of francophone students. She remains interested in discussing such issues and supervising graduate students working on topics that relate to unfairness in criminal justice, gender issues, and criminal law more broadly.

Research

Research Interests:

• Criminal law
• Criminal procedure
• Sexual violence & the law
• State accountability

Selected Recent Publications:

Peer-reviewed journals

• “The Viens Inquiry: At the Intersection of State Control, Police Sexual Violence, and Accountability” Canadian Journal of Human Rights (forthcoming)
• “Police Sexual Violence as Psychological Detention: Making Full Use of Charter Rights” (2025) 48:1 Dalhousie Law Journal
• "Media coverage of sexual violence by police in colonial contexts: an explorative study"  (2024) Settler Colonial Studies
• “L’accompagnement des personnes victimes lors d’entrevues sur les faits au Québec” (2024) 55:2 Ottawa Law Review 211
• “Comprendre l’inconduite sexuelle policière : une perspective canadienne” (2022) 34:1 Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 1
• “Justice Côté: Great Dissenter, Voice of the Court, or Both?” (2021) 44:2 Manitoba Law Journal 1 (with the collaboration of Camille Nadeau) 

Other journals

• “R v Lufiau, R v Varennes, and The Gamble of Litigating a ‘Right’ to Jury Trials Outside of Section 11(f)” (2024) 33:2 Constitutional Forum 27

Book chapters

• “Developments and Grey Areas in Legal Rights: Detention, Arrest, Trial Within a Reasonable Time and Juries (ss. 9, 10(a), (b), (c), 11(b) and (f)) ” in Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 6th, ed, Errol Mendes and Stéphane Beaulac, eds. (forthcoming,2025) 

LAW 420A - Criminal Law

A general introduction to the criminal law, including basic procedure, evidence, and sentencing rules, with primary emphasis on substantive criminal law. Topics include the physical and fault elements of offences, common law and statutory defences, and constitutional principles.

LAW 420B - Criminal Law

A general introduction to the criminal law, including basic procedure, evidence, and sentencing rules, with primary emphasis on substantive criminal law. Topics include the physical and fault elements of offences, common law and statutory defences, and constitutional principles.

LAW 496 - Legal History

An examination of law and legal institutions from a historical perspective designed to explore continuity and change in common, statute, and constitutional law. Every year, the course will consist of a limited number of seminar offerings whose focus will be on the historical development of law, legal processes, and institutions.

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