Rebeca B Macias Gimenez, PhD

About

Rebeca is an Assistant Professor at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law, where she teaches Constitutional Law (Law 435), Indigenous Peoples and Canadian State Law (Law 590) and a seminar on Indigenous Jurisdiction and Constitutional Pluralism (Law 599). She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, an LLM from the University of Calgary, and a Bachelor of Law from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brazil). She specializes in environmental law, Indigenous peoples and the law, and trans-systemic and comparative law. Rebeca also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta, exploring and articulating legal principles of the Dunne-za and Cree legal orders of Treaty 8 British Columbia regarding land and natural resources decision-making. Her current research, supported by a SSHRC Insight Grant, examines the cumulative effects of industrial development and Aboriginal Treaty rights as the trigger for a renewed interpretation of historic treaties in Alberta and BC, with a view towards Indigenous self-government initiatives. Currently hiring grad students to work on this project.

Research

• Environmental Law
• Indigenous peoples and the law
• Trans-systemic and comparative environmental law
• Impact Assessment and environmental decision-making

Publications

• Rebeca Macias Gimenez, "Cumulative Rights Infringement in British Columbia Treaty 8 Territory: The Need for a Renewed Environmental Decision-Making Framework Under Treaty Law" (2023) 56:3 UBC Law Review 699
• Rebeca Macias Gimenez, "The Pandemic's Golden Touch: (Neo)Extractivism, Coloniality, and Necropolitics on Brazil’s Indigenous Territories" (13 November 2023) Canadian Journal of Law and Society 
• Book Review: Peter Cook, Neil Vallance, John Sutton Lutz, Graham Brazier & Hamar Foster, Eds. “To Share, Not Surrender: Indigenous and Settler Visions of Treaty Making in the Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia” (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2021) (2022) 59:4 Alberta Law Review 1051.
• Rebeca Macias Gimenez, “Making space for indigenous law in state-led decisions about hydropower dams: Lessons from environmental assessments in Canada and Brazil” (2022) Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law. DOI: 10.1111/reel.12432
• Doctoral Dissertation: Rebeca Macias Gimenez, “Hydro Dams and Environmental Justice for Indigenous People. A Comparison of Environmental Decision-Making in Canada and Brazil” (2021) (online: https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/handle/1828/12885)
• Rebeca Macias Gimenez, “Designing Criteria to Evaluate Equity to Indigenous People in Impact Assessment and Environmental: A Literature Review” (2019) 32:2 Journal of Environmental Law and Practice 163-205.
• Rebeca Macias, “Public Participation in Energy and Natural Resources Development: A Theory and Criteria for Evaluation” (2010) Canadian Institute of Resources Law Occasional Paper No 34, online: CIRL (website) < http://dspace.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/1880/48390/1/CriteriaOP34w.pdf>.

LAW 435A - Constitutional Law

An introduction to the legal framework governing the exercise of power by the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the Canadian state, covering who has the power to make new laws, the power to implement laws, and the power to adjudicate disputes. The limitations imposed on these powers by the rules of federalism and by the provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are also considered. An introduction to the constitutional provisions concerning Indigenous peoples in Canada is also included.

LAW 435B - Constitutional Law

An introduction to the legal framework governing the exercise of power by the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the Canadian state, covering who has the power to make new laws, the power to implement laws, and the power to adjudicate disputes. The limitations imposed on these powers by the rules of federalism and by the provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are also considered. An introduction to the constitutional provisions concerning Indigenous peoples in Canada is also included.

LAW 590 - Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law

This is a survey course on Indigenous Peoples in Canadian Law. Subjects covered include issues of race and legal reasoning, legal and historical foundations of claims to Indigenous rights, treaty rights, Métis rights, Indigenous peoples and the Constitution, Indigenous claims negotiation and litigation, the Indian Act, and contemporary legal and political developments including an introduction to Indigenous law, jurisdiction and governance. The course is organized as a lecture in which a great deal of learning arises from discussion and class participation.

LAW 599 - Seminars on Specialized Legal Topics

These seminars will cover specialized topics of emerging importance in the law at a senior level. The particular topic covered would vary dependent on the availability of Faculty with necessary teaching competence, student interest, and the needs of the legal profession. Sections may be offered at an increased rate of fee assessment; refer to the Tuition and Fees page in the University Regulations sections of the Calendar.

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