Wendy Parkes
Professor Parkes has degrees in Law and Geography. She graduated from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Common Law. In 2002, she was called to the Bar of Ontario.
Current Courses
Legal Research and Writing; Professional Responsibility; Tort Law; Environmental Law
Professor Parkes’ teaching has focused on Indigenous law and mentoring of Indigenous students. At Lakehead she has taught a course on Aboriginal Law in the Canadian North. She taught for four years at the University of Saskatchewan’s Native Law Centre Summer Program, and in the first year of the Nunavut Law Program, based in Iqaluit. She has also tutored Inuit students at Nunavut Sivuniksavut, a program for Inuit youth transitioning to higher education.
Following graduation from law school, Professor Parkes practiced civil litigation and corporate law with the Ottawa law firm of McFarlane Lepsoe. She appeared in legal proceedings at Small Claims Court, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Federal Court of Canada and the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board.
While in practice, she developed a legal writing workshop at the University of Ottawa for first-year and Indigenous law students, and subsequently taught Foundation Legal Writing Skills, an upper-year writing course. She also led a two-year research study of the legal and policy framework for identity theft for the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC).
Prior to law school, Professor Parkes was a policy advisor with the federal government on Indigenous, northern and environmental issues.
Curriculum Development; Identity Theft, Data Breaches and Privacy Law
Sample Publications
Contributor to headnotes and subject indexes for recent Aboriginal law cases for the Canadian Native Law Reporter
University and Community Service
Professor Parkes is Chair of the Faculty of Law Natural Resources and Environmental Law Committee and a member of the Appointments Committee. She is the Faculty representative on the Canadian Association of Law Teachers and a member of the Canadian Bar Association and Ontario Bar Association and their Aboriginal Law and Environmental Law sections. As a Skate Canada Senior Competitive Judge, she is an active member of the Thunder Bay figure skating community.