Assistant Professor
Suzie Dunn is an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie’s Schulich School of Law where she teaches Contracts and Judicial Decision Making, Law and Technology, Intellectual Property, and Legal Ethics. In 2021-2022 she coached Dalhousie’s Harold G Fox Moot winning moot team. While studying for her PhD at the University of Ottawa she acted as a part time professor where she taught contracts law and the law of images. She was awarded a prize in 2021 for excellence in part-time teaching.
Her research centers on the intersections of gender, equality, technology and the law, with a specific focus the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, deepfakes, and impersonation in digital spaces. She was awarded the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Scholarship for her PhD research. In 2021, she was the recipient of the Greenberg Prize for Feminist Research.
As an innovative thinker with a deep passion for human rights and technology, she has published and presented her work both nationally and internationally on issues including the importance of internet connectivity for northern youth, the application of Canadian law to deepfake technology, and civil responses to the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.
In 2018, she worked as a policy advisory with the Digital Inclusion Lab at Global Affairs Canada in drafting two international commitments to end gender-based violence in digital contexts, including the G7’s “Charlevoix Commitment to End Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Abuse and Harassment in Digital Contexts” and the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s resolution titled “Accelerating Efforts to Eliminate Violence against Women and Girls: Preventing and Responding to Violence against Women and Girls in Digital Contexts”, both of which were adopted that year.
Suzie was part of the legal team that supported CIPPIC’s intervention in R v Jarvis and R v Downes. The Jarvis case involved a high-school teacher who had used a secret camera pen to take images of his female students for a sexual purpose. In its 2019 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada clarified the term “reasonable expectation of privacy” in the criminal voyeurism provision. The SCC found that the girls in this case did have a reasonable expectation of privacy in those circumstances and set out a contextual analysis for future cases. This was a key case in the jurisprudence related to privacy and image-based abuse. Downes, another voyeurism case, will be before the Supreme Court in the fall of 2022.
Outside of academia, Suzie Dunn has worked with several organizations that address gender equality or technology issues. She currently sits on advisory committee with the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund that addresses issues related to technology-facilitated gender based violence. She is a senior fellow at CIGI where she is working on a global project to combat online gender-based violence. She assisted the British Columbia Society of Transitions Houses develop their Tech-Safety Toolkit. She is also an associate member of the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Law Technology and Society. She was called to the Ontario bar in 2016.
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About Suzie Dunn
Suzie Dunn is an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie’s Schulich School of Law where she teaches Contracts and Judicial Decision Making, Law and Technology, Intellectual Property, and Legal Ethics. In 2021-2022 she coached Dalhousie’s Harold G Fox Moot winning moot team. While studying for her PhD at the University of Ottawa she acted as a part time professor where she taught contracts law and the law of images. She was awarded a prize in 2021 for excellence in part-time teaching.
Her research centers on the intersections of gender, equality, technology and the law, with a specific focus the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, deepfakes, and impersonation in digital spaces. She was awarded the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Scholarship for her PhD research. In 2021, she was the recipient of the Greenberg Prize for Feminist Research.
As an innovative thinker with a deep passion for human rights and technology, she has published and presented her work both nationally and internationally on issues including the importance of internet connectivity for northern youth, the application of Canadian law to deepfake technology, and civil responses to the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.
In 2018, she worked as a policy advisory with the Digital Inclusion Lab at Global Affairs Canada in drafting two international commitments to end gender-based violence in digital contexts, including the G7’s “Charlevoix Commitment to End Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Abuse and Harassment in Digital Contexts” and the United Nations Human Rights Committee’s resolution titled “Accelerating Efforts to Eliminate Violence against Women and Girls: Preventing and Responding to Violence against Women and Girls in Digital Contexts”, both of which were adopted that year.
Suzie was part of the legal team that supported CIPPIC’s intervention in R v Jarvis and R v Downes. The Jarvis case involved a high-school teacher who had used a secret camera pen to take images of his female students for a sexual purpose. In its 2019 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada clarified the term “reasonable expectation of privacy” in the criminal voyeurism provision. The SCC found that the girls in this case did have a reasonable expectation of privacy in those circumstances and set out a contextual analysis for future cases. This was a key case in the jurisprudence related to privacy and image-based abuse. Downes, another voyeurism case, will be before the Supreme Court in the fall of 2022.
Outside of academia, Suzie Dunn has worked with several organizations that address gender equality or technology issues. She currently sits on advisory committee with the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund that addresses issues related to technology-facilitated gender based violence. She is a senior fellow at CIGI where she is working on a global project to combat online gender-based violence. She assisted the British Columbia Society of Transitions Houses develop their Tech-Safety Toolkit. She is also an associate member of the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Law Technology and Society. She was called to the Ontario bar in 2016.
| 2021 - Present | Assistant Professor, Dalhousie University Schulich School of Law ‐ Law and Technology Institute | |
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| 2018 - 2021 | Part-time Professor, University of Ottawa ‐ Faculty of Common Law | |
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Disciplines
Research Interests
Grants
| 2022 - Present | Identifying the Prevalence and Impact of Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence with a Focus on Access to services |
| Research Nova Scotia | |
| New Health Investigator Grant | |
| Role: Associate | |
| $94,833 | |
| 2021 - Present | Combatting Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence: Supporting Young People in Schools, Social Relationships and on Social Media |
| Social Science and Humanities Research Council | |
| Insight Grant | |
| Role: Co-investigator | |
| $399,974 | |
| 2020 | Taking on Technology Facilitated Violence: Advancing and Sharing Knowledge on Technology Facilitated Violence (Academics, Practitioners, Policymakers, and Civil Society) |
| Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council | |
| Connections Grant | |
| Role: Collaborator | |
| $23,793 | |
| 2018 | A Feminist and Indigenous Examination of the National Inquiry: Lessons and Next Steps (Symposium) |
| Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council | |
| Partnership Engage Grant | |
| Role: Co-Applicant |
Professional Service and Affiliations
| 2021 - Present | Associate Member, Centre for Law Technology and Society | 2020 - Present | Senior Fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation | 2019 - Present | Technology-Facilitated Violence Advisory Committee Member, Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund | 2016 - Present | Member: Lawyer, Ontario Bar Association |
Honors and Awards
- 2022 Excellence in Teaching Award (Nominated), Dalhousie Law Students' Society
- 2021 Greenberg Prize for Feminist Research, University of Ottawa
- 2021 Part-time Professor Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of Ottawa
- 2020-2021 École Polytechnique Commemorative Award Canadian Federation of University Women
- 2019-2020 Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplements Scholarship, Social Science and Humanities Research Council
- 2019-2022 Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
- 2019-2021 Excellence Scholarship University of Ottawa
Courses
| 2017 - Present | PhD in Law, University of Ottawa ‐ Faculty of Law | |
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| 2017 | Master of Laws: LLM with a Specialization in Law and Technology, University of Ottawa ‐ Faculty of Law | |
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| 2015 | Juris Doctor: JD with a Specialization in Law and Technology, Graduated Cum Laude, University of Ottawa ‐ Faculty of Law | |
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| 2009 | Bachelor of Arts, Graduated with Distinction, Vancouver Island University ‐ Global Studies | |
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Links
Contact Information
Weldon Law Building
6061 University Ave
PO Box 15000
Halifax, NS B3H 4R2
Email: suzie.dunn@dal.ca