Government and Public Administration Stream

Faculty Advisor: Professor Akis Psygkas 

The curricular stream in Government and Public Administration (GPA) focuses on the nature and scope of government power. While most courses in the JD curriculum focus on judicial reasoning and the creation of law by judges, the courses in the GPA stream deal primarily with the exercise of state power through statutes and administrative action.

Core courses in this stream (including Administrative Law, Indigenous Peoples and the Law, and others) explain and explore the authority of Canada’s various orders of government, while others (such as our advanced constitutional offerings) explore the limits that have been placed upon state authority. Other topics featured in the GPA stream include the judicial review of executive action, the courts’ response to legislative attempts to alter the common law, and the many functions of specific statutory tribunals.

Western Faculty who teach and research in the GPA field have produced research, published books, and delivered lectures that have influenced the development of public law in Canada and abroad. Over the last several years Western Law’s GPA program has managed to attract some of the world’s top scholars to deliver public lectures and seminars. In recent years, these have included Jeremy Waldron (New York University/Oxford), Lawrence Solum (Georgetown), Jeffrey Goldsworthy (Monash), and Aileen Kavanagh (Trinity College, Dublin).

Courses

Required

  • Administrative Law
  • Indigenous Peoples and the Law
  • Statutory Interpretation

Highly Recommended 

  • Canadian Human Rights Law
  • Environmental Law
  • Labour Law

Electives

  • Advanced Labour Law
  • Advanced Public Law
  • Competition Law
  • Comparative Constitutional
    Law
  • Comparative Copyright Law
  • Current Issues in Public Law
  • Healthcare Law and Policy
  • Immigration and Refugee
    Law
  • Intellectual Property
  • Labour Arbitration Law and Procedure
  • Wilson Moot
  • Laskin Moot
  • Mining Law and
    Sustainability
  • Municipal and Land Use
    Planning Law
  • Social Policy and the Tax
    and Transfer System
 

* NOTE: not all courses are offered every year

Relevant Co-Curricular Activities