Pandemic Injustice : Navigating Legal and Policy Lines During the Covid-19 Pandemic

This edited collection sheds light on how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing social issues, and it stresses the importance of understanding, analyzing, and critiquing law and policy decisions during times of crisis. Specifically, this collection brings together a diverse array of scholarly work that highlights various legal and policy-related topics, including litigations, Zoombombing, international students’ experiences, violence against women, sex workers’ health, governmental crisis responses, neo-vagrancy laws, period povery, and educational issues. The collection offers multi-disciplinary scholarly insights, preliminary research findings, legal and policy analysis, and educational guidelines to address unprecedented socio-legal and psychological impacts on society that have evolved since the onset of the pandemic. Further, these chapters add to the ongoing dialogue about how North American society can improve by exploring dilemmas and highlighting opportunities for positive change. Thus, this collection sheds light on how vulnerable communities have been disproportionately impacted by governments’ policies and laws since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it aims to give a different perspective on how we can move forward and address these issues to create more justice in a post-COVID society.

"This publication provides a diverse array of topics, and offers thoughtful and innovative perspectives on the impacts of COVID-19 and policy responses of governments to this pandemic in areas such as litigation, Zoombombing, international students, domestic violence, sex workers’ health, neo-vagrancy laws, and education. The overwhelming and well documented conclusion is that disadvantaged and vulnerable people were disproportionately affected in ways that exacerbated underlying inequalities. It is a timely and vital read for anyone who is concerned about social justice issues."

―Dr. A. Wayne MacKay, C.M., K.C., Professor Emeritus of Law, Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University

Shaheen Shariff, Ph.D. is a James McGill Professor at McGill University. Her work is grounded in the intersection of law and education.

Christopher Dietzel, Ph.D. is a Research Associate at McGill University. His research explores the intersections of gender, sexuality, health, safety, and technology.

Kimia Towfigh, B.C.L./J.D. is a lawyer and graduate of McGill University’s Faculty of Law. Her research interests include sustainable development, immigration policy, and tax law.