Wanda Wiegers (she/her)

• LLM (Toronto) 1987
• BA (Saskatchewan) 1983
• LLB (Saskatchewan) 1978

Professor Wiegers joined the faculty at USask Law in 1987. She had earlier articled in Nova Scotia (1978-79) and practised law in Saskatchewan (1979-85). Her research interests focus on the political economy of law, feminist and critical legal theory, family law, children and the law, gender and law, domestic violence, women and the welfare state, and poverty law.

• Family Law I
• Family Law II
• Children and the Law
• Economic Inequality, Poverty and Law

Books

J. Koshan, J. Mosher and W. Wiegers, 2020. Domestic Violence and Access to Justice: A Mapping of Relevant Laws, Policies and Justice System Components Across Canada, 2020 CanLIIDocs 3160 (updated in July 2022)

Susan B. Boyd, Dorothy E. Chunn, Fiona Kelly and Wanda Wiegers, Autonomous Motherhood? A Socio-Legal Study of Choice and Constraint. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015.

W. Wiegers and F. Douglas, 2007. Civil Domestic Violence Legislation in Saskatchewan: an assessment of the first decade. University of Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre.

W. Wiegers, 2002. The Framing of Poverty as “Child Poverty” and Its Implications for Women (Ottawa: Status of Women).

 

Chapters in Books

W. Wiegers, 2022. "Familial Ideology, Privatization and Care Arrangements for Children in the Family Law and Child Protection Systems" in Regine Tremblay and Erez Aloni eds., House Rules: Changing Families, Evolving Norms, and the Role of Law (Vancouver: UBC Press) 141-177

J. Koshan, J. Mosher and W. Wiegers, 2020. “The Costs of Justice in Domestic Violence Cases” in Trevor CW Farrow and Lesley A Jacobs, editors, The Justice Crisis: The Cost and Value of Accessing Justice (Vancouver: UBC Press) 149-170; long version on SSRN

K. Busby, J. Koshan & W. Wiegers, 2008. “Civil Domestic Violence Legislation in the Prairie Provinces: A Comparative Legal Analysis” in Jane Ursel, Leslie Tutty, and Janice LeMaitre, eds., What's Law Got To Do with It? The Law, Specialized Courts and Domestic Violence in Canada. (Toronto: Cormorant Books), 197-227.

W. Wiegers, 2008. “Child-Centred Advocacy and the Invisibility of Women in Poverty Discourse and Social Policy” in Dorothy E. Chunn, Susan B. Boyd, and Hester Lessard eds. Reaction and Resistance: Feminism, Law and Social Change (Vancouver: UBC Press) 266-306.

 

Papers in peer-reviewed journals 

J. Mosher, J. Koshan and W. Wiegers, "Doing More, Doing Better? A Critique of the Criminalization of Coercive Control", Journal of Law and Social Policy (2025, forthcoming)

J. Koshan, W. Wiegers, J. Mosher, W. Chan and M. Keet, 2023. “Introduction: Domestic Violence and Access to Justice within the Family Law and Intersecting Legal Systems” (2023) 35 Canadian Journal of Family Law 1-32

W. Wiegers, 2023. “The Intersection of Child Protection and Family Law Systems in Cases of Domestic Violence” (2023) 35:1 Canadian Journal of Family Law 183-239

W. Wiegers, “Child Placement and the Legal Claims of Foster Caregivers” (2019) 52:2 University of British Columbia Law Review 631-695

W. Wiegers, 2017.  “Commodification and the Allocation of Care and Responsibility for Children”, 67.2 University of Toronto Law Journal 206-246. 

W. Wiegers & Dorothy E. Chunn, 2017.  “Choice and Sole Motherhood in Canada 1965-2010:  An Interview Study,” 61 Women’s Studies International Forum 38-47.

W. Wiegers & Dorothy E. Chunn, 2015.  “Stigma and Resistance: The Social Experience of Choosing Sole Motherhood in Canada 1965-2010” 51 Women’s Studies International Forum 42-55.

W. Wiegers, 2013.  “Assisted Conception and Equality of Familial Status in Parentage Law” (2012) 28(2) Canadian Journal of Family Law 147-239.

W. Wiegers, 2010.  “Fatherhood and Misattributed Genetic Paternity in Family Law”, 36 Queen’s law journal 623-72.

W. Wiegers, 2009. “Biology, Gender and Third Party Custody Disputes”, 47 Alberta Law Review 1-36.

W. Wiegers and M. Keet, 2009. “Collaborative Family Law and Gender Inequalities: Balancing Risks and Opportunities”, 46 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 733-772

Reprinted in Kazmierski, Vincent et al, Introduction to Legal Studies, 5e, (Ottawa: Captus Press, 2016)

Cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in Association de Mediation familiale du Quebec v Bouvier, 2021 SCC 54 at para 155

M. Keet, W. Wiegers and M. Morrison, 2008. “Client Engagement Inside Collaborative Law”, 24 Canadian Journal of Family Law 145-204.

J. Koshan and W. Wiegers, 2007. “Theorizing Civil Domestic Violence Legislation in the Context of Restructuring: A Tale of Two Provinces”. 19 Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 145-178.

reprinted in Nick Larsen & Brian Burtch, eds., Law in Society:  Canadian Readings, 3^rd ed., (Toronto: Nelson Education Ltd. 2010)  292-318.

W. Wiegers, 2001-02. “The National Child Benefit: Social Inequality under the New ‘Social Union’”, 33 Ottawa Law Review 25-93

W. Wiegers, 1994. “Compensation for Wife Abuse: Empowering Victims?”, University of British Columbia Law Review, 28, 247-307.

W. Wiegers, 1992. "Feminist Protest and the Regulation of Misogynist Speech: A Case Study of The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission v. Engineering Students' Society," Ottawa Law Review, 24, 363‑435.

W. Wiegers, 1990. “Economic Analysis of Law and ‘Private Ordering’: A Feminist Critique,” University of Toronto Law Journal, 42, 170‑206.

extract reprinted in M. Trebilcock, S.M. Waddams and M.A. Waldron, eds., Cases and Materials in Contract (Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 1994) at 17‑20.

extract (pp. 187-98 less footnotes) reprinted in J. Swan, B. Reiter and N. Bala, eds., Contracts: Cases, Notes and Materials (Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 1997) at 746-52.

W. Wiegers, 1989. “The Use of Age, Sex and Material Status as Rating Variables in Automobile Insurance”, University of Toronto Law Journal 39, 149‑210.

 

Papers in non-refereed journals 

J. Koshan, J. Mosher and W. Wiegers, "COVID-19, the Shadow Pandemic, and Access to Justice for Survivors of Domestic Violence" (2020) Osgoode Hall Law Journal 739-799 (by invitation)

Selected technical reports and briefs

J. Mosher, S. Harris, J. Koshan, and W. Wiegers, “Submission to Justice Canada on the Criminalization of Coercive Control” online at https://ablawg.ca/2023/11/02/submission-to-justice-canada-on-the-criminalization-of-coercive-control/

J. Koshan, J. Mosher, and W. Wiegers, 2021. “A Comparison of Gender-Based Violence Laws in Canada: A Report for the National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence Working Group on Responsive Legal and Justice Systems,” in Amanda Dale, Krys Maki & Rotbah Nitia, A Report to Guide the Implementation of a National Action Plan on Violence Against Women and Gender-Based Violence, April 30, 2021, Appendix F at 282-359 (30% Contribution), online at https://nationalactionplan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/NAP-Final-Report.pdf. (updated in the summer 2023, translated into French for use in domestic violence training and programming for judges by the Canadian Judicial Institute, and cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in Dunmore v Mehralian, 2025 SCC 20 at para 57)

W. Wiegers, 2019. Submission to the Ministry of Justice, Saskatchewan on Amendments to The Children’s Law Act, 1997

J. Mosher, J. Koshan and W. Wiegers, 2019. Submission to the Government of Ontario, Review of Civil and Family Legislation

W. Wiegers along with Susan B Boyd, Linda Neilson, Shaun O’Brien and the Honourable Donna Martinson, 2018. Brief of the Legal Education and Action Fund on Bill C-78, An Act to Amend the Divorce Act and related Acts before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights