College of Law

Research Area(s)

Family law
Gender law and policy
Legal theory
Poverty, law, and access to justice

Professional Education

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

Profile

Professor Wiegers joined the faculty in 1987. She had earlier articled in Nova Scotia (1978-79) and practiced law in Saskatchewan (1979-85), and remains a Member of the Law Society of Saskatchewan. Her research interests focus on economic analysis of law, feminist and critical legal theory, family law, children and the law, domestic violence, women and the welfare state and poverty law.

Publications and Research Work

Books

Susan B. Boyd, Dorothy E. Chunn, Fiona Kelly and Wanda WiegersAutonomous 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, 2002).

Book chapters

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.

Selected publications 

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

Jennifer Koshan, Janet Mosher and Wanda Wiegers, “The Costs of Justice in Domestic Violence Cases” in Trevor Farrow and Les Jacobs, editors, The Cost and Value of Justice (forthcoming UBC Press, 2020); short version (in press) and long version (SSRN)

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.

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, 3rd 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.