Nice to Meet you!
My NAME IS e (ellen) CAMPBELL (They/them/theirs)
My name is e (Ellen) Campbell. I am a white settler of Scottish, Norse, English, French, and German ancestry. I am a lawyer, researcher, artist, and videographer. I am an uninvited guest on unceded MÁLEXEȽ and Quw’utsun territories. I grew up on the shores of Zhooniya Zaagiigan (Lake Simcoe) and Chi’Nibiish (Lake Ontario) in Michi Saagiig territory, and so-called Mission Creek in syilx territory. My positionally as a settler/uninvited guest, queer, non binary, neurodivergent (autism spectrum, generalized anxiety, and mixed personality disorder with features of borderline personality disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder) person who experiences chronic pain informs a considerable amount of my work.
LAw Firm & Legal Work
I am Grateful to work at the Indigenous Law Research Unit as a lawyer/legal researcher at the University of Victoria. I also have my own part-time law firm focusing specifically on low bono and probono work for neurodivergent, disabled, BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+, animal, and plant communities.
Art Studio
I have my own art studio in which I focus, primarily, on legal design work, bridging the gaps between art and law. In the past, I have done various projects for Water Sustainability Collective (based at UVic), Quw'utsun Cultural Connections, the Indigenous Law Research Unit (based at UVic), NIȽ TU,O Child and Family Services Society, Radical Action for Migrants in Agriculture, and Justice and Corporate Accountability Project. I continue to take on legal design projects, including graphic recording, basic videography and animation projects, graphic design, and others. If you'd like to work with me, let me know! Schedule allowing, I am also happy to offer no or low cost training to neurodivergent, disabled, BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, especially youth, on what I do and how I do it.
SCHOLARLY Work
I have a Bachelor of English (graduation with honours, focusing on documentaries and activism), Master's in Interdisciplinary Studies, and a law degree (J.D.) with a Concentration in Environmental Law and Sustainability. My SSHRC-funded thesis highlighted colonialism and racism in the enforcement of international animal and conservation law by nonprofits. My thesis included reflections on activism in both Costa Rica and the Faroe Islands, where I also worked as a field producer on a number of video projects, including an award-winning documentary on sea turtles. It also included reflections on my practicum at the BC SPCA.
I have presented at the North American Critical Animal Studies (2022, 2019), National Animal Law (2019 and 2020), Sustainable Livelihoods & Climate Change Regulation (Hanoi, Vietnam - 2019), and Building Abolition (2019) conferences.
Past and Present Volunteer Work
- Videographer/Graphic Recorder who assists at numerous events in Quw'utsun territory (if you see someone with a confused gender identity holding an iPad or a video camera around Duncan, it's probably me).
- Volunteer for the Cowichan Watershed Board
- Note-Taker for the Cowichan Stewardship Roundtable Meetings
- Member of the North American Association for Critical Animal Studies
- Peer-Reviewer for the Animal Studies Journal
- Mentor in the UBC Disability Alliance Mentorship Program
- Legal Researcher for the University of Cambridge Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professorship
- Editor for the ILA Committee on the Role of International Law in Sustainable Natural Resources Management for Development
- Social Media Assistance with Living with the Land Society
- Researcher for Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation (on the La Rose climate litigation)
- Event Videographer for Our Children's Trust
- Legal Researcher and Field Hand at Rescue and Sanctuary for Threatened Animals and Warren Peace Bunny Sanctuary (completed 24 hours of research about Gilbert the fawn) https://www.google.ca/amp/s/beta.ctvnews.ca/local/british-columbia/2019/7/19/1_4516307.html
- Legal Researcher and Videographer for RAMA Okanagan
- Volunteer Receptionist at the YMCA
- Recreation Volunteer at Three Links Manor (Senior's Home)
LANGUAGES SPOKEN
I speak English, intermediate French, and Level 3 ASL.
