Roxanne Mykitiuk 
Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School | York University
Toronto, ON, CANADA
Roxanne Mykitiuk investigates the legal, ethical and social implications of assisted reproductive and genetic technologies.
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Biography
Roxanne Mykitiuk is an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University where she teaches disability, health and family law. She is the Director of the Disability Law Intensive clinical program. From 1990-92 she was Senior Legal Researcher for the Canadian Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies. From 2002-2006 she was a member of the Ontario Advisory Committee on Genetics and from 2005-2008 she was a member of the Ethics Committee of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada. In 2009 Roxanne was scholar in residence at the Law Commission of Ontario working on the Disability and Law Project. She is currently on the Board of Directors of ARCH Disability Law Clinic. Roxanne was the Chair of York University’s Senate from 2013-2015.
Roxanne is an active, engaged and collaborative researcher. She is the author/ co-author of numerous articles, book chapters and books investigating the legal, ethical and social implications of reproductive and genetic technologies and the legal construction and regulation of embodiment and disability. More recently her research has begun to create and investigate arts-based methods – digital stories and drama-based narratives – as a means of challenging and re-representing conceptions of disability.
She is completing work exploring the reproductive health and intergenerational justice implications of exposures to ubiquitous household toxics, especially in relation to conceptions of harm using a debility and disability justice framework. In another project, she analyzes Article 12 of the CRPD, collectively and collaboratively exploring the meaning of self-determination in health care decision making with a woman who calls herself a “schizophroenist”. In a recent SSHRC project, she is using legal research and digital story making to investigate episodic disability in the workplace and assist employers to adopt policies that are accommodating to the needs of variously positioned workers with episodic disabilities. Furthermore, Roxanne is part of an interdisciplinary team carrying out a program of research that archives, incubates, exhibits, disseminates, studies and provides access to disability art produced by disabled, mad, fat and aging/ed people through research creation activities aimed at interrogating the claim that access to art will provide disabled people with greater access to a fulfilled life beyond how full and equal access is imagined and protected under the law.
Industry Expertise (4)
Education/Learning
Research
Women
Legal Services
Areas of Expertise (9)
Health Law
Disability Law
Feminist Legal Theory
Family Law
Genetics and the Law
Assisted Reproduction Law
Reproductive Rights
Children and the Law
Bioethics
Education (4)
Columbia University School of Law: LL.M., Law 1994
University of Toronto: LL.B., Law 1989
University of Alberta: B.A., Political Science 1986
Columbia University School of Law: Degree: J.S.D, Law 2013
Affiliations (2)
- Centre for Intellectual Property Policy McGill University : Associate Member
- Health Law Institute University of Alberta : Research Associate
Links (2)
Media Appearances (1)
Why care less about the disabled fetus?
The Globe and Mail
2012-01-19
In a controversial editorial on sex selection in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, interim editor-in-chief Rajendra Kale identified female feticide as an “evil” that “devalues women.” In his view, the deliberate use of ultrasonography to identify female fetuses followed by their abortion in some ethnic groups “is about discrimination against women in its most extreme form.” But why stop at gender? What about disability?
Event Appearances (5)
Nonhuman Animal-Human Hybrid Embryo Research in Canada: Ethical and Legal Considerations
International Conference on the "Healthy" Embryo London, ON
2007-11-15
Gender Equity in Health Research in Canada
30th International Congress on Law and Mental Health Padua, Italy
2007-06-29
Characterizing the PGD Embryo: A Review of Recent Policy Positions
Ethics Matters: Joint Ethics Conference Toronto, ON
2007-06-01
Playing up Citizen Involvement: An Experiential Workshop in the Use of Theatre for Policy Development
Nobody's Child, Everybody's Children: An International Conference on New Reproductive and Genetic Technologies Nanaimo, BC
2007-05-24
Privacy and Other Ethical and Legal Issues in Emergency Contraception in Canada
2nd Gynaecology Ontario CME Programme Toronto, ON
2006-04-08
Research Grants (45)
Voices of Individuals: Collectively Exploring Self-Determination
European Research Council
2016 Insight Grant. I have been selected to work as part of an international team as a respondent to collaborate with a person who has a lived experience of schizophrenia to co-author a critical response to her experience grounded in Article 12 of the CRPD. The project is housed at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy Institute for Lifecourse and Society, Galway, Ireland. PI: Eilionoir Flynn.
From Invisibility to Inclusion: Developing and Evaluating Policies and Practices to Facilitate the Inclusion of Workers with Episodic Disabilities in Ontario Workplaces
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council $297,000 over 4 years
2016 I am one of 2 co-applicants on this grant. There are 7 collaborators.
Bodies in Translation: Activist Art, Technology, and Access to Life
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council $2,500.000 over 7 years
2016 Partnership Grant. I am a co-applicant on this grant and a member of the Management Committee and Conceptual Panel. This application was ranked 1st by SSHRC.
Regulating Relations: forming families inside and outside law's reach
Australian Research Council $421,500.00 over 4 years
2014 Project Grant with J. Millbank, I. Karpin, E. Jackson and A. Stuhmcke
Experiential Education Development Grant
Osgoode Hall Law School $4000
2013 Disability Law Intensive Program, with Marian MacGregor
Law’s Slow Violence
Osgoode Hall Law School $5000
2012 Harry Arthurs Collaborative Faculty Research Grant. Workshop with Rob Nixon: “Law’s Slow Violence.” With Dayna Scott, Ruth Buchanan, Sonia Lawrence and Peer Zumbansen
Operating Grant
Canadian Institutes of Health Research $371.202 over 3 years
2011 Nominated PI. Carla Rice ($371.202 over 3 years) I am one of 6 PI’s on this grant.
Effects of Brominated Flame Retardants on Reproductive Health and Social, Legal and Ethical Aspects
CIHR $2.5 million over five years
2009 Team Grant. Legal, Ethics and Social Aspects team with shared with co-applicants Profs. J. Nisker and D.Scott
Curriculum Development Grant – family law
Osgoode Hall Law School $2000
2008 With Susan Drummond and Shelley Kierstead
Monitoring the Human Rights of People with Disabilities in Canada
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council $998,000, over 5 years
2006 Applicant: Marcia Rioux. I am a co-applicant and the University Co-Leader for Theme III - Law and Policy
Health in an Unequal World: Global Ethics and Policy Choices
Canadian Institutes of Health Research $38,026 over 3 years
2006 Co-Applicant
Osgoode Hall Research Fellowship
Osgoode Hall Law School
2006
Summer Research Fellowship
Borden, Ladner and Gervais $10000
2006 Two fellowships of $10,000 each are offered by the national law firm, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, to promote excellence in legal scholarship.
Gender Inequities in Health Research: Towards a New Regulatory Framework
Australian Research Council $300,000 over three years
2005 With Belinda Bennett (Principal Investigator), Isabel Karpin, Wendy Rogers and Patty Peppin
Travel Grant
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council $1200
2005
Structural and Functional Annotation of the Human Genome for Disease Study
Genome Canada $22.2 million over four years. GE3Ls Project, 240,000 over four years
2005 I am Theme Leader for “Shifting Conceptions of Health, Disease, Illness, Normalcy and Disability?”
Exploring Key Issues of Sex/Gender and Disability in Genomics
Women’s Health Bureau, Health Canada $10000
2005 Principal Investigator
Travel Grant
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council $1619
2004
Curriculum Development Fund Award
Centre for Innovation Law and Policy $5000
2004
Beyond the Margins of (Dis)Ability: Enabling Women With Disabilities to Achieve Health
SSHRC $87500 over 3 years
2004 Standard Research grant. Principal Investigator
Sharing Knowledges of Risk: Citizen Engagement with Science, Law and Biotechnology
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Law Commission of Canada, Relationships in Transition competition $40000
2004 Principal Investigator
The Nexus of Law and Biology for Emerging Technologies
Australian Research Council, Linkage-International Award $51203 AUS
2003 Chief Investigator
Reproductive Autonomy: Legal and Policy Choices
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Law Commission of Canada $20000
2003 Governance and Freedom of Choice competition Collaborator
Travel Grant
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council $800
2003
Travel Grant
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council $800
2002
Travel Grant
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council $800
2001
Canadian Program on Genomics and Global Health
Genome Canada $4.5 million over 3 years
2001 (P.I. Peter Singer) Investigator
Women, Health and the Canadian Biotechnology Strategy: Synthesizing and Disseminating Results
Women’s Health Bureau, Health Canada $1500
2001 Principal Investigator
Travel Grant
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council $700
2000
Women, Health and the Canadian Biotechnology Strategy: Synthesizing and Disseminating Results
Women’s Health Bureau, Health Canada $9000
2000 Principal Investigator
The Construction of Disability and Risk in Genetic Counselling Discourse
National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH) $55675 over 2 years
1999 Co-Investigator
The Canadian Biotechnology Strategy and Law: Implications for Gender and Health
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council $6100
1999 SSHRC Special Initiative Grant: Grants to Untenured Faculty
Women’s Health: An Impact Assessment of the Canadian Biotechnology Strategy
Medical Research Council of Canada $25000
1999 Co-Investigator
The Legal Regulation and Construction of the Gendered Body and of Disability in Canadian Health Law and Policy
National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH) $22000
1999 (year two) Principal Investigator
Grant to Prepare National Strategic Workshop on Women’s Health and the New Genetics
National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH) $15000
1998 Principal Investigator
The Legal Regulation and Construction of the Gendered Body and of Disability in Canadian Health Law and Policy
National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH) $25000
1998” (year 1) Principal Investigator
Grant to Prepare National Strategic Workshop on Women’s Health and the New Genetics
National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH) $15000
1998 Co-Investigator
Travel Grant
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council $900
1997
Genetics and Breast Cancer
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council $3000
1997 Small Research Grant
Seed Funding
National Network on Environments and Women’s Health (NNEWH) $5300
1997
Travel Grant
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
1996
Research Grant
University of Alberta
1994 Central Research Fund (Vice-President's Discretionary Fund)
Research Grant
University of Alberta
1994 Central Research Fund
Travel Grant
University of Alberta
1994 Central Research Fund
Travel Grant
University of Alberta
1993 Central Research Fund
Articles (5)
Notions of Reproductive Harm in Canadian Law: Addressing Exposures to Household Chemicals as Reproductive Torts
Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law2015 This article examines the potential for prenatal exposure to harmful chemicals to be approached as reproductive torts as opposed to toxic torts. Focusing on two groups of household chemicals – brominated flame retardants and phthalates – this article identifies the ways in which prenatal injury claims and birth torts (i.e. wrongful pregnancy, wrongful birth, and wrongful life cases) can inform future litigation regarding prenatal exposures to risky household chemicals.
Understanding the Use of 'Genetic Predisposition' in Canadian Legal Decisions
McGill Journal of Law and Health2013 Since the advent of the Human Genome Project in 1989, the ethical, legal, and social implications inherent in future genetic science and its applications have worried researchers and scholars in law and ethics. Concern that the results of genetic testing might be used to discriminate against particular individuals and groups of individuals has been paramount, prompting calls for specific legislation to protect against genetic discrimination. Against this backdrop we sought to investigate instances of genetic discrimination in Canadian legal decisions.
Wrongful birth litigation and prenatal screening
Canadian Medical Association Journal2008 Canadian clinicians must be aware of new standards of care resulting from national clinical practice guidelines, both to ensure best practice and to avoid malpractice litigation. Clinical practice guidelines can reduce successful malpractice actions through physician education and they may be used in court as evidence that the standard of care was met.
Going out on a limb: prosthetics, normalcy and disputing the therapy/enhancement distinction
Medical Law Review2008 The development of genetic technologies, nano-technologies and technologies related to artificial intelligence have provoked discussion about the different uses to which they may be put; namely, their potential for therapeutic and non-therapeutic use.
The Canadian Assisted Human Reproduction Act: Protecting Women's Health While Potentially Allowing Human Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer into Non-Human Oocytes
The American Journal of Bioethics2007 Open Peer Commentaries.
