Sessional Lecturer: CHL3005H - Legal Approaches to Bioethics

Date Posted: 06/27/2025
Req ID: 43976
Faculty/Division: Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Department: Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Campus: St. George (Downtown Toronto)

SESSIONAL LECTURER for Fall 2025 Term, at .5 FCE – CUPE 3902 Unit 3

Course# & Course Title: CHL3005H: Legal Approaches to Bioethics

Course Description:

CHL 3005H is a required course in the first term of the Master of Health Sciences (MHSc) in Bioethics program. The MHSc in Bioethics is a two-year professional Master's degree program. Its students are early and mid-career professionals who work in healthcare, public health or other health-related settings. The MHSc in Bioethics has a hybrid program format with both in-person and online components. The in-person component is conducted during a Residency Week in September at the University of Toronto on the St. George Campus. The online component is conducted during six 2-hr synchronous online seminar sessions scheduled through the Fall Term.  

CHL 3005H explores the law as a discipline within the interdisciplinary field of bioethics. Students will be introduced to seminal Canadian legal cases and court rulings influencing health policies and practices, explore the nature and orientation of legal and human rights reasoning on bioethics topics in health, assess critically the ethical underpinnings of key federal and provincial legislation and other regulatory practices in health, and explore the role and limits of current health law in addressing emerging bioethics issues and challenges in an evolving health landscape. A cross-cutting theme will be the concept of ethical justice (and related concepts of fairness, equality, and equity) in law and human rights, including substantive, procedural, and distributive aspects.

Course Learning Objectives: 

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Describe the fundamental features of health law and human rights in Canada 
• Describe the role and influence of the law in health care, health research and public health 
• Identify the background premises and orientations of legal reasoning on bioethics issues in Canada
• Distinguish between legal and ethical reasoning in bioethics 
• Apply legal and ethical concepts of justice to analyze and discuss bioethics issues in policy and practice   

Estimated course enrolment: 18                     

Estimated TA support: n/a                                                        

Schedule:

• In-Person: Residency Week - September 15-19 (8hrs TBD) 
• Online: Seminar Sessions – Thursdays, 9-11am: September 11, October 2 & 23, November 6 & 20, December 4                                                                                                         

Sessional dates: September – December 2025

Salary:            $9,820.70 (Sessional Lecturer I)

$10,510.04 (Sessional Lecturer I Long Term)

                             $10,510.04 (Sessional Lecturer II)

                             $10,760.28 (Sessional Lecturer II Long Term)

                             $10,760.28 (Sessional Lecturer III)

                             $11,030.36 (Sessional Lecturer III Long Term)

Please note that should rates stipulated in the Collective Agreement vary from rates stated in this posting, the rates stated in the Collective Agreement shall prevail.

Minimum Qualifications: LLB or JD and Graduate Degree in Bioethics, Health Policy, or related field. Detailed knowledge of Canadian health law. Direct experience with applying Canadian health law to bioethical issues in health policy and practice. Experience teaching graduate courses.

Preferred Qualifications: Previous experience teaching registered health professionals preferred.

Description of duties: All normal duties related to teaching of a university credit course, including developing and delivering course content; developing, administering and gradin assignments; maintaining regular communication with students; managing the Quercus course page; and calculating and submitting course grades.

Application process: 

All individuals interested in this position must submit a Curriculum Vitae, and the CUPE 3902 Unit 3 application form (PDF or RTF, also available at https://uoft.me/CUPE-3902-Unit-3-Application-Form) to:

c/o   Christine Lowe

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

University of Toronto

Email:  christine.lowe@utoronto.ca  

Closing Date: 07/18/2025, 11:59PM EDT
**

This job is posted in accordance with the CUPE 3902 Unit 3 Collective Agreement. 

It is understood that some announcements of vacancies are tentative, pending final course determinations and enrolment. Should rates stipulated in the collective agreement vary from rates stated in this posting, the rates stated in the collective agreement shall prevail.  

Preference in hiring is given to qualified individuals advanced to the rank of Sessional Lecturer II or Sessional Lecturer III in accordance with Article 14:12 of the CUPE 3902 Unit 3 collective agreement.

Please note: Undergraduate or graduate students and postdoctoral fellows of the University of Toronto are covered by the CUPE 3902 Unit 1 collective agreement rather than the Unit 3 collective agreement, and should not apply for positions posted under the Unit 3 collective agreement.