Catherine Savard

Catherine Savard is a Canadian human rights lawyer. She is Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Law student at the University of Oxford, supervised by Prof. Freya Baetens. Her research focuses on the emerging prohibition of ecocide in international criminal, humanitarian and human rights law. Her research interests mainly lie in international criminal, humanitarian and human rights law, as well as transitional justice. She holds a master's degree (LL.M.) with honours from Laval University, where she wrote a thesis on genocidal intent in international law.

Before joining Oxford, Catherine clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada with Justice Nicholas Kasirer, and at the Québec Court of Appeal with Justice Jean Bouchard. She also served as a legal adviser for Canada's National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and co-wrote the Inquiry's 'Legal Analysis on Genocide'. From 2017 to 2021, she co-coordinated a multi-million Canada-wide research project, the 'Canadian Partnership for International Justice', led by Prof. Fannie Lafontaine at Laval University. The Partnership brought together prominent international scholars, practitioners and NGOs, with a view of co-creating knowledge to fight against impunity for international crimes. The Partnership notably won the prestigious Governor General’s Innovation Award, which recognizes and celebrates exceptional and transformational Canadian innovations.