Steven Rita-Procter (he/him)

Growing up in Brantford, I have long lived as a guest on the traditional lands of the Huron-Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations, which are governed by the Dish with one spoon covenant between the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Confederacy of Ojibway and Allied Nations. As a guest, I am committed to upholding this covenant and am grateful to have the opportunity to work, live, and raise my two young children on this land.

I received a PhD in English Literature from York University in 2018, where my dissertation considered the history-writing aspect of transitional justice reports and the complex ways in which truth commissions and human rights tribunals attend to the political and cultural vicissitudes of shared traumas. As part of my doctoral work, I had the privilege of attending several human rights tribunals as both an honourary witness and as a trial monitor, and of participating in the process of bearing testimony alongside many inspirational and courageous survivors of both state and imperial violence. These experiences continue to inform my research and teaching practices, primarily through an emphasis on mindful and responsible listening.

After completing my first PhD, I embarked on a second doctoral degree at Osgoode Hall Law School, where my research focuses on the promotion of artist's resale rights (droit de suite); copyright law and the moral rights claims of artists and authors; legislative and policy solutions to 'art flipping'; the philosophy and politics of appropriation, copying, and plagiarism; and the intersection of literature, visual arts and the law, more broadly.