Christopher Waters was born in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1973, following an unanticipated early departure from secondary school, he enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces and spent the next 28 years in a variety of roles and appointments in the Army. He participated in exercises and operations in Canada and in Australia, Norway, Germany and Cyprus. He was initially trained and employed as a reconnaissance patrolman, an anti-tank guided missile gunner and, after having earned an officer’s commission, was employed as an armoured reconnaissance troop leader, an armoured squadron commander and a higher headquarters senior staff officer.
In 2001 Christopher switched career paths. After completing law school and articles, joined the Office of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) as a military lawyer. As a member of JAG, he has worked in administrative law and grievances, and also served as the Deputy Judge Advocate at Canadian Forces Base Kingston and concurrently as an adjunct professor at the Royal Military College. Christopher deployed twice in Afghanistan as the senior legal advisor to the Commander of the Canadian contribution to the International Security and Assistance Force, first in Kabul (2005) and then Kandahar (2009-2010). On return from Kandahar he was appointed the Director of the Canadian Forces Military Law Centre in Kingston. Christopher retired in 2014 in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He resides in Kingston, where he earned a PhD in International Law at Queen’s and continues his teaching career as a sessional instructor at both Queen’s and St Lawrence College.
For his LLM thesis, Christopher examined military employment law and policy, in particular the balance between statutory requirement to keep members of the Canadian Armed Forces operationally effective and the duty to accommodate disabled employees in Canadian employment law.
Christopher’s PhD research interests are motivated by exposure to international military operations and his experience providing legal advice amid uncertain legal frameworks within difficult and violent peace support missions abroad. Consequently his research revolved around seeking means to reconcile the tension between international human rights law and international humanitarian law in asymmetric conflict.
Christopher holds a BA in Economics and Political Science (Manitoba), an MBA and LLB (New Brunswick) and an LLM and PhD (Queen’s). Christopher is a member of the Law Society of New Brunswick and a life member of the Canadian Bar Association.