Being composed of expert jurists in various branches of environmental law, the precious knowledge that abounds within the Legal Committee allows the Quebec Center for Environmental Law to position itself on the important and complex environmental issues that drive the news.

Members of the legal committee

Anne-Julie Asselin

Lawyer
Holding a Bachelor's degree in civil law and a Master's degree in common law and transnational law, Anne-Julie Asselin also…
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Holding a Bachelor’s degree in civil law and a Master’s degree in common law and transnational law, Anne-Julie Asselin also holds a degree in public affairs and international relations, concentration in public policy and environment. After a one-year internship at the Supreme Court of Canada as a law clerk with the judge Richard Wagner in 2014-2015, she joined Trudel Johnston & Lespérance, a firm specializing in class actions and public interest litigation. . She practices in the areas of environmental law and human rights and freedoms. His master’s thesis titled “A Comparative Study of Environmental Law Class Action Authorization Mechanisms in Quebec and the Common Law Provinces of Canada” earned him the La Personnelle scholarship awarded to the student who submitted the best essay in a master degree program in law.

Véronique Tousignant

Legal expert and associate
Since joining EEM in 2008, Véronique has implemented and maintained EHS (environmental, health and safety) management systems in a variety…
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Since joining EEM in 2008, Véronique has implemented and maintained EHS (environmental, health and safety) management systems in a variety of industries, including: aero-space, natural gas distribution, mining, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, printing, recycling and structural steel. She is the project manager for EHS support mandates for three facilities of an aircraft engine manufacturing client and for a natural gas distribution company.
Véronique is an experienced auditor with over 14 years of practice and has conducted more than 100 management system audits, gap analyses and legal compliance audits. From 2012 to 2020, she was the lead on verification and audit projects for a major electricity producer and distributor in Canada.
She has led the development of greenhouse gas inventory reports in various industries. She is also responsible for tracking of EHS legal requirements for clients in different industry sectors and has extensive knowledge of the Canadian EHS regulatory environment.

Michel Bélanger

Lawyer and co-founder of the CQDE
Me Michel Bélanger is a lawyer, specialized in environmental law and class action. He combines the dual training of lawyer…
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Me Michel Bélanger is a lawyer, specialized in environmental law and class action. He combines the dual training of lawyer and notary, holds a master’s degree in public law from the University of Montreal and a diploma of specialized graduate studies in environmental law and land use planning from Robert Schuman University, (Strasbourg, France).
He has been a lecturer in environmental law since 1990 at various universities. He has served as an additional Commissioner to the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) and senior research associate at the Chair in Ethics and the Environment at Hydro-Québec / McGill (1993-1996).
He is very involved in the environmental movement, particularly as co-founder of the Quebec Environmental Law Center (CQDE), President of Nature Quebec, and having served as a director of the Rivière Foundation, the Montérégie Land Trust Pinnacle and the STOP group.
He has acted pro bono in various cases, notably in the case of drilling in Cacouna against TransCanada and before the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of Ciment du St-Laurent on behalf of Friends of the Earth and C.Q.D.E.
In 2011, he won the Pro Bono-Rajpattie-Persaud Award from the Canadian Bar Association, recognizing the outstanding contribution of an ABC-Quebec member to the well-being of his community.
In 2015, he was awarded the Lawyer Emeritus distinction by the Law Society of Quebec for his involvement in environmental law.

Sébastien Brodeur-Girard

Lawyer and professor
Sébastien Brodeur-Girard is a member of the Barreau du Québec (Quebec bar association) and a professor at the School of…
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Sébastien Brodeur-Girard is a member of the Barreau du Québec (Quebec bar association) and a professor at the School of Indigenous Studies of Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT), where he teaches, among other things, the law of Indigenous peoples and Indigenous legal systems. He holds a doctorate in history from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and has worked for several years in the social sciences field. He is the author of popular historical works, textbooks, and educational materials. He is currently writing a doctoral thesis in law for Université de Montréal on the reconciliation of Indigenous and Western state law systems, for which he received a grant from the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. He recently served as co-director of research for the Public Inquiry Commission on relations between Indigenous Peoples and certain public services: listening, reconciliation and progress. In his spare time, he is also an environmental activist in his adopted region of Abitibi.

Christopher Campbell-Duruflé

PhD Candidate
Christopher Campbell-Duruflé has been a member of the Barreau du Québec (Quebec bar association) since 2010 and is a doctoral…
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Christopher Campbell-Duruflé has been a member of the Barreau du Québec (Quebec bar association) since 2010 and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto. He holds a bachelor of laws degree from McGill University and a master of laws degree in international human rights law from the University of Notre-Dame and was a research lawyer at the Court of Appeal of Quebec for the former Chief Justice of Quebec, the Honourable J.J. Michel Robert.

Me Campbell-Duruflé’s research focuses on the accountability mechanisms of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change and was funded by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (Joseph-Armand Bombardier Scholarship). He was accredited to the United Nations climate negotiations from 2015 to 2019, where he was a member of the Burkina Faso delegation and represented the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law.

Me Campbell-Duruflé has also worked as a lawyer at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and at the office of Lawyers Without Borders Canada in Colombia and was a member of the team of the Clinique internationale de défense des droits humains de l’UQÀM (UQAM international human rights clinic, or CIDDHU) as a lawyer-supervisor for the case of Nadège Dorzema et al. v. Dominican Republic.

Cédric Gagnon-Ducharme

Lawyer
Bachelor of UQAM and lawyer passionate about juridic environmental issues, holder of a master degree in business affairs and working…
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Bachelor of UQAM and lawyer passionate about juridic environmental issues, holder of a master degree in business affairs and working today in industries, Cedric has the strong conviction that in this period of environmental emergency, the means of monitoring, action and legal information of the CQDE are more relevant than ever for Quebec society.

Sylvain Gaudreault

Director, legal expert, teacher
A graduate in history and law and a teacher at Cégep de Jonquière from 2001 to 2007, Sylvain Gaudreault was…
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A graduate in history and law and a teacher at Cégep de Jonquière from 2001 to 2007, Sylvain Gaudreault was the member of the National Assembly of Quebec for Jonquière from 2007 to 2022. He was Minister of Transport and Minister of Municipal Affairs, Regions and Land Occupancy from 2012 to 2014 then leader of Quebec’s official opposition in 2016. After retiring from politics in 2022, he became director general of Cégep de Jonquière where he has served since December 2022. He is the author of “Pragmatique. Quand le climat dicte l’action politique” (being pragmatic: when the climate dictates political action) (published by Somme toute, 2021).

Jean-François Girard

Lawyer
Biologist and lawyer specializing in environmental law and municipal law, Jean-François Girard practices in the law firm Dufresne Hébert Comeau…
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Biologist and lawyer specializing in environmental law and municipal law, Jean-François Girard practices in the law firm Dufresne Hébert Comeau where he offers, since 2002, a particular expertise to the municipalities who wish to take up the challenges of sustainable development and who want to improve the quality of the living environment of their citizens. Mr. Girard was a member of the board of directors of the Quebec Center for Environmental Law (CQDE) from 2002 to 2016. He was employed, responsible for the Conservation and Biodiversity sector, from September 1998 to January 2002.

In addition to publishing articles in trade journals, he regularly presents lectures and training seminars to elected officials and citizen groups in the areas of law and the environment. He is also a regular speaker at the Conservation Workshops, where he has presented several conferences on recent developments in conservation law.

Roland Ouedraogo

Doctor
Holder of a master's degree in business law from Université Thomas Sankara of Ouagadougou and a master's degree in European…
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Holder of a master’s degree in business law from Université Thomas Sankara of Ouagadougou and a master’s degree in European Studies from the Global Studies Institute of the University of Geneva, Touwendé Roland Ouédraogo also holds an LLM in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. The recipient of a number of grants and a lecturer at UQAM and UdeM, he is passionate about protecting the environment through mobilizing the theoretical framework of human rights. Currently a doctoral student in the final stages of drafting his thesis at UQAM, his research focuses on the human right to a healthy environment in international law: an analysis in light of practices by African states. In addition to publishing some of his reflections in journal articles and blogs, he has also participated in colloquia and conferences and last May he was awarded a prize for the best presentation during the colloquium of the Student Circle of the Société québécoise de droit international. His research interests also include comparative environmental law.

Elisabeth Patterson

Lawyer
Elisabeth Patterson is a lawyer and partner at Dionne Schulze s.e.n.c. and practices primarily in Aboriginal and commercial law. She…
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Elisabeth Patterson is a lawyer and partner at Dionne Schulze s.e.n.c. and practices primarily in Aboriginal and commercial law. She represents Aboriginal entities (governments, businesses and non-profit organizations). Elisabeth Patterson advises clients on governance, Aboriginal consultation, environmental licensing processes and the protection of Aboriginal culture and personal information. She also drafts and negotiates various types of commercial contracts. Elisabeth is involved in training and legal reform projects in Latin America, including Lawyers Without Borders Canada, and has worked on a case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. She works in French, English and Spanish.

Marc-Antoine Racicot

Lawyer and doctoral student
Marc-Antoine Racicot has been a lawyer and a member of the Barreau du Québec (Quebec bar association) since September 2017.…
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Marc-Antoine Racicot has been a lawyer and a member of the Barreau du Québec (Quebec bar association) since September 2017. He is currently a doctoral candidate in law, writing his thesis entitled Comment assurer un développement durable au Canada, sans perte nette de milieux humides et hydriques: une étude comparative des réglementations des provinces canadiennes (How to ensure sustainable development in Canada, without net loss of wetlands and water: a comparative study of the regulations of Canadian provinces). His fields of interest are national and international environmental law, the international climate system, wetlands and biodiversity protection, sustainable development, and capacity building in developing countries.

He graduated from Université de Sherbrooke in 2015 (LL.B., M.B.A.) and obtained his master of laws degree from Université Laval in 2019 (LL.M.). Prior to his graduate studies, he completed his articling at the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (Quebec occupational standards, equity, health, and safety commission, or CNESST). His international studies have taken him to Lithuania (Vilnius University) and Belgium (Catholic University of Louvain) and will soon prompt a move to France (University of Avignon).

His master’s thesis, entitled L’effort climatique canadien et le développement durable : l’encadrement réglementaire des mécanismes de tarification du carbone et des autorisations de nouveaux oléoducs (The Canadian climate effort and sustainable development: the regulatory framework for carbon pricing mechanisms and new oil pipeline approvals), earned him a place on the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies’ Honour Roll and an award from the Goldcorp Research and Innovation Chair in Natural Resources and Energy Law for the best thesis in 2019. He is also a research associate at the Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science (QCBS).

David Robitaille

Lawyer and professor
David Robitaille has been a professor at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law for ten years (he lives in…
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David Robitaille has been a professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law for ten years (he lives in Quebec). He teaches rights and freedoms and constitutional law. He is currently researching the role of municipalities and the fundamental rights of citizens in environmental protection, particularly with respect to the exploitation and transportation of natural resources in the context of federalism and the sharing of natural resources. legislative powers in Canada. His recent research, publications, and lectures have focused on the applicability of provincial laws to federally regulated companies (for example, rail, road, air and pipeline companies) and the scope of the right to a healthy environment recognized in the Quebec Charter of the right and the liberty of the person. He has been a member of the CQDE since 2014 and is part of its legal committee. In this capacity, he actively collaborates with the management and lawyers of the CQDE on various legal issues. He has also been active in the media and citizen groups to make the applicability of Québec’s environmental laws known to federal companies such as TransCanada. For the past two years, he has also served on the Advisory Commission on the Environment and Sustainable Development of the City of Gatineau. Finally, he volunteered to defend the municipality of Restigouche, sued by a private company for $ 1.5 million for wanting to protect his drinking water.

Stéphanie Roy

Lawyer and PHD Student
Stéphanie Roy has been a member of the Barreau since 2011 and has worked as a lawyer in insurance law…
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Stéphanie Roy has been a member of the Barreau since 2011 and has worked as a lawyer in insurance law and civil liability until 2013. Wishing to contribute to the development of knowledge about the current environmental crisis, she subsequently completed a Master’s degree in law, specializing in the environment, at McGill University in 2015. His thesis, entitled The distribution of risks related to the exploitation of hydrocarbons of Old Harry: study of the responsibility in the event of a spill, moreover has won the Michel-Robert Prize and will be published by Éditions Yvon Blais.

She is currently a doctoral candidate in administrative and environmental law at Université Laval, under the direction of Professor Pierre Lemieux. The subject of her research is the judicial review of the administrative acts of the Administration in environmental matters. Stéphanie is also a member of the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Law and an associate researcher with McGill’s Economics for the Anthropocene project.

Prunelle Thibault-Bédard

Lawyer and professor
Prunelle Thibault-Bédard is a lawyer and trainer in environmental law and is a member of the board of directors of…
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Prunelle Thibault-Bédard is a lawyer and trainer in environmental law and is a member of the board of directors of the CQDE. She has practiced solo since 2015 and specializes in environmental legal compliance, that is, she advises companies and organizations interested in improving their understanding of environmental law in order to better respect it. She teaches environmental law in business and academic contexts, including the environmental law course at the Master’s degree in Environment at the University of Sherbrooke. Prunelle holds a degree in Comparative Law from McGill University and a Master’s degree in Environmental Security from Universidad para la Paz, an international university mandated by the United Nations.

Hugo Tremblay

Lawyer and assistant professor
Hugo Tremblay has been an assistant professor at the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Law since November 2014. His research…
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Hugo Tremblay has been an assistant professor at the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Law since November 2014. His research focuses on the environmental laws on natural resources, energy and the environment.
Prior to this, Hugo practiced professional liability and insurance law litigation for a few years. He was also an administrator and vice-president of the Quebec Center for Environmental Law, and worked at the World Water Council.

Hugo is a graduate of McGill University (BA), Université de Montréal (LL.B.), Unniversité Laval (LL.M.), and the Center for Water Law, Policy and Science of the University of Dundee financed by the UNESCO (PhD). He completed a postdoctoral position at the Public Law Research Center of the Université de Montréal Faculty of Law. He has been a lawyer at the Law Society of Quebec since 2001.

Hélène Mayrand

Lawyer and professor
Professor Mayrand holds a Bachelor of Law from Sherbrook University, a Master of Law from Cambridge University and a PhD…
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Professor Mayrand holds a Bachelor of Law from Sherbrook University, a Master of Law from Cambridge University and a PhD of Law from Toronto University. She worked as a clerk for the Federal Court of Appeal and co-founded the Critical Legal Research Laboratory. She now teaches Immigration and Refugee Law, Legal Interpretation, and International Relations Theory and International Law Theory. Professor Mayrand’s research focuses on Immigration and Refugee Law as well as Environmental Law, both international and domestic. She has a special interest in developing critical approaches to the practice of Law.