Benjamin Foucault (they/he/she) is a law student at the Peter A. Allard School of Law who cares deeply about community, land, and making the law more accountable to those it has historically harmed. They are transmasculine, non-binary, disabled, and mad, and their worldview is shaped by lived experience, relational teachings, and the slow process of unlearning. Ben’s family is mostly French Canadian, with some Algonquin ancestry. They grew up in Sudbury, Ontario on the traditional territory of the Atikameksheng Anishnawbek and have lived on the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations since 2019.
Before law school, Ben worked as a zookeeper, wildlife educator, and community facilitator. They hold a BSc in Zoology from the University of Guelph, specializing in Marine Biology. They began a Masters in Oceans and Fisheries at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries under the supervision of Dr. Rashid Sumaila, but chose to leave the program to pursue law, realizing they could have a greater impact by working with communities at the front lines of legal change. Their relationship with environmental justice deepened through the Ocean Bridge program, where they took part in a learning journey in Haida Gwaii and supported youth-led ocean projects. In 2019, they represented Canada at the Our Ocean Youth Leadership Summit in Oslo, Norway.
Ben has long been involved in equity and advocacy work. They volunteered with Get REAL to reduce 2SLGBTQIA+ discrimination in schools, organized with Fridays for Future during the global youth climate strikes, and trained service dogs with Autism Service Dogs of Canada. In law school, they served as an equity representative for the Law Students’ Society and the UBC Disability Alliance.
Their legal work focuses on environmental and reproductive justice, Indigenous legal traditions, and family law. They have supported Indigenous clients through Kilala Lelum Health and Healing Cooperative and participated in the 2025 Kawaskimhon Moot in Thunder Bay. After writing a paper on IVF access for QTBIPOC communities in their Sexuality and the Law course, Ben will continue this research with Professor Erez Aloni in the fall. In 2025, they received the Chief Justice Richard Wagner Award.
Ben first joined West Coast Environmental Law as a Pro Bono Students Canada volunteer and is thrilled to be back this summer. In their free time, Ben is training for the 2025 RVM half-marathon, writing reflections on Medium, and dreaming up utopian futures where interdependence, dignity, and belonging are at the heart of how we live and care for one another.