Hugh (he/him) joins West Coast’s Marine team from the First Nations Land Management Resource Centre, where he supported First Nations exercising their inherent right to govern their lands, environment and resources.
Early in his legal career, Hugh (he/him) worked as a legislative assistant in the House of Commons for a senior Member of Parliament and former cabinet minister who was a pioneering champion of strong environmental laws and climate mitigation. Later, Hugh was legal counsel at the Canadian Environmental Law Association in Ontario and at East Coast Environmental Law in Nova Scotia. As Canadian legal officer at the Secretariat of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, he examined allegations of failures by Canada to enforce its environmental laws. Hugh has provided strategic, legislative, government relations, research, writing and other support to West Coast and many environmental groups, including as part of our Strong Environmental Laws efforts from 2017 to 2022.
Born and raised in Tkaronto (Toronto), Hugh has guided whitewater canoe trips in Ontario, Quebec, and the Northwest Territories. He and his partner now live, work, and paddle canoes and kayaks in the traditional territories of the Lekwungen-speaking Peoples, the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations (in Victoria). His daughter is a student and athlete in the Maritimes.
Hugh was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1996, and to the Bar of Nova Scotia in 2008.