Environmental Defence is one of Canada’s leading environmental action organizations. It challenges, and inspires change in government, business and people to ensure a greener, healthier and prosperous life for all. Environmental Defence has long advocated for protection of Ontario’s Greenbelt – the largest in the world – and for more effective land use policies across the country. Since its founding more than twenty five years ago, the organization has worked with countless local communities to combat destructive aggregate projects and modernize laws and policies related to the aggregate industry.
Panel Representative: Dr. Rick Smith
Mr. Smith is a prominent Canadian author and environmentalist. He is Executive Director of Environmental Defence (www.EnvironmentalDefence.ca) and co-author of the international bestseller “Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health”, a surprising look at common pollutants and the ease with which they accumulate in the human body. Rick holds a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Guelph and has worked as Executive Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Canada and the U.K., and as Chief of Staff to the leader of the federal New Democratic Party. He has extensive public policy experience, including in the area of aggregates, and has led efforts to create the federal Species at Risk Act and new Ontario Endangered Species Act; the world’s largest Greenbelt, now enacted across southern Ontario; and Canada’s recent world-leading decision to ban the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles. Rick has been a member of the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario’s Multi-Stakeholder Advisory Committee and a Director of both the Oak Ridges Moraine and Friends of the Greenbelt Foundations. He lives in Toronto with his wife and their two young sons.