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.

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.

François Brochu is a notary, a doctor of law (Université Aix-Marseille III), and a full professor at the Faculty of Law of Université Laval. In addition to directing the master’s program in notarial law, he contributes to the training of land surveyors (Department of Geomatics at Université Laval) and students in urban and property management (Faculty of Administration). His main areas of teaching and research are land registration and property law. He is also co-director of the Revue du notariat. In September 2018, the Minister of Higher Education awarded him the Guy-Rocher Prize, in recognition of his teaching excellence and pedagogical innovation.

A trained lawyer, experienced manager, and strategic advisor, Me Daria Hobeika’s mission is to help organizations grow in a sustainable way. 

Her aim is to take action at the intersection of governmental, social, academic, and business circles. Today, she chooses to do so by tackling climate change, a global and complex issue in which the climate strategy consulting firm she co-founded specializes. In this work, she brings to bear her in-depth and first-hand experience in the development and implementation of public policies, the workings of government, and legislative and regulatory processes. 

Me Hobeika holds bachelor’s degrees in civil law and common law from McGill University and has been a member of the Quebec Bar since 2006. She also holds a master’s degree in business administration from HEC Montréal and McGill University (executive program).

Camille is a graduate of the Université de Montréal Faculty of Law and a member of the Bar of Quebec since 2015. After a legal practice in Europe in the area of international sports, she undertook a professional transition by completing a master’s degree in environmental management at Université de Sherbrooke. Her master’s thesis combines the subjects of law and natural resource management by addressing the principle of free, prior, and informed consent by Indigenous peoples in the context of resource exploitation in northern Quebec. Camille works as a legislative and policy analyst in the department of environment, wildlife, and research at Makivik Corporation. She uses her knowledge of land and resource governance within the framework of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement and the Nunavik Inuit Land Claims Agreement in order to ensure that territorial planning, management, and use are in line with the rights, needs, and priorities of Nunavik Inuit people.

Rhéa Daher, a CPA auditor, graduated from HEC Montréal with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and holds a specialized diploma in public accounting. With more than six years of experience in an accounting firm under her belt, she has provided guidance and support for numerous clients from various spheres, including NPOs.

Environmental issues being of the utmost importance in our times, she has always wanted to use her professional skills to support this cause that is so close to her heart. Her motivation and dedication led Rhéa to become involved with the CQDE in order to support the organization’s actions and mission.

Josée Lecours is a CPA and a graduate of HEC Montréal’s Bachelor of Business Administration program. Throughout her career, she has held a number of management positions with major companies and was accounting manager of the Desjardins shared services centre until her retirement. Since then, she has acted as a mentor for CPA students and supported various charities. Environmental issues have always been close to her heart, and she wanted to devote some time to this cause. Her involvement with the CQDE will enable her to share her expertise in order to promote the organization’s mission.

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).

Elisabeth Patterson, a partner with the law firm Dionne Schulze in Montréal, advises mostly First Nation and Inuit governments and organisations in Québec on a broad range of subjects, including Aboriginal, commercial and international law, as well as governance, environmental assessment, and the duty to consult and accommodate.

Elisabeth also assists clients by negotiating agreements, often in the context of social economy projects or economic development on Indigenous lands. She also advises concerning research ethics, privacy, and the protection of Indigenous data and knowledge.

Elisabeth frequently presents on the above subjects in a professional or community context. She is involved in legal education and human rights trials in Latin America with Lawyers without Borders Canada. She speaks and writes fluently in English and French and is proficient in Spanish.

Marie-Ève Maillé specializes in the assessment of social impacts and social acceptability of major projects. She is also an associate professor at the Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire sur le bien-être, la santé, la société et l’environnement (centre for interdisciplinary research on well-being, health, society, and the environment, or CINBIOSE) at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), where she devoted her doctoral thesis in communications to an analysis of the social division caused by a controversial wind power project in the Centre-du-Québec region. Her thesis was filed as evidence in a class action suit brought by citizens against the wind farm developer. As this lawsuit unfolded, she won a battle in 2017 to protect the confidentiality of the data derived from her thesis, a legal saga she recounts in L’affaire Maillé (the Maillé case), published by Éditions Écosociété in 2018.In 2017, she published with Pierre Batellier the essay Acceptabilité sociale : sans oui, c’est non (social acceptability: no means no), also published by Éditions Écosociété. The book deconstructs with rigour and humour the myths and preconceived notions around the concept of social acceptability. In 2016, she launched her own consulting practice in environmental communication and mediation with the consulting firm Notre Boite. She provides guidance and support for groups in public consultation processes and in various discussion proceedings, with the objective of strengthening communities’ capacity for action. She has been an accredited mediator of the Institut de médiation et d’arbitrage du Québec (Quebec institute of mediation and arbitration) since 2017.

Stéphanie Roy is a student, researcher, and lawyer motivated by the desire to redress the current environmental crisis. She is a doctoral candidate in administrative law at Université Laval and she is particularly interested in the government’s obligations with regard to the environment. Her doctoral research examines the trusteeship theory, a form of governance that would allow greater responsibility for the environment to be attributed to the state.

Stéphanie completed a bachelor of laws (international profile) at Université Laval in 2010, earning the rank of “excellent” on the Faculty of Law’s Honour Roll. She then completed her studies at the École du Barreau du Québec and worked as a litigation lawyer in a large firm.

Stéphanie’s love of research and her desire to assist with the environmental crisis led her to complete a master’s program in environmental law at McGill University, where she received the Bourse de maîtrise Hydro-Québec en droit for outstanding students entering the program. Her thesis, on civil liability for oil spills from deep-water platforms in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence, won the Michel-Robert Award from the Canadian Bar Association and was published by Éditions Yvon Blais.

Before joining COPTICOM, Étienne worked as a political advisor at the National Assembly of Québec from 2013 to 2018. During this period, he became highly versed in issues surrounding energy, the environment, sustainable mobility and the fight against climate change.

During his time in the political arena, he embodied an engaged and collaborative leadership role in an effort to help Quebec go green as quickly as possible. This included authoring multiple strategic positioning plans for the province.

Étienne has been particularly committed to examining the energy transition, sustainable and integrated mobility, environmental governance and water resource management.

As part of his duties at COPTICOM, he contributes to developing the social media management strategy of various projects and awareness campaigns, carrying out strategic monitoring and creating content for clients and partners.

Étienne holds a trilingual bachelor’s degree (French, English and Spanish) in business administration from HEC Montréal and a master’s degree in political science from Université de Montréal. He also completed a short graduate program in climate change at Université Laval. Based in Montréal, Étienne joined the COPTICOM team in 2018.

With a bachelor’s degree from UQAM and a master’s degree in law from Université de Montréal, Maxime is passionate about sustainable agriculture and the protection of biodiversity. This enthusiasm was expressed in particular in his thesis on organic certification. Since 2013, he has been a director at the legal information firm and news agency Thomson Reuters (Éditions Yvon Blais in Quebec). In his role, Maxime acts as an advocate for actors from diverse backgrounds in the legal community, with the goal of improving the efficiency of their practice and in the hope that this will in turn facilitate access to justice.

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.

Hugo Tremblay is Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Montreal. His research projects focus on Energy, Natural Resources and Environmental Law. Previously, he practiced professional liability and insurance litigation for a few years.

Hugo holds a degree from McGill University (B.A.), University of Montreal (LL.B.), Université Laval (LL.M.), and the Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, University of Dundee, under the auspices of UNESCO (PhD). He completed a SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre de Recherche en Droit Public, University of Montreal. He is a lawyer to the Quebec Bar since 2001.