Steven Guilbeault

When he was five years old in his hometown of La Tuque in Haute-Mauricie, Guilbeault refused to get down from a tree that he had climbed, in an effort to block a land developer from clearing a wooded area behind his home. The tree was felled a few days later, but the event stands is cited by Guilbeault as the genesis of his environmental activism.[4]

After taking computer science in CEGEP, he enrolled in industrial relations at l'Université de Montréal in 1989.[5] A year later, he switched his major to political science. He minored in theology, exploring questions of international morality, liberation theology, poverty and the environment.[5]

Guilbeault became president of his faculty’s student association and also took part in activities organized by Equitas (known at the time as the Canadian Human Rights Foundation). He was also active in the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), where he made the acquaintance of François Rebello and Nicolas Girard, who would later enter the world of politics. He also joined the Groupe de recherche en intérêt public (GRIP), created out of the protest movement spearheaded by Ralph Nader, the renowned American consumer advocate. There he met Laure Waridel, Sydney Ribaux and François Meloche, with whom he would go on to found Équiterre a few years later.[6]

While in university, Guilbeault worked for two years (1992-1993) with the Canadian Human Rights Foundation, an organization dedicated to educating people, both at home and abroad, about human rights issues.

After the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1993, Guilbeault, Laure Waridel, Elizabeth Hunter, Patrick Henn, François Meloche and Sidney Ribaux founded Action for Solidarity, Equity, Environment and Development (ASEED). It acquired not-for-profit status in 1995. In 1998 it was rebranded as Équiterre. The organization's goal is to propose concrete solutions to make Canada a society where sustainable development and social economy would be central to the actions and concerns of its citizens, organizations and government. Steven Guilbeault was a member of Équiterre's board of directors for many years.[7]

In 1997, Guilbeault joined Greenpeace Canada. He was put in charge of its climate change division and he managed the climate and energy campaign before being the organization's Quebec bureau chief in 2000. In 2005, he coordinated the climate campaign for Greenpeace International.[8] On four different occasions, Guilbeault made headlines for Greenpeace. His best known feat was scaling Toronto’s CN Tower in 2001, accompanied by British militant Chris Holden. At the time the tower was the tallest in the world. After ascending to a height of 340m, they unfurled a banner that read: "Canada and Bush Climate Killers."[9] Guilbeault and Holden were arrested and charged with mischief for the stunt.[10] The goal was to grab the world’s attention a week before the UN’s sixth conference on climate change, where the fate of the Kyoto Protocol would be decided. Guilbeault remained Greenpeace’s Quebec spokesperson until June 8, 2007, at which time he announced his resignation.[11]

In 2008, he returned to Équiterre, which he had cofounded fifteen years earlier, to work on climate change issues. He left that position in autumn 2018.[12]

In 2009, Guilbeault became a member of the Cercle des Phénix de l’environnement du Québec.[22] He is also an honourary fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.[23] He was recognized as one of the 35 most influential figures in the past 35 years by the Fondation Marie-Vincent in 2010 and as an Americas Leader by the US magazine Americas Quarterly.[24]

In 2012 Guilbeault received the Médaille de l’Université de Montréal.[25] In 2014, he received the Blanche-Lemco-Van-Ginkel award from the Ordre des urbanistes du Québec for his significant contribution to urban planning in Quebec.[26]

In 2016, Guilbeault received the Impératif français award recognizing his contribution to the vitality of the French language and French culture.[27]

• Steven Guilbeault, Le bon, la brute et le truand - Ou comment l’intelligence artificielle transforme nos vies, Montréal, (Québec), Éditions Druide, 2019.
• Steven Guilbeault and François Tanguay, Le prochain virage, Montréal, (Québec), Canada, Éditions Druide, 2014, 304 pages.
• Steven Guilbeault, Alerte! : Le Québec à l'heure des changements climatiques, Montréal, (Québec), Canada, Éditions du Boréal, 2010, 248 pages.
• Steven Guilbeault and Jean-Guy Vaillancourt, Changements climatiques, protocole de Kyoto et le rôle des organisations non gouvernementales dans le cadre de ces grandes questions internationales, in Gendron Corinne and Jean-Guy Vaillancourt, Développement durable et participation démocratique : De la contestation écologiste aux défis de la gouvernance, Presses de l’Université de Montréal, Montréal, 2003.
• Steven Guilbeault and Jean-Guy Vaillancourt, Protocole de Kyoto : économie, politique et efficacité environnementale , in Actes de colloque Sociologie, économie et environnement, ACFAS, Québec, May 2002, pp. 223–239.
• Regroupement montréalais pour la qualité de l’air, Pollution atmosphérique et impacts sur la santé et l’environnement dans la grande région de Montréal , Chapitre 3: « Les effets néfastes de la pollution atmosphérique d’origine anthropique sur l’environnement de la grande région de Montréal », pp. 155–173, Éditeur Direction régionale de la santé publique, Montréal, 1998.

• Official site
• Bio & mandate from the Prime Minister
• Steven Guilbeault – Parliament of Canada biography
• Twitter: @s_guilbeault

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