Board of Directors

Nonprofit Equiterre is headed by a board of nine directors, each elected for a two-year term by Equiterre members at our Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Our board members share strong values and a commitment to community involvement. They come from different professional and social backgrounds, and enjoy promoting Equiterre's mission and values within their personal and professional circles. Their enthusiasm along with teir creative ideas contribute to our organization's sucess.

With the support of our executives, the directors meet several times a year to ensure the smooth operation and sound management of the organization. At the AGM, the chairman and the treasurer of the board submit the Annual Report to a member vote. The board, which is also responsible for setting Equiterre's future course, oversaw the drafting of the Strategic Plan 2021-2025, on which all current initiatives are based.

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Hélène Dufresne, présidente
President, Fondation Dufresne-Gauthier

Skillset: Management and presidency of organizations, philanthropy, social entrepreneurship

Hélène was one of the initial innovators of Cirque du Soleil, with which she was involved from 1984 to 1998, and has chaired the Fondation Dufresne et Gauthier board since the Foundation was established in 2001. She wishes to live in a world of cultural diversity and sustainable development formed by strong yet tolerant identities and characterized by respect, trust and mutual assistance. That ambition is shared by the Massif de Charlevoix project, a broad undertaking to develop the recreational and tourist potential of the Charlevoix region that has been well received locally, and to which she contributed in various capacities from 2003 to 2013. A number of community and cultural projects benefit from her support as a board member, such as the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec and “Horizon Charlevoix”. She has been a member of Équiterre for over 20 years and a board member since 2014. Her approach is marked by a constant concern for equity, openness and sharing.

Amélie Laframboise, treasurer
Investment Advisor, Fondaction

Skillset: Climate finance, mobilization of actors and organizations of change, knowledge of environmental and economic issues and of actors in Quebec’s environmental ecosystem.

Amélie Laframboise is a member of the Order of Certified Management Accountants (CMA) and has an MA in environmental management. She coordinates investment in environmental technologies at the Fondaction CSN, where in recent years she has spearheaded many sustainable development projects. She has much experience as a board member for several organizations, such as the Greater Montreal Climate Fund, CAP Finances (Le réseau de la finance solidaire et responsable) and the CETEQ (Conseil des entreprises en technologies environnementales du Québec). She has also served as an administrator in such environmentally active organizations as the Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA) and the Groupe uni des éducateurs-naturalistes et professionnels en environnement (GUEPE). Amélie Laframboise has helped Équiterre with fundraising for more than three years and has contributed greatly to several other of the organization’s projects.

Charles Larochelle, secretary
Former senior official of the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks

Skillset: Public policy, institutional and government relations, sustainable development and environmental issues, governance

A former senior official of the Government of Quebec, Charles served for seven years as assistant deputy minister in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment, Wildlife and Parks. He was responsible for the climate change files. His career also led him to work at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministerial Committee for Regional and Territorial Affairs and the Ministerial Committee of the Montreal region. He was also President and CEO of the Quebec Housing Corporation. Over the course of his career, he has served on various Canadian and international bodies, as well as on boards of directors of NGOs, including those of the Institute for Research and Development in Agri-Environment (IRDA) and the Quebec Action Fund for Sustainable Development (FAQDD). He also chaired the board of directors of the Ouranos Consortium on regional climatology and adaptation to climate change for three years. Charles currently sits on a voluntary basis on the Town Planning Advisory Committee of his municipality and on the Sentiers Québec-Charlevoix Board of Directors.

Claire Bolduc
Agronomist, former president of Solidarité rurale du Québec

Skillset: In-depth knowledge of the rural world and regions, and of the food industry

Claire Bolduc was awarded l’Ordre nationale du Québec (2013), the highest award the Quebec government can bestow. She was elected as vice-president (1995-1999) of l’Ordre des agronomes du Québec, and also as its president in the following years (1999-2005). In 2008, she was elected as the chief leader of Solidarité rurale du Québec, succeeding Jacques Proulx, founder of the movement. Under her leadership, Solidarité rurale du Québec undertook a comprehensive reflection on the future of Quebec territories and rural areas. Claire graduated in bio-agronomy from Université Laval in 2003 and was proclaimed the Person of the Year in the same field by the University. In 2005, le Réseau québécois des femmes en environnement proclaimed her Woman of the Year. Finally, in 2007, she was awarded the Mérite du conseil interprofessionnel du Québec. Claire Bolduc grew up in Baie-Comeau and currently lives in Ville-Marie, Témiscamingue, where she operates a vineyard with her husband. Claire has been head of MRC Témiscamingue since 2018. She sits on the board of the Quebec Federation of Municipalities where she presides a commission on democracy, institutions and social development.

Olivia Ruge
Student

Skillset: Organization of mobilization and awareness events

Olivia Ruge is one of the main figures of the student mobilization for climate action in Montreal: she is the executive organizer of Pour Le Futur Montréal, the Montreal branch of Fridays For Future, and she is also involved in CEVES (Student Coalition for an Ecological and Social Change) as co-representative of her CEGEP. She has been a member of Équiterre for several years and is an active member of Extinction Rébellion. In addition to her involvement in student mobilizations, Olivia is a full-time student in applied sciences. In 2019, she won the Governor General's Medal, a prize awarded to the student with the highest general average of her year in secondary 4 and 5. She also helped make the Foulée des Parcs, a race in her neighbourhood, "zero waste" based on the Équiterre’s example with the "Change the World Run".

Annie Chaloux, PhD
Professor at L'École de politique appliquée
Director of Climatoscope
Assistant Director of the Groupe d'études et de recherche sur l'international et le Québec

Skillset: Public policy and environment, climate change and international climate negotiations, carbon market

Annie Chaloux, Ph.D., is a professor at l'École de politique appliquée of the University of Sherbrooke and co-director of the Groupe d'études et de recherche sur l'international et le Québec (GÉRIQ). Since 2019, she is the founder and the director of the popular science journal Le Climatoscope. She holds a PhD in public administration from the École nationale d'administration publique (ENAP). She specializes in environmental and climate policy issues in Quebec and Canada, and in climate paradiplomacy and international climate negotiations. She has published several books on these issues in the last few years, the most recent being La crise climatique à l'aube d'un monde incertain (PUQ, 2020), and she also intervenes regularly in the media.

David Kaiser
Medical Chief of the Environmental Health Team at the Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal

Skillset: 

A medical specialist in public health and preventive medicine, with a background in environmental sciences, David Kaiser is a vegan, pacifist, father of two, who is passionate about reading and ornithology. Sad, concerned, often angry about what is happening to our planet, he has a particular interest in the issues related to climate change and global health. For the past three years, he has been the medical leader of the environmental health team at the Direction régionale de santé publique (DRSP) of Montreal, which has allowed him to develop his knowledge and skills in several areas of the interface of human health and the environment - transportation, food, housing conditions, noise, air pollution, as well as develop his skills in planning, project management and animated collaborative work.

Patricia Charest Mugwaneza
Executive Communications Strategist at the Centre de recherches pour le développement international

Skillset:              

Patricia Charest Mugwaneza is an Executive Communications Strategist at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a Canadian Crown corporation where, for the past 5 years, she has worked to promote IDRC-funded research in Canada and abroad for a more inclusive and sustainable world.

She holds a Master's degree in Communications from the Université du Québec à Montréal and a Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design from the Université du Québec en Outaouais. She has worked with numerous international development organizations such as SUCO, Right to Play, CECI and Inter Pares in Canada (Montreal, Ottawa) and abroad (Nicaragua, Bolivia and Mali). She also worked for almost 5 years as a development officer for the car-sharing company Communauto, motivated by the desire to contribute to local solutions for sustainable urban mobility.

A feminist and ecologist activist, she has also contributed to and participated in several citizen initiatives, including the Bamako World Forum, the Verdun Social Forum and several women's marches. Aware that it's urgent to act on several fronts, she believes in the power of citizen mobilization for a sustainable ecological transition.

Éric Pineault
 Professor at the Institut des sciences de l'environnement of   UQAM

 Skillset:

Éric Pineault is a professor at the Institut des sciences de l'environnement at the Université du Québec à Montréal, presiding over its scientific committee and specializing in the environmental economics and politics of the transition. He also works on issues surrounding the exploitation of fossil fuels in Canada in collaboration with the researchers of the pan-Canadian network Corporate Mapping. Devoted both as a scientist and as a citizen involved in the environmental movement, he has been involved as an ecological economist in the fight against fossil fuel infrastructure projects such as Énergie Est, Anticosti and more recently GNL Québec. He also works with organizations such as trade unions and the Front Commun pour la transition énergétique in their reflections on the social and economic transformations that need to be carried out in order to achieve carbon neutrality and biodiversity protection objectives. With these social actors, he helps to co-construct a different vision of the development of our communities with a perspective of social justice and a post-growth society.