Rick Smith (born 1968) is a Canadian author, environmentalist and non-profit leader. He is currently the President of the Canadian Climate Institute. Smith became President in 2021.

Early life and education

Smith was born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, and attended high school in

Richmond Hill, Ontario Richmond Hill ( 2021 population: 202,022) is a city in south-central York Region, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Greater Toronto Area, it is the York Region's third most populous municipality and the 27th most populous municipality in Canada. Ric ...

. He received his Ph.D. in biology in 1999 from the

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

. His research, completed in cooperation with the

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

community of

Whapmagoostui Whapmagoostui (, "place of the beluga") is the northernmost Cree village in Quebec, Canada, located at the mouth of the Great Whale River () on the coast of Hudson Bay in Nunavik. About 906 Cree with about 650 Inuit, living in the neighbourin ...

, in

Nunavik Nunavik (; ; ) is an area in Canada which comprises the northern third of the province of Quebec, part of the Nord-du-Québec region and nearly coterminous with Kativik. Covering a land area of north of the 55th parallel, it is the homelan ...

, northern Quebec, focused on a unique population of freshwater harbor seal. Smith's work led to the population's listing as “endangered” under Canada's Species At Risk Act and

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological spe ...

. The need for enhanced protection of this population was one of the key factors in the creation of Tusujuq National Park – the largest protected area in eastern North America – in 2012.

Career

From 1996 to 2002, Smith was Executive Director of the

International Fund for Animal Welfare International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

’s (IFAW) Canadian office and a leader in the campaign to create Canada's federal

Species At Risk Act The ''Species at Risk Act'' (, SARA) is a piece of Canadian federal legislation which became law in Canada on December 12, 2002. It is designed to meet one of Canada's key commitments under the International Convention on Biological Diversity. T ...

. In 2001, he was simultaneously IFAW's UK Director and led the organization's efforts in the UK and EU parliaments. In 2003, Smith became

Jack Layton John Gilbert Layton (July 18, 1950 – August 22, 2011) was a Canadian politician and academic who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2003 to 2011 and leader of the Official Opposition in 2011. He previously sat on T ...

’s first Chief of Staff upon Layton's election as leader of the federal

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

. He resigned over controversy within the party related to his previous environmental work. As Executive Director of

Environmental Defence Canada Environmental Defence (formerly known as the Canadian Environmental Defence Fund) is a Canadian environmental organization, founded in 1984. Environmental Defence works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe clima ...

between 2003 and 2012, Smith was an early proponent of an environmentalism rooted in new, sustainable, economic models. He was a key proponent of the Ontario Greenbelt and the Ontario Green Energy Act and a founding Director of the Greenbelt Foundation. Smith led the efforts to create Canada’s modernized Consumer Product Safety Act and Chemicals Management Plan, which resulted in Canada becoming the first nation in the world to ban

bisphenol A Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical compound primarily used in the manufacturing of various plastics. It is a colourless solid which is Solubility, soluble in most common organic solvents, but has very poor solubility in water. BPA is produced on a ...

in children's products. With the

United Steelworkers The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headqua ...

, he founded Blue Green Canada, the first permanent partnership between trade unions and environmental organizations in the country. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Socially and Environmentally Responsible Aggregate (SERA) initiative, the world’s first independently-certified sustainability standard for the global aggregate and concrete industry. Smith was one of the founders of the Strathmere Group. From 2012 to 2021, Smith was Executive Director of the Broadbent Institute. During that time, the Institute became Canada’s pre-eminent progressive policy and training organization with offices in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

and

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. The Institute’s media project, PressProgress, became Canada’s most-shared source of progressive news and analysis. Smith is also an advisor to Progress Toronto. In 2021, Smith was announced as the new President of th
Canadian Climate Institute
Under his leadership, the Climate Institute solidified its reputation as Canada’s leading climate change policy research organization, publishing independent research and analysis on Canada's climate policy progress, and establishing an annual conference.

Books

Smith co-authored “Slow Death by Rubber Duck: How the Toxicity of Everyday Life Affects Our Health” (2009, Knopf Canada, re-issued 2019, Knopf Canada) and “Toxin Toxout: Getting Harmful Chemicals Out of Our Bodies and Our World” (2013, Knopf Canada in Canada; St. Martin's Press in the U.S.) A

Quill & Quire ''Quill & Quire'' is a Canadian magazine about the book and publishing industry. The magazine was launched in 1935 and has an average circulation of 5,000 copies per issue, with a publisher-claimed readership of 25,000. ''Quill & Quire'' reviews ...

“Book of the Year” for 2009, “Slow Death by Rubber Duck” has been translated into seven languages, featured at the Sydney Writers’ Festival, and by the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

( “hard-hitting in a way that turns your stomach and yet also instills hope”), Dr. Oz,

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

, and

Oprah Magazine ''O, The Oprah Magazine'', also known simply as ''O'', is an American monthly magazine founded by talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Communications. In 2021, Winfrey and Hearst rebranded it as ''Oprah Daily''. Overview It was first pub ...

. In their two books, Smith and his co-author, prominent Canadian environmental expert Bruce Lourie, experiment on their own bodies, raising and lowering levels of toxic chemicals in their blood and urine through the performance of common activities. Their new experimentation in the 2019 re-issue of “Slow Death by Rubber Duck” has sparked a renewed debate on the presence of bisphenol A in consumer items. Smith’s research i
featured
in the award-winning documentary “Toxic Beauty” and his self-experimentation for
feature
on

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

in The Globe and Mail resulted in his being one of the first people in the world, and the first in North America, to find microplastic particles in his body.

Personal

Smith currently lives in the east end of Toronto.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Rick 1968 births Living people Anglophone Quebec people Canadian environmentalists Writers from Montreal 21st-century Canadian non-fiction writers