Today Commissioner Miller is in Québec City, attending the Annual Meeting of the federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, Scott Vaughan, and the Sustainable Development Commissioner for the province of Québec, Jean Cinq-Mars.

Jean Cinq-Mars

Mr. Cinq-Mars was appointed Québec’s Sustainable Development Commissioner in September 2009. Before holding this position, he served as a consultant in the sustainable development, environment, natural resources and governance fields. He has carried out missions abroad, notably for the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and various development agencies. In this respect, he has been a member of environmental performance audit teams for the OECD in France, Denmark and Luxembourg. In Canada, Mr. Cinq-Mars has also served as an advisor to the Federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development for various audit engagements.

Before becoming a consultant, Mr. Cinq-Mars held the position of President of Wildlife Habitat Canada. He also served as President of the National Forest Strategy Coalition from 2004 to 2006. From 1997 to 2001, he was head of the Pollution Prevention and Control Division of the OECD. His responsibilities dealt, among things, with climate change, sustainable transportation, the management and international transfers of residual materials, environmental management systems, sustainable buildings and eco-efficiency. From 1984 to 1997, Mr. Cinq-Mars held the position of Director of the Canada Wildlife Service and that of Director of Environmental Protection for Québec with Environment Canada.

Mr. Cinq-Mars is a member of the Air and Waste Management Association and treasurer of the International Initiative for Sustainable Built Environment. He holds degrees in biology and public administration.

Scott Vaughan

Scott Vaughan was appointed Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development in May 2008. Before joining the Office, Mr. Vaughan was the Director of the Department of Sustainable Development of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, D.C. He worked with OAS’s 34 member countries in support of the co-management of transboundary basins, including the wider Amazon, La Plata, the Guarani aquifer, and San Juan basins; this work included improving biodiversity information, executing renewable energy projects, supporting chemicals management, and supporting environmental law policies and programs.

Mr. Vaughan was Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C.; Head of Economics and Environment at the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (also known as the NAFTA Environment Commission), in Montréal; and Counsellor at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva. He held a number of positions with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), including one where he initiated and headed UNEP’s work on the environment and trade as well as the UNEP Financial Initiative with major commercial banks and insurance companies. Mr. Vaughan served as Deputy Chief of the UNEP environmental economics division; and, as policy advisor to the then UNEP Executive Director (Dr. M.K. Tolba), he supported the preparations for the 1992 Earth Summit.

Mr. Vaughan has post-graduate degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science, the University of Edinburgh, and Dalhousie University as well as an undergraduate degree from Mount Allison University. He is published in the following fields: environment and trade, payment for ecosystem services, and international freshwater management.

(Mr Cinq-Mars’ bio from Roundtable Discussion on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation; Mr Vaughan’s from Office of the Auditor General of Canada)