Michel Gaudet
Michel Gaudet has worked in the field of environmental health for over three decades. He is a founding member of the Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides (CAP), as well as a founding member, Vice-President, and Executive Director of both the Environmental Health Association of Canada and the Environmental Health Association of Québec. He also serves as President of Board of the Confédération des organismes de personnes handicapées du Québec (COPHAN).
His work sits at the intersection of science, public policy, and human rights. He has played a key role in the development of municipal and provincial pesticide legislation, including close collaboration with Québec’s Ministry of the Environment on the Pesticide Management Code, which led to the banning of 22 active ingredients and the removal of hundreds of harmful products from the Québec market.
Committed to knowledge translation and public education, Michel collaborated with the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), TÉLUQ, and the UQAM Service aux collectivités (SAC) on a multidisciplinary project examining the biological, social, and legal dimensions of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), titled “When the Environment Makes You Sick: Understanding to Act.” Trained by UQAM, he has delivered numerous workshops across Québec.
Through the federally funded Empowering Community and Removal of Barriers (ECRoB) project, he has delivered many workshops in both French and English across Canada, strengthening knowledge among professionals, institutions, and the public on MCS and the measures required to ensure accessible environments.
His current work emphasizes the recognition of indoor air quality as an issue of accessibility, public health, and human rights, aligned with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). He supports individuals living with MCS in managing their condition through approaches grounded in exposure reduction, source control, and the adoption of low-emission solutions.
A sought-after speaker, he has presented at numerous conferences across Canada and the United States.