Advisors

Nandita Bajaj 

Nandita Bajaj is the Toronto-based Executive Director of Population Balance, a US nonprofit that works to inspire narrative, behavioural, and system change that shrinks our human impact and elevates the rights and wellbeing of people, animals, and the planet. She is the producer and host of two podcasts: OVERSHOOT and Beyond Pronatalism. She is also a Senior Lecturer at the Institute for Humane Education at Antioch University. Her research and advocacy work focuses on the combined impacts of pronatalism and human expansionism on reproductive, ecological, and intergenerational justice. She has delivered over 100 presentations globally and her work has appeared in major news outlets.

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith

Nathaniel Erskine‑Smith is a lawyer and Liberal Member of Parliament for Beaches—East York, first elected in 2015. Raised in Toronto’s east end by public school teachers, he studied political science at the University of Toronto before earning a Juris Doctor from Queen’s University and a Bachelor of Civil Law from Oxford, specializing in constitutional law. Before entering politics, he built a career in commercial litigation. In late 2024, he was appointed Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, serving until mid‑May 2025.

Mike Farley

Mike has been teaching middle and high school Geography and Environmental Studies for 23 years in Toronto. He is also a Sessional Lecturer for the University of Toronto’s Master of Teaching program and a Senior Lecturer for the Master of Education program at Antioch University and the Institute for Humane Education. Mike completed his M.Ed. degree in Humane Education in 2021 and organized the inaugural Educators for Animals Conference in 2021 and 2022 that brought together educators from around the world who are incorporating animal protection into their school communities. Mike is a frequent presenter at conferences in Canada and the U.S. on topics such as human rights, environmental issues, and animal protection. Mike was awarded the TeachKind Canadian Teacher of the Year in 2022 for his work focusing on animals and education. 
 

Nital Jethalal

Nital is Executive Director of the Institute for Future Food Systems (IFFS), a nonprofit advancing healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable food systems. With a background in economics and strategic policy, Nital works at the intersection of health, environmental sustainability, and equity to reduce reliance on industrial animal agriculture. He has advised government bodies, politicians, academic institutions, and global nonprofit organizations on food systems policy and strategy.  A former board member of VegTO and current board member of the Toronto Veg Food Bank and Studio.89, Nital works across diverse networks to drive systemic change and support a more just future. 

Zahra Kassam

Dr. Zahra Kassam is a radiation oncologist at the Stronach Regional Cancer Centre, in Ontario, and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Toronto. Her clinical focus is in gastrointestinal and breast cancers. She obtained her medical degree in 1995, followed by specialist training in Clinical Oncology in the UK. She completed clinical and research fellowships at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and a Master’s in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Toronto. In 2019, she co-founded Plant-Based Canada, a nonprofit organization that provides evidence-based education on the benefits of whole food plant-based nutrition for health, sustainability, and planetary well-being. She is co-author of Eating Plant-Based: Scientific Answers to Your Nutrition Questions (2022), written in collaboration with her sister Shireen, and co-editor of the academic textbook Plant-Based Nutrition in Clinical Practice (2022). Through the Plant-Based Canada platform, Zahra and her team provide education and promote the work of Canadians in plant-based nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine, including hosting the Plant-Based Canada Podcast and organizing the annual Canadian Plant-Based Nutrition Conference since 2019.

Camille Labchuk

Camille, a graduate of the J.D. program at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 2012, is now the Executive Director of Animal Justice. She is one of Canada’s leading animal rights lawyers, and has worked to protect animals for over 15 years. Camille represented Animal Justice before the Ontario Court of Appeal in Bogaerts v Ontario (AG)and the Supreme Court of Canada in R v DLW. In 2024, Animal Justice successfully challenged Ontario’s ag-gag law, finding it was unconstitutional.

Justin Marceau

Professor Marceau is a Professor of Law at the University of Denver Law School, the Brooks Institute Faculty Research Scholar of Animal Law and Policy, the Faculty director of the Animal Law Program, and an affiliated faculty member with the Institute for Human Animal Connections at the Graduate School of Social Work. Marceau was previously an assistant federal public defender specializing in capital habeas and a law clerk for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Before law school he spent a year living and working in Cairo, Egypt. Marceau’s research focuses on criminal law and constitutional law, particularly as those areas intersect with social change. He specifically writes in the areas of Habeas Corpus, Constitutional Law, and Animal Law. His current research is at the intersection of animal law and criminal law.

Martin McKendry 

Marty is a graduate of the J.D. program at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 2012. He is a lawyer and parliamentary advisor to two current senators. In his work with current and former Canadian Senators, Marty drafted and advanced Bill S-203: Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act, and he worked to advance both Bill S-241: the Jane Goodall Act and Bill S-15 to end the captivity of elephants and great apes in Canada.

Cheryl Milne 

Cheryl was called to the Ontario Bar in 1987 and completed an MSW at the University of Toronto in 1991. Prior to coming to the Centre, Ms. Milne was a legal advocate for children with the legal clinic Justice for Children and Youth. There she led the clinic’s Charter litigation including the challenge to the corporal punishment defence in the Criminal Code [ Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law v. Canada (2004)], the striking down of the reverse onus sections of the Youth Criminal Justice Act for adult sentencing [ R. v. D.B. (2008)], and an intervention involving the right of a capable adolescent to consent to her own medical treatment ( A.C. v. Manitoba Child and Family Services (2009)]. More recently she has represented the Asper Centre at the Supreme Court of Canada in Attorney General of B.C. v Council of Canadians with Disabilities, Attorney General of Ontario v G.,and Barton v HMQ among others. She teaches a Constitutional Advocacy clinic and Children, Youth and the Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto.

Kip Phillips

Kip is a Junior Associate Solicitor at the City of Guelph. She practices environmental law, municipal law, land-use planning law, and specializes in legal issues on species conservation, biodiversity risk, and other animal-related environmental issues. She draws on her background in environmental journalism to assist clients with environmental legal problems. Kip also volunteers as the Student Programs Lawyer with Animal Justice, and is a proud cat & turtle lady.

Jessica Scott-Reid 

Jessica is a freelance journalist. She has been covering animal topics in Canadian media for the last decade, including The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Vancouver Province, Winnipeg Free Press, and more. She is also the culture and disinformation correspondent for Sentient. 

Mark Solovey 

Mark is a professor at the University of Toronto, teaching the History of Social Sciences and the History of Science. His research examines the development of the social, psychological, and behavioral sciences in various contexts, i.e., intellectual, biographical, disciplinary, political, and institutional. Most of his work concentrates on the period since World War Two, especially the Cold War era. Recently, he has begun research on the histories of vegetarianism and veganism, including their deep (yet rarely examined) connections to the histories of science, technology, and medicine. At this early stage, he is especially interested in exploring the development and current status of the three main pillars of modern veg-ism: animal welfare and ethics, human health impacts for individuals and communities, and environmental issues and climate change. He is also exploring the intersection of those major umbrella issues with other important matters concerning gender, race, class, food security and justice, religion, law, social identity, nation-building, empire, colonialism, sports, and human rights.

Kristen Stilt 

Kristen is Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School. Prior to HLS, Stilt was Harry R. Horrow Professor in International Law at Northwestern Law School and Professor of History at Northwestern University. Her interest in animal issues escalated while conducting research in Egypt for her PhD in Middle Eastern Studies. While there she became involved with several animal advocacy groups, and still helps fund an Egyptian animal rescue project—in addition to personally rescuing dozens of dogs and cats off the streets of Cairo. She was named a Carnegie Scholar for her work on constitutional Islam, and in 2013 was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. She has also received awards from Fulbright and Fulbright-Hays. Publications include Islamic Law in Action (Oxford University Press, 2011); “Constitutional Innovation and Animal Protection in Egypt,” Law & Social Inquiry (2018); and “Law” in Critical Terms for Animal Studies, edited by Lori Gruen (University of Chicago Press, 2018). She is currently working on a new book project entitled Halal Animals, to be published by Oxford University Press. Her research focuses on animal law, and in particular the intersection of animal law and religious law; Islamic law and society; and comparative constitutional law.

Andrew Stobo Sniderman

Andrew Stobo Sniderman is a writer, lawyer and Rhodes scholar from Montreal. He is the author of “‘Clearly a Subjective Determination’: Interpretations of ‘Undue Suffering’ at the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal (2000-2019)” 53:2 Ottawa Law Review (2022) and (with Douglas Sanderson (Amo Binashii)) the award-winning book Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation (HarperCollins, 2022). Currently, Andrew is an S.J.D. (doctoral) candidate at Harvard Law School. Andrew has published reporting and opinions in the New York Times, the Globe and Mail, Maclean's, the Toronto Star, the Montreal Gazette, the Ottawa Citizen, and England's Sunday Times. His profile of Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Residential Schools won the award for best print feature of 2011 from the Canadian Association of Journalists. As a lawyer, Andrew has argued before the Supreme Court. His academic writing has been published in the Canadian Bar Review, the Ottawa Law Review, the International Journal of Refugee Law, the Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies and the Western Journal of Legal Studies. He has also served as the human rights policy advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and as a law clerk for a judge of South Africa's Constitutional Court.

Amy Symington 

Amy is a nutrition professor, researcher and nutrition-focused chef in Toronto. She has over 12 years of teaching experience and 25 years experience in the food industry. Amy has a Master of Science in Applied Human Nutrition and is currently a PhD Candidate in nutritional sciences at the University of Toronto. She runs the culinary nutrition programming at Gilda's Toronto, a not-for-profit cancer organization and is the culinary nutrition specialist for Humane World for Animals Canada's Forward Food team where she trains executive chefs across Canada in large food service operations like hospitals and universities regarding the implementation of Canada's Food Guide. She also works with the Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank (TVFB) as a chef, nutrition consultant, and culinary instructor. She does health focused recipe development and food writing for various publications in Toronto and worldwide and has an award-winning cookbook called The Long Table Cookbook: Plant-based recipes for optimal health.

M.H. Tse 

M.H. is the 2024-2026 Inaugural Postdoctoral Fellow in Animal Law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. She received her LL.M. from the Faculty in 2015 and her S.J.D. from Harvard Law School where she was affiliated with the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program. Her postdoctoral work builds on her S.J.D. dissertation Domestic Predation: A Legal Architecture of Human Systems of Extractive Violence (2024) and she is teaching an animal law seminar at U of T Law in the fall of 2025.