Chris Hummel
Associate
- Year of Call, Ontario (2019)
Bio
Chris Hummel is a litigator and regulatory lawyer who resolves disputes and navigates legal challenges with land, major projects, infrastructure and natural resources.
Chris is often retained to tackle novel legal questions, dense scientific records, and overlapping regulatory regimes. He distils that complexity into practical advice for clients and clear, focused advocacy for courts and tribunals.
He has extensive experience litigating and advising on environmental damage, Indigenous rights, contaminated lands, land use planning, property disputes, flood risk, energy and mining projects, judicial reviews and constitutional law. He represents Indigenous governments and organizations, municipalities, landowners, utilities, government agencies and businesses.
He has appeared before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Ontario Land Tribunal, Canada Energy Regulator, Ontario Energy Board, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, Nunavut Impact Review Board, Nunavut Planning Commission, Nunavut Water Board and Normal Farm Practices Protection Board. Chris was counsel in the successful Charter challenge to Ontario’s Safe Streets Act, which resulted in several provisions of the legislation being struck down as unconstitutional.
In addition to litigation, Chris provides proactive regulatory advice to clients on major projects, including project participation agreements, impact and benefit agreements, and related commercial arrangements. He navigates a variety of environmental assessment, permitting, consultation and compliance processes.
Chris holds a joint JD/MES from Osgoode Hall Law School, with accredited training in land use planning, as well as a BSc in biology and anthropology.
His scientific training and lived experience working in Nunavut and with First Nations help him engage directly with technical evidence and Indigenous Knowledge, and to understand the practical context of northern and Indigenous communities.
