Jonathan Minnes
Jonathan Minnes is a partner in Gowling WLG's Waterloo Region office. He is a member of the firm's Canadian Expropriation Law and Municipal Law groups, and his practice is focused on expropriation, planning and municipal law.
Jonathan acts on behalf of private landowners, municipalities, and resident groups. He appears regularly before municipal councils, Committees of Adjustment, and the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (formerly the Ontario Municipal Board), as well as the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on related matters, including Building Code Act appeals and property disputes.
Jonathan completed his LLB at the University of London (Queen Mary College) in the United Kingdom. During his studies, he served as both managing editor and editor-in-chief of the Queen Mary Law Journal. He also volunteered at the Queen Mary Legal Advice Centre for two years, including as a member of the LGBT project and the Supporting Those Who Serve project, which offers pro bono legal services to military members and their families.
He completed his LLM at the University of Victoria. His thesis examined Administrative Law and Charter issues relating to a prominent Canadian Military Pensions class action lawsuit, and his research was funded by the Law Foundation of British Columbia's Graduate Fellowship.
Prior to law school, Jonathan received a BA and MA in History from Wilfrid Laurier University, and spent four years at the Centre for International Governance Innovation as a research assistant to noted historian John English. During this period, English wrote a critically-acclaimed, two-volume biography of Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
Jonathan's community involvement includes:
- Pro Bono Students Canada: University of Victoria Chapter — Volunteer at British Columbia Legal Services Society
- Canadian Landmine Foundation Charity Dinner and Academic Conference, 2008 — Major organizer of the charity dinner and academic conference
- Community Justice Initiatives, 2002 — Received Certificate in Transformative Mediation from the University of Waterloo and acted as a volunteer mediator