Philippe Duhamel

Philippe Duhamel is a trainer, creative strategist and organizer of grassroots campaigns that call upon various methods of civil resistance, including non-cooperation and nonviolent direct action.

In the 1980's, as part of the Alliance for Non-Violent Action (ANVA), Philippe Duhamel co-designed and waged campaigns tackling the arms race, Canadian complicity with Apartheid, military intervention in Central America, the genocidal attacks on East Timor, military training over Innu territory, uranium extraction in Chipewyan and Dene territory, human rights violations by the G7 and G8 developed countries, and male violence against women and children.

In over four decades of organizing and activism, Philippe Duhamel was able to contribute to some successes of civil resistance:

  • to stop TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline project (which would have transported Alberta tar sands oil to the East Coast), oil development projects on Anticosti Island and in the Gaspé Peninsula, and the proposed gas pipeline, LNG terminal and liquefied natural gas export project in the Saguenay region (GNL Québec), notably through his 15 years of involvement with the Regroupement vigilance énergie Québec (RVÉQ), where he served as General Coordinator from 2021 to 2026.

  • put a stop to hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) in the province of Quebec, on the heels of a 700 km walk to prevent shale gas development from ruining the St-Lawrence River Valley (2011), and through “Shale911”, a campaign combining grassroots monitoring, online alert systems, nonviolent direct action training, and participatory video to deter extreme energy transportation and extraction projects (ongoing); 

  • bring Maher Arar home, a US rendition cause célèbre that led to $10.5 million in compensation to Mr. Arar, for his kidnapping and torture in Syria (2003); 

  • scuttle the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) by outing secret negotiating documents through “Operation Transparency”, a dilemma campaign of his design, using mass civil disobedience to combat secrecy (2001); 

  • prevent the Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI) from being adopted by the OECD through a blockade dubbed “Operation SalAMI” (1998); 

  • stop the illegal transit, through the Port of Montreal, of uranium stolen from Namibia by then Apartheid South Africa (1986); 

  • discredit and end ARMX, Canada's largest arms dealing trade show in Ottawa (1989); 

  • force Bata shoes to divest from South Africa (1985).

Philippe Duhamel currently consults with, and coaches, various organizations seeking to wage more strategic, creative campaigns. He's also involved in organizing with fellow citizens to deter extreme energy projects in his home province of Québec, Canada, determined to prevent dirty energy, and more recently undemocratic and privatized "renewables” from compromising further the present and future of our communities.