Stephanie Hewson

Staff Lawyer

Stephanie (she/her/hers) is a staff lawyer with West Coast’s Marine Program. Her work focuses on strengthening legal frameworks for ocean conservation at the local, national, and international levels, including advocating for strong and meaningful marine protected areas, the effective regulation of ocean industries, and fair and equitable coastal governance.

Stephanie’s law reform efforts include securing improvements to the Oceans Act and the Canada Petroleum Resources Act, strengthening regulations under the Fisheries Act, the Canada National Marine Conservation Areas Act, the Canada Wildlife Act, and the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, and developing sustainable and equitable legal frameworks for offshore renewable energy and underwater noise.  

Stephanie is the lead author of Protecting the Coast and Ocean: A Guide to Marine Conservation Law in British Columbia, the first marine conservation law textbook in Canada.  

Prior to joining West Coast, Stephanie articled with Ontario’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, where she worked on climate legislation, renewable energy, and freshwater protection. She received her JD and BCL from McGill University’s Faculty of Law and is called to the bar in British Columbia and Ontario.