Nathalie Des Rosiers is a lawyer, academic and former politician. She is the 6th and current Principal of Massey College at the University of Toronto. She was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario representing the riding of Ottawa—Vanier from 2016 to 2019. During her tenure as a Member of Provincial Parliament, Des Rosiers served in the cabinet of Kathleen Wynne as Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry.
She was born in Montreal, studied law at the Université de Montréal and received a LLM from Harvard University. Des Rosiers clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada and practised law in London, Ontario with Lerners LLP. She also was a law professor at the University of Western Ontario. She was president of the Law Commission of Canada from 2000 to 2004, Dean of Law (Civil) at University of Ottawa from 2004 -2008, Vice-President (Governance) for the University of Ottawa (2008 -2009) . Des Rosiers served as general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) from 2009 to 2013,[ when she returned to serve as dean of the common law section at the University of Ottawa until 2016.
During the 2010 G20 Toronto summit, Des Rosiers uncovered a provision invoked by the provincial government which greatly expanded police powers near a security fence on the perimeter of the summit's location. She brought this issue to the attention of the Canadian press and ensured that CCLA volunteers monitored the Toronto police for civil liberties violations during the conference. She also helped to discourage the practice of "carding", where police stop people who are not suspected of any criminal activity, ask for their identification and record that information for later review.
Des Rosiers was inducted into the Order of Ontario in 2012 and was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2013 for her work in civil rights and Francophone advocacy and was accepted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2014. She was named one of Canada's 10 "nation builders" by the Globe and Mail in 2014 and was named one of Canada's 25 most influential lawyers by Canadian Lawyer in 2011 and in 2012.
