CHF BC would like to announce the newest additions to our staff team: Dr. Garfield Hunter. We looking forward to working with him as he contributes to our success education programs and our broader mission of serving and representing our members.

Dr. Hunter is an urban planner with over 9 years of diverse knowledge and leadership experience in urban redevelopment planning, climate change, housing, social equity, and sustainability education. He has led the development and implementation of strategic research, policy, programs, and projects geared towards improving the lives of marginalized and equity-seeking communities.

Experience

Dr. Hunter is skilled at navigating complex institutional environments while working with and consulting for international development agencies such as the Global Environment Facility and European Union’s Erasmus Mundus Programme; government agencies in Jamaica (such as the Airport Authority of Jamaica, Urban Development Corporation, Jamaica Railway Corporation, and National Environment and Planning Agency); multi-cultural non-profit organizations in Canada; a research institute in Italy (European Research Academy) and; private sector companies in Jamaica (such as Fesco). 

He has designed and delivered educational curriculums on sustainable energy planning and low carbon development and introduction to sustainable urban development as part of the Sustainable Cities higher education collaborative project with eleven partners universities in Europe and Asia. He is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Technology, Jamaica, lecturing courses related to sustainability, climate change and land-use zoning.

Guided by his career mantra “collaborate to innovate,” he is keen on participatory knowledge mobilization. This is driven by his unique value proposition to utilize plain language communication to engage with diverse and complex stakeholders and decision-makers. He founded “Equity Urbanism” in 2019, focusing on social equity-based research and planning and executing public participation sessions with various stakeholders to ensure their inclusion in the decision-making process.

Before his appointment as Education Director at CHF BC, he recently spearheaded engagement projects for the DIVERSEcity Community Resource Society in Surrey to engage their clients on the Province of British Columbia’s Anti-Racism Data Legislation. Furthermore, he has recently led a five-month community-based research project between tripartite non-profit partnerships (DIVERSEcity, Rainbow Refugee Society and MOSAIC), tackling housing precarity and instability for newcomers in Metro Vancouver.

He also collaborated with the Community Foundation of Canada as research support and co-author/co-contributor for the report “Equitable Infrastructure: A resource framing infrastructure types using an equitable placemaking lens.” This work was geared towards the National Infrastructure Assessment: “Building the Canada We Want in 2050.”

Education

Garfield holds a BSc. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Technology, Jamaica, and a Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Public Policy from Tongji University in Shanghai.

Between 2015-2017, he was a Research Fellow at The European Research Academy in Bolzano, Italy, exploring EU Smart Energy City and Community projects.

Interests

In his spare time, he rides his electric scooter touring urban neighbourhoods in Metro Vancouver and considers himself a track and field junkie. He is a novice investor on the Jamaica Stock Market. He is a Board Member of the Rainbow Refugee Society and Volunteers on the Project Advisory Committee for the City of Vancouver’s Renter Service Centre.