Zachary (Zakariya) Couture (any pronoun) is a mixed race, Palestinian and French-Canadian settler born in Amiskwacîwâskahikan on Treaty 6 territory (colonially known as Edmonton, Alberta). Zac is currently a JD student at the Allard School of Law, UBC. Before coming to Vancouver, Zac completed a joint honours degree in Political Science and World Islamic & Middles East Studies (WIMES) at McGill University. Zac is passionate about advancing justice through an anti-oppressive and critical lens. He hopes to help contribute to centering creative, pluralistic and decolonize ways of thinking in the law especially as it pertains to the environment, climate change, decolonization, and anti-racism.
Zac was a researcher for the UBC Centre for Law and the Environment over the course of the past year, researching and helping support grant applications for a project on Indigenous law and environmental stewardship. He was also clinic manager for the UBC ID Clinic, co-ordinating a client-intake team in the Vancouver DTES to support those without identification, Through these experiences, Zac has garnered an appreciation and value for trauma-informed practice. These experiences also underscored for him the importance of understanding the centrality of the connection between people and the land and waters around them for collective safety and community building. Zac is eager to continue to engage and learn more about using law as a tool, amongst many others, to help mitigate harm and advance justice for the environment and those whose interests are most impacted by environmental violence.
In his spare time, Zac enjoys cooking Arab food, spending time with family, going to the beach, and eating sweet things.