Jonathan Chaplan lives and works on the beautiful unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

For over 35 years, Jonathan has had a varied career as a lawyer, mediator, facilitator, restorative justice practitioner, trainer and manager. In all of these roles, what drives Jonathan is the desire to help people to better communicate and work with each other. He brings people and ideas together to help individuals and organizations help themselves.

Jonathan is considered a champion of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. He has worked with many different cultural communities and has led courses on inter-cultural negotiations. He is also known for his ability to handle sensitive situations in the workplace in a calm and respectful manner.

Jonathan was a lawyer, called to the Bar of Ontario and BC. He received an LL.B. from the University of Toronto and a Master’s (LL.M.) in Alternative Dispute Resolution from Osgoode Hall Law School.

After 15 years in private practice, Jonathan began to work as a mediator in the areas of civil, family and criminal law. In addition, from 1998 to 2001, he contributed to the design of, and worked with, the Collaborative Justice Project, a restorative justice pilot project working with victims and offenders in serious criminal cases.

Jonathan initially joined the Federal Government in 2001 to lead a dispute resolution program at the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, where he later went on to become a director, responsible for its regional offices. In 2005, he returned to law at the Competition Bureau Legal Services, specializing in large merger files. From 2008 to 2013, he was the General Counsel and Deputy Legal Advisor at the Legal Services Unit for the Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces.

In 2014, Jonathan returned to the Competition Bureau Legal Services as Executive Director and Senior General Counsel, where he led a team that was responsible for legal advice and litigation before the Competition Tribunal, Federal Courts of Canada, and Provincial Superior Courts.

From 2018 to 2022, Jonathan was the Regional Director General of the British Columbia Regional Office of the Department of Justice. In this role, he was responsible for a staff of approximately 400 employees, providing litigation services to over 30 federal departments.

Jonathan is available for mediations, facilitations, work-place assessments, change management assistance, workplace investigations, and mentoring for employees and managers. He is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Vietnamese.