Advancing mass timber construction is critical to achieving Canada’s climate, housing, and economic goals. This course explores how innovative wood-based building systems – supported by programs such as Construction through Wood (GCWood) – are transforming the construction sector by enabling low-carbon, high-performance buildings. Drawing on insights from federal initiatives, industry leaders, and regional experts across Canada, the session examines the technical, regulatory, and market barriers to adoption, including fire performance, seismic design, supply chain capacity, and workforce readiness. It also highlights emerging opportunities in prefabrication, modular construction, and hybrid systems, while showcasing policy tools, demonstration projects, and the national Mass Timber Roadmap that are accelerating uptake. Designed for architects, engineers, contractors, and policy professionals, this course provides a comprehensive overview of the strategies and collaborative efforts required to scale mass timber construction across diverse Canadian markets.
Jean-Francois Levasseur
Director, Industry Relations & Innovation Programs / Directeur, Relations avec l’industrie et programmes d’innovation
Natural Resources Canada
Graduating from the University of Ottawa’s Chemical Engineering program, Jean-Francois started his career in a variety of increasing roles in Kraft pulp mills, including mill process and environmental engineer positions. He then joined Environment and Climate Change Canada where he led on numerous aspects of environmental regulatory regimes applicable to Canada’s forest sector.
At Natural Resources Canada since 2009, he has led in the design and implementation of various funding programs supporting strategic R&D, innovation and capital investments that accelerate the transformation of the Canadian forest sector towards the Bioeconomy:
the Pulp & Paper Green Transformation (PPGTP);
the Forest Innovation Program (FIP);
the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program (IFIT), and;
the Green Construction through Wood program (GCWood).
Together, these programs provided more than $1B to support energy efficiency improvements, green energy production, and the commercialization of innovative products, transformative technologies and new wood based green building and mass timber demonstrations.
Scott Jackson
Director, Conservation Biology
Forest Products Association of Canada
As the Director of Conservation Biology, Scott works with member companies, governments and partners to develop and communicate policy positions on a range of files related to forest management, biodiversity conservation, including fish, wildlife and at-risk species, and climate change mitigation and adaption. He also supports FPAC’s efforts to promote the forest sector’s commitment to science-based sustainable forest management, as well as its contributions to Canada’s social and economic standing.
Scott has been working for over 20 years in the field of forest management and natural resource policy. Most recently, he has worked as an independent consultant and as the Director of Indigenous and Stakeholder Relations with Forests Ontario, a not-for-profit organization committed to forest restoration, stewardship, education and awareness. Scott has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science (Biology) from Queen’s University and a Master of Forest Conservation degree from the University of Toronto.
Steven Street
Executive Director
WoodWorks Ontario
In his current role as Executive Director of WoodWorks Ontario, Steven leads a dynamic team, bringing value and new opportunities to the program’s partners in the wood industry. With many high-profile projects moving wood construction into the mainstream, knowledge transfer and market acceptance have never been more important to the wood industry. The construction sector has entered a new era of rapid industrialization, shifting from site-built to factory-built methodologies. Building code advances in the last few years are catalyzing the types of materials, approaches and buildings available for development. In this age of great change we can influence how we build, with new sustainability targets and an obligation to reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment.
Shawn Keyes
Executive Director
WoodWorks BC
Shawn is an accomplished structural engineer and the Executive Director of WoodWorks BC. With a rich background in engineering, project management, and business administration, Shawn offers dynamic leadership, overseeing a multi-disciplinary team of experts advancing wood construction across the province. He joined WoodWorks in 2022 after a decade-long, distinguished career in consulting where he worked on pioneering timber projects across Canada at a leading design firm. Shawn is a licensed professional engineer in BC and ON. He holds masters degrees in both engineering and business, with a M.Eng. from Carleton University and an MBA from UBC’s Sauder School of Business.
Rory Koska
Executive Director
WoodWorks Alberta
Rory Koska has over 30 years of experience in the design and building industry in Alberta. He is a graduate of the Architectural Technologies at NAIT. Rory worked with Igloo Building Supplies Group Ltd as a senior truss designer on residential and commercial buildings and later ran his own consulting firm. Rory has led the WoodWorks Alberta program for over 15 years and has brought the program through many milestones. The Alberta regional program has evolved into a conduit between industry innovation and the design community. Under Rory’s direction the WoodWorks Alberta program has established itself an invaluable resource for communities and the construction industry interested in building with wood.
David Porter
Program Coordinator
WoodWorks Atlantic
In 2019, David joined the Maritime Lumber Bureau as the Program Coordinator for the WoodWorks Atlantic program. He works with architects, engineers, developers, building/fire officials and government, to increase the use of wood in non-residential projects. He has been involved in the design and construction of many wood projects built in Atlantic Canada, providing technical support for both light wood frame and mass timber.
Simon Bellavance
Technical Advisor
Cecobois
Simon T. Bellavance holds a bachelor’s degree in wood engineering from Laval University, specializing in wood structures. Before becoming a technical advisor at Cecobois, he served as the technical lead for value-added wood products at Chantiers Chibougamau. In addition to his responsibilities in quality control and continuous improvement, he participated in several research and development projects for the Nordic Structures division. As a technical advisor at Cecobois since 2018, he has contributed to the development of various training programs, technical guides, case studies, and the creation of the Cecobois Conferences program.
Tim Buhler
Director, Programs and Operations
Canadian Wood Council
In the past 17 years at the Canadian Wood Council, he has helped build a network of wood champions and experts throughout North America to promote the use of timber in the built environment. Tim’s extensive knowledge in the industry comes from dozens of technical conferences, tours, meetings and workshops across North America and Europe.
As the director of operations, Tim works closely with the wood industry, with multiple levels of government and associations, chairing technical advisory committees and leading national working groups to address wood construction roadblocks.
Tim has been involved in over 200 timber construction projects in Ontario, including assisting with the development of several alternative code solutions for tall timber buildings.
Tim has been leading the “Insuring Timber” initiative with CWC since 2019. The goal of this program is to ensure more attractive rates of insurance can be achieved for builders of timber projects in Canada. Tim’s diligence in pursuing the understanding of the insurance market has helped this grow from a small research project to a national initiative. It has led to collaborations with the United Kingdom’s Structural Timber Association, the United States’ Woodworks – Wood Products Council and Laval University. Tim currently chairs a national working group to address the differential in insurance and is a contributor to numerous other committees in the industry examining this issue.
