James John Buchanan

After graduating from the University of Waterloo in 2011 with an Honours Degree in Legal Studies, Jim accepted a contract position with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) as an Officer in Algonquin Provincial Park . During his time with the OMNR, Jim became familiar with Regulatory Compliance and the Provincial Offence Court Process.

Several years later, he accepted a position with the Ministry of Transportation in Ontario (MTO) as a Transportation Enforcement Officer . He started his MTO career on the busiest commercial trucking route in North America—Ontario’s Highway 401—where he was posted at the Putnam Commercial Vehicle Inspection Facility east of London. He later transferred to Thunder Bay where he patrolled the Trans-Canada Highway in Ontario’s Northwest District for several years.

As a Transportation Enforcement Officer, Jim inspected thousands of Commercial Motor Vehicles, issued various charges, and assisted in their prosecution in Provincial Offences Court, undergoing extensive cross-examination by experienced paralegals and lawyers. Jim became so proficient in this facet of his employment that he was appointed as a Provincial Training Instructor with the MTO’s Road User Safety Division. In this role, he was responsible for developing and delivering training curriculum to all new Officer Recruits in the Province of Ontario. He trained new recruits on methods of investigation, gathering evidence, and presenting that evidence in Court. Much of the curriculum Jim designed and implemented is still in use by the MTO today. In addition to training countless MTO Officers, Jim trained numerous Officers from the Ontario Provincial Police and other municipal Police Services in Commercial Vehicle Safety Inspections and the highly technical regulatory framework surrounding them.