About

The legal operations of iconic global restaurant brand McDonald’s in Canada legal operations are managed by an expert in-house legal team adept at handling vast commercial and legal interests. The team is led by the award-winning vice-president and general counsel Joel Levesque, who first joined the company in 1998 as its first employment counsel. Levesque then became general counsel in 2005, legal officer in 2011 and vice president in 2012. McDonald’s Canada pursues a number of social initiatives involving increased scrutiny and regulation of its products and systems, involving the legal team’s expertise. For example, in July 2018, the company announced that it would be the first company in Canada to serve only Canadian beef from sustainable sources, starting with its Angus products and moving across the product range. Additionally, the company announced in August 2018 a new youth opportunity initiative designed to remove barriers to employment for two million young people by 2025, through a comprehensive program of pre-employment training, opportunities to work and career development.