John Tyhurst is an adjunct Professor in the University of Ottawa Common Law Section (English), and teaches competition law. He coached UOttawa Common Law teams at the Fanaki competition law moot in Toronto in 2023 and 2024 and has various supervised various directed research projects by law students in the area of competition law.
He practiced civil litigation, including competition law, at the Department of Justice in Ottawa prior to his retirement in June, 2019. Since then, in addition to teaching, he has being pursuing writing and research in the area of competition law and was retained by the Attorney General of Canada in indigenous and competition law matters. He was lead counsel for the Commissioner of Competition in the Rogers/Shaw merger matter.
During his career with Justice Canada, he appeared before all levels of courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada, and the Federal and Ontario Courts of Appeal. In 2020, he received the Ted Thompson Q.C. award from the Department of Justice for excellence in litigation.
He is the author of Canadian Competition Law and Policy (2021, Irwin), for which a second edition is forthcoming in the next year. He has authored various journal articles in the areas of competition, indigenous and tort law.
John grew up in BC, and spends any free time on the family farm in the Gulf Islands, where he tends to highland cattle, fights off caterpillars in the orchard and enjoys kayaking, paddleboarding, mountain biking and other outdoor pursuits.