Matt - second from the left. Early high school?

Jesse, Stephen, Beka and Matt lounging on the couch at Jesse and Nicole's Home

Jesse, Dave and Matt at APC on Sunday

Vero, Matt, Beka, Ady, Keith and Kate at Matt's 40th

Matt, Melody, Jordan at APC

Matt's 40th Birthday. With Beka, Keith and Kate. He had no shirt under his jacket...so Matt.

On the lookout with Matt, Vero, Ady, Kate, Beka and Keith

Matt sleeping with a blue wing

Climbing trees on on the Island with Keith, Kate and Ady

Hair twisting with Nicole.

I have the privilege of knowing Matt since we were 8 years old. He was pure adventure, pure love. He loved hard. He was a magnet. He had a powerful way of bringing people together. I have never met anyone like him and I don’t think I ever will. He lived big, laughed loud, hugged hard, fought for what was right, was an eco-champion and justice seeker. He thought big, but lived simple. He included everyone and made every single person feel like a million bucks. He was capable of making a new friend within 4 seconds of meeting them.

I feel so incredibly blessed and honoured to have called him "friend." We will miss camping on his beautiful Island and the way he brought everyone together. He has left of the biggest legacies possible, he truly made an impact in likely thousands of lives. He was unapologetically Matt. He brought out the best in everyone. ❤️

I can still hear his laugh, that big one, his chuckle, his giggle. I remember how he would look you right into your eyes and nod and hmmm and hawww during conversations - light conversations, deep conversation. I loved his faces - Matt had so many faces - excitement, curiosity, smiles - all exaggerated but so him.

He had a way with connecting with every so single human in a room - big or small.

His ideas - brilliant, genius, hilarious, adventurous, committed to the environment and true environmental justice.

So many memories - APC Youth, retreats, Chapleau, the train ride, Edgar the train conductor, ordering McDonalds from a walkie talkie, pranks, house hangs, Boxing Day, warming our butts with our jeans by his fireplace and running to sit on the couch, the backyard, the trampoline, visits at our old apartment, mall visits - always visits. He always wanted to get together. Always wanted to bring people together. Always, always found a way to connect. 

In his honour and memory, I find myself looking people in the eyes more, being in the moment, smiling more, stopping for the small moments. I hope this Matt-inspired way of living and being sticks around. I feel compelled to honour him and the way he was by being aware and connected in the way I live my daily life.

Matthew fut la personne la plus inspirante que j’ai rencontrée dans ma vie. Un modèle de générosité et de dynamisme, un grand visionnaire.  C’est une immense perte, mais le seul souvenir de cet homme si généreux nous fera redoubler d’ardeur pour prendre soin de notre belle planète.

Mes profondes sympathies à ses proches

I had Matthew on our "A Climate Of Change" zoom cast about 3 years ago to talk about what will be just one small part of his important legacy on climate in Canada, Climate Reality Canada's "National Climate League"

I never had the chance to meet Matt in person, but he played an instrumental role at Climate Reality Project Canada where I currently work, and he founded the program I now lead, the National Climate League. I remember speaking with him on the phone during my first couple weeks at CRPC in 2022, where he was so kind, encouraging, and generous in terms of sharing about his original hopes and vision for the project while also encouraging me to add my own direction and ideas. I always found talking with him energizing and inspiring. Over the next couple years, I was always getting surprise texts or emails from him with creative and thoughtful ideas for the NCL or relevant articles or resources he had come across. I admired how even though he even though he was no longer responsible for the NCL, his investment in the project clearly went deeper than that, and he continued to think about it and hold a lot of care about its success. This care seems indicative of his approach to all of his climate work. Even though I didn't know Matt as well as many of the people sharing here, he left an impression on me, and I have been thinking about him and his family a lot since this news. I feel grateful to be able to carry on the NCL, knowing this project is just one small piece of the huge impact and legacy Matt left behind. 

Nous avions soupé ensemble avant d'aller poser des questions reliées au climat aux élus municipaux de Montréal.

My condolences to Matthew's survivors... especially to his relatives, Véro et leurs 2 filles. Matthew was supportive and fun and inspiring to me :) He appeared in my world thanks to the cheeky Coalition Climat Montréal citizens' initiative he co-sponsored. It is heart-warming and hard to read the many good memories of collaborations, trips and shared values posted here... I appreciated his presence and honesty when we would  catch up on each other's lives. I wish he were still with us; so sad. I am shocked. Thank you Matthew. Rest in Peace.

My sincere condolences to Matthew’s family and friends. This is just such terrible news. 

I had the great fortune to first meet Matthew in 2015 and have long since greatly admired his determined commitment to change, his wisdom and tireless efforts to mobilize citizens. I think it is incumbent upon those of us who knew him to redouble our own efforts to secure the hopeful futures to which Matthew dedicated so much of his time and passion. For the sake of his family and ours. 

RIP Matthew, you will be greatly missed and not forgotten

Hardly have I met so much talent, generosity, creativity and consciousness combined in one person. Matthew was truly and forever is an extraordinary man. 

I met Matthew in 2014 in HEC Montreal where I was teaching as a sustainability lecturer. At that time Matt was gestating the first Coalition Climat Montréal event.

My heart is saddened with Matthew way too early passing.

Matthew you will be missed. May everything you gave wholeheartedely bear fruit.  My sincere condolences to your loving family, to your friends. So long, I feel honored and blessed to have met you. 

Thank you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch…

Dear Habib el kol Matthew,

I am shocked and heartbroken to read in the Climate Action newsletter that you are deceased. My friend, I am really really sorry and would like to express my deepest condolences to your wonderful wife and sweet children. We got to know one another a couple of years ago when you called me as a Montreal representative of a faith based organization to ask about our position on climate. I got you a long agenda on how Islam manifested ideas, guidelines and laws around the protection of the environment. I, on the other hand, was really impressed by your openness to other cultures, your environmental activism and your ability in speaking Egyptian Arabic so fluently. We got together a couple of times, also with the beautiful Veronique, but then our contact faded. Then I moved away from Montreal a couple of years ago. It’s weird but suddenly and somehow you came back on my mind some weeks back. I remembered I told you once that Berlin was the greenest city in Europe, and you were not d’accord avec. And so on… I think our good spirited connection never cut. Good people stay always in you somewhere… with a heavy heart, Mat, I wish your family and specifically your girls strength and only the best. 

Farewell, ma3essalamah ya Mat!

A very sad Nora 

Please accept my deepest sympathies and condolences. Mathew was a wonderful, kind and concerned person and a good friend. He was above all humble. He was an appreciated activist for the public good.  He once brought me back home from the hospital after surgery.  He will be greatly missed. May he rest in peace & may courage inhabit his wife & family. 

Meeting baby Adeline... So sad to learn about Matt's passing. It's been too long since we last spoke, and lately, I've found myself thinking of reaching out to catch up – It's unbelievable how life works; he keeps teaching me lessons. I met Matt during my internship at Climate Reality Canada, and I'll be forever grateful for his energy, enthusiasm, and vision, which fueled my new career path, gave me confidence and helped me "land" in Canada. A one-of-a-kind soul whose magic will be forever with us. My thoughts and heart are with Véronique, his daughters, and his family.

Trip to the island

Trip to the island

Trip to the island