Hawes' first international honour was a bronze medal (4 × 100 m medley relay) at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil .

After competing at the World Championships and reaching 18th position, he broke the longest standing men's National record in Leeds, England in the 200-metre backstroke (SC) with a time of 1:52.21.

Hawes held the 200m Backstroke Canadian record for just over ten years until it was broken in 2019 by Markus Thormeyer at the 2019 World Aquatic Championships.

In 2011, after a disappointing World Championship result, Hawes started training with previous assistant coach of the Texas Longhorn Men's Varsity Swim Team, Bobby Folan, at the University of Sydney, Australia.

There he was working with Matt Jaukovich, previous 50m butterfly world record holder on the technical aspects of his main event (the 200m backstroke).