His research, completed in cooperation with the Cree community of Whapmagoostui, in Nunavik, northern Quebec, focused on a unique population of freshwater harbor seal.

[3] From 1996 to 2002, Smith was Executive Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s (IFAW) Canadian office and a leader in the campaign to create Canada's federal Species At Risk Act.

[8][9][10] With the United Steelworkers, he founded Blue Green Canada, the first permanent partnership between trade unions and environmental organizations in the country.

[13] During that time, the Institute became Canada’s pre-eminent progressive policy and training organization with offices in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver.

[18] In their two books, Smith and his co-author, prominent Canadian environmental expert Bruce Lourie, experiment on their own bodies, raising and lowering levels of toxic chemicals in their blood and urine through the performance of common activities.

Their new experimentation in the 2019 re-issue of “Slow Death by Rubber Duck” has sparked a renewed debate on the presence of bisphenol A in consumer items.