Born in Toronto, Joël grew up in Sainte-Foy where he went to De Rochebelle and Champlain St. Lawrence. He went on to study law at McGill University in Montreal where he graduated with both civil law and common law degrees (B.C.L./LL.B).

A lawyer by training, Joël worked at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin in Montreal from 2011 to 2013 as a student, intern and lawyer in the Labour, Employment and Human Rights section.

Towards the end of 2013, Joël left his job in Montreal to return to Quebec City to enter politics and run for the Liberal Party of Canada nomination. He practised law in the Quebec City area while pursuing a master’s degree in Information Technology Law, specializing in Internet privacy.

Joël has always been very involved in his community, whether as president of the St. Lawrence student association, vice-president of La Confédération des associations d’étudiants en droit civil, or as Quebec’s representative at the Francophone Youth Parliament in Libreville, Gabon. He has served on the boards of the Champlain Regional College and La Baratte Chez Soi.

Joël represented McGill University at the Laskin, a national moot court competition in administrative and constitutional law, where his team won awards for best factum, best team and second best pair of speakers. He was also awarded the Cardinal Roy Trophy for his leadership and academic excellence during his studies at Collège St. Lawrence.

Joël Lightbound was elected in the riding of Louis-Hébert in October 2015 and in October 2019.

During his first mandate, he was Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health from January to September 2017 and was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance on 19 September 2017.

During his second mandate, in 2019, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.