Gregg Blachford was born in 1950 and brought up in a Toronto suburb. After graduating from Queen's, he hadn't thought much about what he wanted to do - "You didn't have to in those days" - but landed a teaching job in a primary school in Sydney.
He knew then that teaching was his vocation, so proceeded to London for formal teacher training, after which he taught at secondary and college levels in England and in Germany - pausing for a year to do an MA in sociology - all the while developing an expertise in career counselling.
Blachford then returned to his native Toronto, to see what the old country had to offer. Following a short stint as a guidance teacher, he moved to Montreal in 1991, where the "Ontario-bilingual" teacher found part-time work at Dawson College before starting at McGill.
During his off-hours, Blachford trains volunteers at Gay Line, a crisis and information phone service for gays and lesbians in Montreal, where he also staffs the phones two nights per month. He is now living in French-speaking Montreal.
