Jacques A. Rivard from 1972 to 1976 was a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Radio, and from 1977 to 1981 he covered Parliament for National TV news.

Since 1981, Rivard has been national reporter covering the "green beat" for TV, and he has covered six United Nations conferences, including the one involving worldwide acceptance of the Montreal Protocol to protect the stratospheric ozone layer from CFCs; the 1989 Basel conference on hazardous waste; and the 1992 Rio conference on environment and development.

Rivard was a Nieman Fellow in environmental studies at Harvard University in 1995-1996, and from 1997 to 2002 he was the Canadian representative on the board of directors of the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ).

Since 1998 he has been a correspondent for CBC French National TV News in Vancouver, British Columbia, covering the West Coast of North America primarily on stories involving environment and natural resources.