Who We Are

We invite you to learn more about the individuals who bring their expertise and experience to CCTS. Please click on one of the following links to learn more:

Commissioner and CCTS Staff
Board of Directors

Commissioner and CCTS Staff

Howard Maker was appointed Canada’s first Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) in August 2008.

Howard is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School, and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1985. In addition to many years of legal and regulatory experience, Howard brings to the role his specialized expertise in investigations and complaint-handling. He conducted investigations and managed investigators at the Law Society of Upper Canada, and thereafter was appointed the Director of Investigations at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.

Howard subsequently joined the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments, where as Senior Deputy Ombudsman he conducted investigations and led the division of the organization responsible for investigating investment complaints.

At CCTS, Howard’s early focus has been on process redesign and improvement, public and stakeholder awareness, and otherwise building and entrenching the infrastructure of a new and growing organization.

CCTS employees bring diverse backgrounds and experience to their work. They have worked with consumer associations and regulators, and in the telecommunications industry and as lawyers.

Board of Directors

Our Board is structured to provide for the participation of all stakeholders while remaining independent from the telecommunications industry. It consists of eight directors, seven of whom are voting directors:

  • Four Independent Directors, two of whom are nominees of consumer groups. The Independent Directors are intended to represent a diversity of experience and interests, including individuals known and respected on a regional and national basis and representative of the Canadian population, including gender, linguistic, minority and geographic representation;
  • Three Industry Directors, one each to represent the ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier) Members, the Cable Company Members, and the Other Participating Service Provider Members; and
  • The Commissioner, who is a non-voting Director, and is independent of the telecommunications industry.

Independent Directors

The Independent Directors are intended to represent a diversity of experience and interests, being individuals known and respected on a regional and national basis and representative of the Canadian population, including gender, linguistic, minority and geographic representation.

Industry Directors

The Industry Directors represent each of the ILEC, Cableco and Other TSP Member categories. The current appointed Industry Directors are Jonathan Daniels (ILEC), Dennis Béland (Cableco) and Jill Schatz (Other).

Director biographies

Mary M. Gusella (Chair)

After a 36 year career in the federal public service, Mary retired in 2006 from the position of Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission where she led the transformation of the organization, eliminating a chronic backlog, drastically reducing wait times, developing new tools and partnerships for human rights prevention and maximizing the use of conflict resolution techniques to resolve complaints in a timely and effective manner.

A lawyer by training, Mary was awarded the Prime Minister’s Outstanding Achievement Award, the Public Service’s highest award, for her “Outstanding contribution to the Public Service of Canada”. She received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and has been inducted into the Honour Society of the University of Ottawa Law School.

Marie Bernard-Meunier

A career diplomat, Marie served in Ottawa as Assistant Deputy Minister for Global Issues and abroad as Canada’s Ambassador to UNESCO, to the Netherlands and to Germany. She left the Foreign Service in 2005 and has since published extensively on various public policy issues. She currently serves on the Boards of many public institutions, including the Public Policy Forum and the Audit Committee of the Canadian Space Agency. She holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from the Université de Montréal.

Dick Gathercole

Dick is a lawyer and former Executive Director of the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre. In his varied career Dick has been the Chair and CEO of the BC Energy Council, a member of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and counsel with Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General.

Jean Sébastien

Jean has a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and is currently professor of media and literature at College de Maisonneuve in Montreal. Jean has served as a policy analyst on matters of broadcasting, telecommunications, and information technology for L’Union des consommateurs and a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority. Prior to this, Jean spent some 15 years working in various capacities in the media.

Dennis Béland

Dennis is Director, Regulatory Affairs, Telecommunications, Quebecor Media Inc. Dennis has a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering and Management and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian LNP Consortium Inc., the Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium Inc. and a former Member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association.

Jonathan Daniels

B.A. (McGill) 1990, J.D. (Toronto) 1994, is Vice President Regulatory Law at Bell Canada. Prior to joining Bell, Mr. Daniels has served in various positions at Cable & Wireless based in the Cayman Islands, C1 Communications, Covad Communications, Sprint Canada and as an associate with the law firm Stikeman, Elliott. Mr. Daniels teaches telecommunications law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law; he has also taught telecommunications market dynamics at Ryerson University and has published a number of articles in the telecommunications and broadcasting fields.

Jill Schatz

Jill joined Primus Canada in 2008 as General Counsel and VP Law and has overall responsibility for the legal requirements of the company. Jill has extensive in-house experience in various public and private corporations and has held senior legal, corporate secretarial and executive roles in the IT and Telecommunications industries since 2000 with Momentum Advanced Solutions Inc. (formerly OnX Enterprise Solutions Inc.) and Cybersurf Corp. Prior to 2000 she held in-house positions with ICI Canada Inc. (formerly C-I-L Inc.) and TransCanada PipeLines Limited.

Jill is active in the corporate counsel community and is a past-President, Vice-President and Treasurer of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association (CCCA). She serves on the Executives of the IT and E-Commerce Section of the Ontario Bar Association and the Toronto Chapter of the CCCA and is currently the President of the CMHA York Region Board of Directors. Jill holds a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) and MBA (Finance Major), both from the University of Toronto as well as a Masters in Law (International Trade & Competition Law) from Osgoode Hall Law School.