June 2025 Bargaining Update

As Chair of the bargaining team, Pascal Bessette brings more than two decades of experience at La Cité to his role as Vice-President, Human Resources and Organizational Culture. He has chaired multiple provincial bargaining teams, including the Full-Time Support Staff team (2022) and the Part-Time Support Staff teams (2018, 2021, 2024). He currently serves as the Management Co-Chair of both the Full-Time and Part-Time Support Staff Employee/Employer Relations Committees.

Pascal previously served in HR roles with the French Catholic School Board in Toronto. He is a bilingual HR practitioner who holds a Bachelor of Business Administration with a specialization in Human Resources Management from the Université de Sherbrooke, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Ottawa.

Kim Watkins, Vice-Chair of the bargaining team, is Vice-President, Corporate Services at Mohawk College, with over 20 years of experience in Ontario’s college sector, including previous roles at Canadore College. She has served on several provincial bargaining teams, including the Full-Time (2022) and the Part-Time Support Staff (2018, 2021, 2024) teams.

Kim is a Chartered Professional Accountant and a Certified General Accountant with a Certified Risk Management designation. She holds an MBA from Laurentian University. She has also contributed to her community through board roles with Hamilton Child and Family Supports and St. Joseph Healthcare Hamilton.

Lucie Laperrière is Manager of Organizational Development and Talent Management at Canadore College. She is a member of the 2024 Part-Time Support Staff bargaining team and serves on the provincial Full-time and Part-time Support Staff Employee/Employer Relations Committees and the Joint Grievance Scheduling Committee. Lucie brings extensive experience in collective agreement interpretation and labour relations.

Prior to joining Canadore College in 2017, she served as a Labour Relations Specialist at the North Bay Regional Health Centre. She holds a designation as a Certified Human Resources Professional /Certified Human Resources Leader and is fluently bilingual (français / English).

Jeremy Roy is Manager of Human Resources at Lambton College, where he oversees labour relations for full-time and part-time support staff as well as recruitment, and job evaluation for the college. He leads the Support Staff Union/College Committee and the College Employment Stability Committee at Lambton.

Jeremy brings deep labour relations experience from previous HR roles at the Thames Valley District School Board and London Health Sciences Centre, having been a member of the bargaining teams in successful contract negotiations for several labour agreements for those organizations. He holds the Certified Human Resources Leader designation.

Ian Wigglesworth is Associate Vice-President, Student Success at George Brown College, where he has held progressive leadership roles since 2010. He was a member of the 2021 Academic bargaining team. Ian began his career teaching in Japan and later at the University of Toronto before moving into academic leadership.

He holds degrees from York University, graduate credentials from University of Toronto and Trent University, and a Master of Education from Memorial University. He is completing a PhD in Higher Education Community College Leadership at OISE, University of Toronto.

Rachelle Perreault-Léveillé is Director of Human Resources at Collège Boréal, where she has worked since 2004. She is a member of the 2024 Part-Time Support Staff bargaining team and currently serves on the Full-time and Part-time Support Staff Employee/Employer Relations Committees and the Joint Insurance Committee for support staff.

With more than 15 years of progressive HR experience, Rachelle provides the team with a strong knowledge of the support staff collective agreement. 

Graham was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of CEC in 2019. Since then, he has negotiated three collective agreements and the Bill 124 benefits and retroactive pay increases with each of the unionized groups at Ontario public colleges. Prior to joining CEC, Graham was employed with the Dairy Farmers of Ontario, Ontario's milk marketing board, where he held several senior leadership roles, including, its CEO.

Previously, he served as the General Counsel at a multi-national insurer and, before that, was a litigator in Toronto. With more than 30 years of experience, Graham brings a significant skillset in managing complex negotiations, advocacy, strategic planning, governance, and communications.

Peter McKeracher has been the Vice President of Labour Relations at the CEC since 2019, previously serving as the Director of Labour Relations and Director Academic. Before joining the CEC, Peter was the Director of Staff Relations at Algonquin College, managing labour relations with the academic and support staff locals. He also taught Law at Durham College, where he was the president of the OPSEU faculty local for 18 years.

Peter holds a BA and MBA from University of Toronto, a LLB from York University and LLM, Law from The London School of Economics and Political Science.

As Director of Labour Relations for CEC, Trish provides guidance and advice to the public college sector on a wide variety of labour relations, human resources, and human rights issues. Previously, she worked as a labour and employment lawyer before moving to St. Lawrence College, where she was the Associate Director of Workplace Relations.

Trish has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Calgary and Master of Industrial Relations and Juris Doctor degrees, both from Queen's University. She is licensed by the Law Society of Ontario.

Gregory Power is a labour and employment lawyer and partner at Hicks Morley’s Toronto office. Gregory chairs the firm’s Colleges Sector Practice Group and previously served on the firm’s Executive Committee. He regularly acts as chief negotiator for clients engaged in the collective bargaining process and has negotiated collective agreements in almost every province. In addition, he has appeared before arbitrators, labour boards, courts and human rights tribunals at both the provincial and federal levels.

Prior to joining Hicks Morley, Gregory was employed with the Newfoundland and Labrador Employers’ Council where he advised clients on matters relating to employment standards, labour law and workers’ compensation.

Cathy is a Human Resources Consultant at the CEC. Previously she worked in Labour Relations for the City of Brampton and Sheridan College. In addition to being a member of the Support Staff Management bargaining team, Cathy serves on provincial Support Staff Management Union committees.

Cathy holds a Bachelor of Human Resources and Labour Relations from Athabasca University and is a Certified Human Resources Leader.

Bill Steinburg is Interim Director of Communications at the CEC, with more than 20 years of experience in strategic communications and media relations. Prior to joining CEC, he served as Senior Media Relations & Communications Advisor at Mohawk College. He has also served in roles supporting organizations in regional, national and international projects and campaigns. Bill began his career in journalism and publishing.

He holds a BA from Brock University and a Journalism diploma from Loyalist College. He is a director of the Canadian Public Relations Society – Hamilton.