Staff

Staff photos by Selena Phillips-Boyle 


Melanie Allison, Accounting Officer

Melanie Allison Melanie has been with the CCPA National Office since 2002 after having worked for 12 years as a front line caregiver with the Children’s Aid Society and lifeskills coach with adults dealing with mental health issues. It’s with great pleasure that she now uses her skills in accounting at the CCPA. Being part of an organization that works to strengthen the social net of Canadians keeps her connected to the values and goals perpetuated through her years of work within the social services.

Outside of the office she can often be found on a tennis court or in a yoga studio.

Charlene Frenette, Manager, Human Resources & Administration 

Charlene returned to the CCPA in 2021 after a three year hiatus, and is currently the manager of human resources & administration. Charlene—or Charly, as we like to call her—came to us with a wealth of experience in the non-profit, public, and private sectors. Some of her past roles include Special Assistant to the Premier, and Planning & Operations Coordinator Swissair Flight 111 Secretariat, which was formed in the aftermath of the aviation disaster. She has also worked for various non-profit associations such as the Canadian Airports Council and the Tourism Industry Association of Canada.

Her 13 years within the civil service provided her with a wealth of experience as an HR Consultant within the Public Service Commission and Regional Outreach Facilitator for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, to name just a few.

Charly has a Certified Human Resource Professional Designation, Certificate in Leading Complex Organizational Change, and a Business & Marketing Diploma. Charly has been involved in many notable causes including the Marguerite Centre for Women, United Way, Parker Street Food Bank, Ottawa Mission, and currently spearheads a clothing drive and pop-up boutique where proceeds are donated to Mothers Helping Mothers.

 Anskia Gingras, Donor Database Administrator

Anskia started at the CCPA when fax machines were still a popular way to communicate. Having watched both CCPA and our ways of communication grow and change, Anskia is proud to belong to an organization that reflects her personal values of social justice, fairness and equality.

She enjoys working with the development team as senior database administrator. When she’s not solving data puzzles, you can find Anskia in her natural habitatrural eastern Ontario, raising her daughter and spending time taking nature photos, exploring local trails and beaches or papercrafting. 

Gina Gill Hartmann 

Gina Gill Hartmann's headshot

Gina Gill Hartmann is a communications specialist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. She has worked in communications and journalism for over 15 years. Most recently she worked at Federation of Canadian Municipalities as a communications coordinator overseeing the execution of newsletters, supporting campaigns and ensuring policies were delivered to members. 

Before that she worked at Equal Voice on a systemic change project, helping implement policies within legislatures to make political spaces more accessible to women. 

Hailing from Newfoundland—where a lot of her freelancing journalism took place—Gina still considers that place home, but resides in Ottawa. 

Trish Hennessy, Director, Think Upstream

Trish Hennessy

Trish is the Director of the Think Upstream project and a senior communications strategist with the CCPA National Office. 

She is focused on social determinants health, sustainable development goals, income inequality, decent work, an inclusive economy, and wellbeing budgeting. 

Trish was the founding director of the CCPA Ontario and co-founded the Ontario Living Wage Network. She was the founding director of the CCPA National Office's growing gap project, which began in 2006. Trish was a former newspaper journalist, originally from Saskatchewan but she now lives in Ottawa. She has a B.A. Sociology from Queen's University, a B.S.W. from Carleton University, and an M.A. in Sociology from OISE/University of Toronto.

Patrick Hoban, Development Assistant

Patrick Hoban

Patrick joined the CCPA's development department in 2019, working on gift processing and database support. He graduated from the University of Ottawa in 2010 with an Honours Bachelor of Social Sciences in International Studies and Modern Languages, working in development, membership, and administration at Canada's NDP prior to joining the CCPA.

Committed to social and environmental justice, Patrick has been active in his local food co-op, labour unions, and community LGBTQ health organzations. With a passion for languages, he's studied French, Spanish, and American Sign Language. Patrick loves cats and enjoys urban gardening, swimming, the outdoors, and rock climbing.

Amanda Klang, Senior Communications Specialist

Amanda is thrilled to be part of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives team.  She comes to this role after working in journalism for 15 years, for both CBC and Radio-Canada. 

In her work as a CBC News producer with the National Radio Syndication team, she prepared stories for audiences across Canada that focused on a range of topics. But the stories that explored labour, economics and energy issues were the most compelling for her. And she enthusiastically supports the CCPA's mission of empowering the public to understand just those issues through a progressive policy lens.

Amanda lives in Montreal but happily claims Vancouver as her hometown. She has a bachelor and master's degree in literature and history, respectively. She did her degrees at UC Berkeley and UBC. She is bilingual in French and English.

Katie Loftus, Senior Development Officer, Monthly and Legacy Giving

Katie Loftus

Katie came to the CCPA in 2013 with the mandate to establish a national legacy giving program and establish closer relationships with our most valued donors, including our incredible community of monthly donors. CCPA's national legacy giving program is now thriving and Katie loves working with donors who are keen to help ensure that the CCPA remains one of Canada’s leading progressive voices in public policy debates for generations to come.

Prior to joining the CCPA team, Katie established legacy giving programs for several not-for-profit organizations, including the David Suzuki Foundation, Evergreen and the Toronto Humane Society and worked closely with their most valued supporters.

Katie has a B.A. English Degree from McMaster University, completed her B.A. Honours English Degree from University of Ottawa and tagged on a Corporate Communications Diploma from Seneca College.

Katie is inspired by nature and can be found outside as much as possible. She is kept young at heart by her two daughters and family adventures big and small. Katie is a bit of a gypsy at heart and loves spontaneous encounters with new people, places and food. 

David Macdonald, Senior Economist

David Macdonald

David joined the CCPA as its Senior Ottawa Economist in 2011, although he has been a long time contributor as a research associate. Since 2008, he has coordinated the Alternative Federal Budget, which takes a fresh look at the federal budget from a progressive perspective. David has also written on a variety of topics, from child care to income inequality to federal fiscal policy. He is a regular media commentator on national policy issues, often speaking to the CBC, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Canadian Press. 

David received his BA from the University of Windsor and his MA from the University of Guelph, both in Philosophy. Follow David on Twitter.

Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, Senior Researcher

Hadrian (he/him) is a senior researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. His work focuses on the social and economic dimensions of Canada's shift toward a zero-carbon economy, including the necessity of a just transition for vulnerable workers and communities across the country. He is a contributor to the CCPA's Trade and Investment Research Project and Alternative Federal Budget.

Hadrian holds a MA in Political Economy from Carleton University and a BA in Communications from Western University. He lives and works in Ottawa.

Jon Milton ,Senior Communications Specialist

As a a writer, researcher, and organizer, Jon and has been helping social movements communicate with the public for nearly a decade. Prior to his work at the CCPA, Jon worked as a freelance journalist reporting on social movements, and his reporting has won multiple national awards. He has also worked as a union communications staffer for a number of years in Alberta, helping union members build campaigns to defend public services. He is passionate about giving working people the tools to understand—and act to improve—the world around them. Regardless of where he is living at a given time, Jon's home is Montreal.

Jason Moores, Senior Development Officer

Jason Moores

Jason is often the first voice or line of communication for the National Office—manning the reception line and general email box. He also works closely with the development department, and provides assistance to staff and CCPA supporters.

Jason aims to keep fit walking his tireless Standard Schnauzer or playing tennis on one of the courts around the city.

LeAnne Parrish, Development Associate

LeAnne Parrish (she/her) works in the CCPA’s Development Department, where she supports gift processing and donor database maintenance. Before joining the CCPA, she worked in the student and labour movements and built her career supporting the operations of non-profits and labour unions. LeAnne grew up in a right to work state. She much prefers the reality where collective worker power exists and strengthens our society.

Before attending university, she spent many years in Berlin, Germany and is fluent in German. LeAnne came to Canada as an international student, and graduated with a degree in English Language and Literature, studying within an anti-colonial framework.

You can find LeAnne outside in the garden or in the snow. She embraces winter, unlike her kids and her cats. She often disappears into backwoods to explore lakes, and is grateful to the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation for preserving and sharing this beautiful land. 

Tim Scarth, Senior Graphic Designer

Tim Scarth Tim Scarth is the CCPA's Senior Graphic Designer and is responsible for the design and layout of the the CCPA's national magazine, the Monitor, as well as the printed materials produced by the National, Nova Scotia and Ontario offices.

Tim has a degree in English and a diploma in Art History. Outside of work he enjoys reading, photography, and dogs. 

Katherine Scott, Senior Researcher 

Katherine serves as the director for the CCPA's gender equality and public policy work. She has worked in the community sector as a researcher, writer and advocate over the past 20 years, writing on a range of issues from social policy to inequality to funding for nonprofits. She is passionate about research that speaks to the aspirations of communities and supports collective action for change.

She has served as Vice President of Research at the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) for several years and, more recently, produced research and analysis for organizations such as Prosper Canada, Volunteer Canada, Capacity Canada, Pathways to Education Canada, and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

Katherine lives in Ottawa with her family. She holds degrees in political science from Queen’s University and York University.

Erika Shaker, National Office Director

Erika Shaker

Erika (she/her) became Director of the National Office in 2020, but began her career at the CCPA in 1997 as director of the Education Project. Originally established to monitor corporate intrusion in public education, the project broadened its focus to include standardized testing, social justice and anti-racism education in schools, educational equity, school finance, child care and early childhood education, tuition and user fees, technology, surveillance and privacy, the arts, and community-based education. In 2000 she also became editor of Our Schools/ Our Selves, the popular education journal founded in 1988. It is included biannually in the CCPA Monitor Magazine, and provides commentary and analysis on a wide variety of education-related topics.  

Erika has a BA in History from McGill University and an MA in English (critical literary analysis) from the University of Guelph. Prior to coming to the CCPA, she worked in Washington DC researching the corporatization of childhood, and was one of the founders of UNPLUG (which became the now-defunct Center for Commercial-Free Public Education). She spends far too much time on social media.

Rick Telfer, Deputy Director 

Rick Telfer

Rick joined the National Office of CCPA in 2018 and is responsible primarily for the development and implementation of administrative systems relating to finances and human resources. He also oversees the day-to-day activities of the fundraising department.

Prior to joining CCPA, Rick was deeply involved in the student and labour movements for two decades, including as Ontario National Executive Representative of the Canadian Federation of Students, Executive Director of the University of Toronto Students’ Union, and a vice-president of his former Public Service Alliance of Canada local union, among other roles. Rick has also held public office as a trustee of the Toronto District School Board.

Rick completed his BA and MA degrees, in sociology, at the University of Western Ontario where he also worked as a sessional instructor teaching research methodology to senior undergraduate students while pursuing PhD studies. As an adjunct professor at Fanshawe College, Rick also taught introductory sociology, gender and sexuality, and globalization.

Letisha Toop, Administrative Assistant

Photograph of Letisha Toop, Database and Administrative Services

Letisha joined the CCPA in 2014 to work in the development department providing administrative support and processing annual donations. Prior to joining the CCPA, she worked as the communications and policy assistant at 25One Community. She graduated from Carleton University in 2013 with a BA Honours in Human Rights. Letisha currently sits on the board of the Young Non Profit Professionals Network of Ottawa, an organization dedicated to engaging and supporting young workers in the local non profit sector. In her free time, she loves to cook and enjoys running and exploring Ottawa.

Stuart Trew, Senior Researcher

Stuart Trew

Stuart joined the CCPA in 2014 as Editor of the Monitor magazine and has produced number of CCPA publications including The Harper Record: 2009-2015 (with Teresa Healy), Making Sense of the CETA (with Scott Sinclair and Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood), and the 2016 Lorimer anthology, The TPP and Canada: A Citizen's Guide (with Scott Sinclair). He took on the role of Director of the CCPA's Trade and Investment Research Project in February 2021.

Stuart has a BA in journalism and political science and a MA in political economy from Carleton University. Between 2006 and 2014, he was a trade researcher and campaigner with the Council of Canadians. In 2009, he co-founded the Trade Justice Network, which continues to bring together labour, environmental, student, human rights and other social justice groups to contest neoliberal trade rules and propose progressive alternatives.