Our Community Advisory Board

The Community Advisory Board for Mediation Services is made up of volunteers from the Windsor-Essex community. The Board is responsible for long-range and strategic planning for Mediation Services. The Board provides a wide range of community perspectives to support Mediation Services in serving the interests of students and members of the community in accordance with organizational goals.

If you are interested in submitting your name for board membership, please contact our office.

The current board includes the following members:

Chair: Dean Camille Cameron
Professor Gemma Smyth, University of Windsor Faculty of Law
Director of Mediation Services: Ms. Lynne Pearlman, University of Windsor Faculty of Law
Faculty Advisor: Vacant
Hon. John H. Brockenshire QC
Justice Lloyd Dean, Ontario Court of Justice
Master Lou Ann Pope, Superior Court of Justice
Ms. Helga Reidel, Chief Administrative Officer, City of Windsor
Dr. Bruce Tucker, Associate Vice-President, Academic Affairs, University of Windsor
Ms. Rose Valle, Mediator, Workplace Safety & Insurance Board
Ms. Gerri Wong, Shulgan Martini Marusic, LLP
 

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Chair: Dean Camille Cameron

Professor Gemma Smyth, University of Windsor Faculty of Law

Click here for more details about Professor Smyth

Professor Gemma Smyth is Assistant Professor and Academic Clinic Director at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law. Professor Smyth teaches Clinic Seminar, Alternative Dispute Resolution, and manages the Clinic Practice Programs. She also researches and writes in the areas of clinic law and dispute resolution.

Ms. Lynne Pearlman, Director of Mediation Services

Click here for Lynne Pearlman's biography.

Hon. John H. Brockenshire QC

The Honourable Justice Brockenshire graduated with an LL.B from Osgoode Hall. He has since completed numerous post-graduate programs in Canada, the United States and England, such as Advanced Legal Education Programs at Cornell and Cambridge Universities and several courses in arbitration and mediation, including the Harvard Law School Mediation Course.

Justice Brockenshire has been a sessional instructor at the University of Windsor, teaching courses in undergraduate Commercial Law and Municipal Law & Real Property Transactions at the Law School. He has also contributed articles to the journal, Municipal World, and was a contributing writer to Ontario Courtroom Procedure, 2007 (LexisNexis).

Justice Brockenshire practiced law in partnership and as a sole practitioner in Windsor and Amherstburg until 1991 in a wide variety of areas, conducting plaintiff and defence work in civil litigation, crown and defence work in criminal law, business, corporate and commercial law, wills and estates, real estate, planning, labour law, and municipal law. He was a solicitor for the Town of Amherstburg from 1960 to 1991, part-time Assistant Crown Attorney from 1969 to 1976, Minister’s Designee for Review Hearings under the Employment Standards Act from 1973 to 1976, occasional Deputy Judge in Provincial Court (Civil Division), and Member of the Panels of Arbitrators of both the Arbitration and Mediation Institute of Canada and the American Arbitration Association. He was appointed as Queen’s Counsel in 1974 and later appointed as a Justice of the Ontario Court (General Division), re-named the Superior Court of Justice, on March 22, 1991 and has recently retired from this position.

In addition to his previous Justice duties, he has served as the head of the Backlog Reduction-Case Flow Team and is a Designated Justice, Class Action Matters, in Windsor. He has also served as Administrative Justice, Windsor, 1994-1998 and on the Case Management Committee struck by the Chief Justice.

In addition to his work with Mediation Services since 2005, Justice Brockenshire has been actively involved with other community organizations including the Windsor Chapter of the Canadian Cancer Society, United Way, Amherstburg and Windsor Chambers of Commerce, Windsor Aquatic Club, Canterbury College, Assumption University’s Board of Regents and the University of Windsor’s Board of Governors.

Justice Lloyd Dean

The Honourable Justice Dean received his Honours Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1987, his Bachelor of Laws in 1990, and a Bachelor of Education degree in 1993, all from the University of Windsor.

He articled with the Mctague, Clark law firm and after his call to the Bar worked in civil litigation at Gignac, Sutts. From 1993 to 1999 he was a teacher for the Greater Essex County District School Board. He taught at both the elementary and secondary levels. During those years he also began working part-time as an Assistant Crown Attorney and as an agent for the Department of Justice in the Windsor.

In 1999 he began working full-time as a Provincial Assistant Crown Attorney. In October of 2005 he was appointed as a Judge of the Ontario Court of Justice and sits in both Criminal and Family court here in Windsor. In October of 2008 he was named the Local Administrative Justice for the Ontario Court of Justice in Windsor.

Justice Dean’s community and volunteer activities throughout Windsor and Essex County has been many and varied.

Master Lou Ann Pope

Master Pope was called to the Bar (Ontario) in 1995 after graduating from the University of Windsor with a B.A. and a LLB in 1993. In her “former life,” she had an extensive career as an instructor and program coordinator at St. Clair College of Applied Arts and Technology in Windsor having taught in the legal secretarial and law clerk programs. Her law practice was focused in the areas of family law and wills and estates. During her law career, she was a Director of the Family Law Lawyers’ Association and a Director of the Essex Law Association for many years, becoming President in 2001. Subsequent to her tenure as President, she served as a Director of the County and District Law Presidents’ Association until her appointment as Civil Case Management Master of the Superior Court of Justice in Essex County (Windsor) in December 2005.

Ms. Helga Reidel

The Chief Administrative Officer of the City of Windsor, Helga Reidel is a professional administrator with over 20 years of progressive experience in the public and private sectors. Her goal is to provide support to her staff and advocate on their behalf to make the Corporation of the City of Windsor a better place in which to work and provide dedicated service to all residents of the City of Windsor.

Helga was named CAO in September 2009. Prior to that appointment, Helga was the City of Windsor's General Manager of Corporate Services from 2006-2009. Her appointment to General Manager meant a return to the Corporation. She had previously been with the Corporation of the City of Windsor as Director of Internal Audit & Consulting Services, Assistant Commissioner (Corporate Services)/Deputy Treasurer & Director of Financial Projects, and City Treasurer. She is well known to City Staff and to those in the community.

Previous experience includes positions as Manager of Financial Services (Hiram Walker & Sons Inc.), Controller and Manager of Human Resources (The Greater Essex County District School Board), and Vice President Finance (Windsor Family Credit Union).

Helga is a graduate of the University of Windsor with a Hon. Bachelor of Commerce – Accounting and a Bachelor of Education. She has also earned her Chartered Accountant designation. She has been and remains a member of a number of community associations. She has been married to her husband Rolf for 24 years and they have 3 children.

Dr. Bruce Tucker

Click here for more details about Dr. Tucker

Bruce Tucker is Professor of History and Associate Vice-President, Academic Affairs at the University of Windsor. He received his BA from the University of Toronto in 1970 and his PhD in history from Brown University in 1979. He taught history at Rhode Island College, Dalhousie University, and the University of Cincinnati before joining the history Department at the University of Windsor in 1988. He has published widely on early American history and American urban and intellectual history. He is currently writing a book on post-9/11 American culture.

Dr. Tucker is a past president of the Windsor University Faculty Association and served as president of the Board of Directors of Canterbury College from 2002-2006 He is currently a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Windsor.

Mrs. Rose Valle

Currently working as a Return to Work Specialist at the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) in the Windsor-Essex area, Ms. Valle completed her Master of Arts program in Conflict Analysis and Management at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. Her thesis was entitled “Utilization Patterns and Effectiveness of Workplace Safety and Insurance Board Mediation Services in Ontario: Some Preliminary Implications for Program Evaluation”.

Ms. Valle is a Chartered Mediator and has conducted well over a thousand mediation sessions for the WSIB. She commenced work at the WSIB in 1991 following her graduation with a B.A. in in Sociology and Philosophy from the University of Western Ontario. She has held a number of different positions since that time in vocational rehabilitation, adjudication and mediation/conflict resolution.

Ms. Gerri Wong

 Gerri Wong is a Windsor Law graduate ('84) and was called to the Bar in 1986. Her current area of practice with Shulgan Martini Marusic, LLP is primarily family law. Gerri has a background in ADR, completing negotiation and mediation training at Harvard in 1994 and 1995 respectively. Gerri has been a panel lawyer with the Office of the Children's Lawyer since 1986 and has been a member of the mandatory mediation roster since 2004. She teaches ADR at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law and also supports the Law School's mediation advocacy teams in a coaching capacity.