Advisory committee on the charitable sector
What we do
The Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector (ACCS) is a consultative forum for the Government of Canada to engage in meaningful dialogue with the charitable sector, to advance emerging issues relating to charities, and to ensure the regulatory environment supports the important work that charities do.
The ACCS is co-chaired by the charitable sector and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). It provides recommendations to the Minister of National Revenue and the Commissioner of the CRA on important and emerging issues facing registered charities and other qualified donees on an ongoing basis.
Sector members
The ACCS is made up of 14 members with experience grounded in the issues facing the charitable sector, including registered charities, national umbrella organizations, professional associations, charity researchers/academics, and legal experts. All members, including two sector co-chairs, are appointed by the Minister of National Revenue or the Commissioner of the CRA.
To ensure continuity for the first three years, members serve different terms. The sector co-chairs and five members serve three-year terms, while seven sector members serve two-year terms. After the first three years, all sector members and co-chairs serve two-year terms.
Sector members
Bruce MacDonald, President & CEO, Imagine Canada (sector co-chair)

Who would have thought that operating carnival games and rides would lead to a career in social good? Nobody, really. Well – over 30 years later, Mr. MacDonald is still at it. From having served as CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada for ten years and prior to that as the organization’s Vice-President of Marketing, he has led major change initiatives and developed long and innovative partnerships with corporations and other charities. A wide and varied career, working with different parts of the sector has lead him to Imagine Canada – working with young people, older adults, sports and recreation and community service clubs.
Mr. MacDonald holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Sports Administration, a Masters in Management in the Voluntary Sector and is mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Hilary Pearson, former President, Philanthropic Foundations Canada (sector co-chair)

Hilary Pearson is the former President of Philanthropic Foundations Canada, a national network of grant making organizations in Canada with 135 members, including many of the largest private charitable foundations in the country. Since 2001, when she was appointed President, she has grown the organization to become a leading voice in Canadian organized philanthropy. Author of numerous articles and policy submissions on key issues in Canadian philanthropy, Ms. Pearson is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops. Prior to joining PFC, Ms. Pearson held senior positions in central agencies of the Government of Canada from 1981 to 1993. She was Vice-President at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) from 1993 to 1996 and a senior strategy consultant at the Montreal consulting firm Secor from 1993 to 2001. An expert in nonprofit governance, Ms. Pearson has served on several national nonprofit boards of directors, including those of Pearson College of the Pacific, Imagine Canada, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada, CARE Canada and Indspire. She chairs the Advisory Body of the Coady Institute at St Francis Xavier University and is a member of the Advisory Committee to the Masters Program in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Carleton University. She holds a BA and MA from the University of Toronto, and honourary doctorates from Carleton University and the University of New Brunswick. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in July 2018.
Denise Byrnes, Executive Director, OXFAM-Québec
Terrance S. Carter, Partner, Carters Professional Corporation
Peter Dinsdale, President & CEO, YMCA Canada
Peter Elson, Co-lead, Canadian network of partnership-oriented research on philanthropy (PhiLab), and Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Victoria
Bruce Lawson, President & CEO, The Counselling Foundation of Canada
Arlene MacDonald, former Executive Director, Community Sector Council of Nova Scotia
Susan Manwaring, Partner, Miller Thomson, and Chair, Canadian Bar Association Charities and non-for-profit section
Kevin McCort, President & CEO, Vancouver Foundation
Andrea McManus, Chair and Founding Partner of ViTreo Group, former Chair of the Association of Fundraising Professionals International Board
Peter Robinson, former CEO, David Suzuki Foundation
Paulette Senior, CEO & President, Canadian Women’s Foundation
Paula Speevak, President & CEO, Volunteer Canada
CRA and Department of Finance members
The Assistant Commissioner of the Legislative Policy and Regulatory Affairs Branch of the CRA serves as one of the ACCS’ co-chairs. As well, the CRA’s Charities Directorate and Finance Canada each have a representative that sits on the ACCS.
Representatives from other government departments may be invited as observers or resource people on a temporary or ongoing basis.
CRA and Department of Finance members
Geoff Trueman, Assistant Commissioner, Legislative Policy and Regulatory Affairs Branch (co-chair)

Geoff Trueman was named Assistant Commissioner of the Legislative Policy and Regulatory Affairs Branch in October 2015.
Prior to his appointment at the Canada Revenue Agency, Geoff was General Director of the Tax Policy Branch at the Department of Finance since 2013. Geoff began his career with the Government of Canada in 1992 when he joined the Department of Finance. Since that time he has held a number of increasingly senior positions at the Department, as an economist and as an executive, in the areas of personal, sales and business taxation, including a two-year deployment to the European Commission in Brussels.
Geoff was born in Winnipeg and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, With Distinction, and a Bachelor of Laws, both from the University of Manitoba. He also received a Masters of Business Administration from Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario.
Tony Manconi, Director General, Charities Directorate, Legislative Policy and Regulatory Affairs Branch
Pierre Leblanc, Director General, Personal Income Tax Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance
ACCS Working groups
At the June 22, 2020, meeting, ACCS members identified the priorities that the committee will focus on.
Five working groups were established to examine the priorities below. These working groups have been meeting regularly to advance their work.
Working Group | Regulatory Framework Working Group (RFWG) | Vulnerable Populations Working Group (VPWG) | Indigenous Peoples Working Group (IPWG) | Purposes and Activities Working Group (PAWG) | Charitable Sector Data Working Group (CSDWG) |
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Members |
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Priorities | Modernizing the regulatory framework in Government as it relates to the charitable sector. | Supporting the work of charities serving vulnerable populations. | Exploring charity-related regulatory and legislative issues faced by Indigenous Peoples and organizations. | Examining the regulatory approach to charitable purposes and activities, including its impact on charities working with non qualified donees, and charities engaging in revenue-earning activities. | Improving data collection and analysis related to the charitable sector. |
Meeting readouts
- Readout: Advisory committee on the charitable sector – January 29, 2021
- Readout: Advisory committee on the charitable sector – December 1, 2020
- Readout: Advisory committee on the charitable sector – October 29, 2020
- Readout: Advisory committee on the charitable sector – June 22, 2020
- Readout: Advisory committee on the charitable sector – May 28, 2020
- Readout: Advisory committee on the charitable sector – April 8, 2020
- Readout: Advisory committee on the charitable sector – December 17 and 18, 2019
- Readout: Advisory committee on the charitable sector – August 29, 2019
Contact us
Whether you work, volunteer, or donate to a charity, we encourage you to contact the ACCS secretariat directly if you have input to share with the membership. Note that we cannot respond to questions.
Any other charity-related matters should be directed to Charities Directorate’s client service representatives.
Related links
- Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector Terms of Reference
- The Government of Canada announces full membership of the Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector
- The Government of Canada delivers on its commitment to modernize the rules governing the charitable sector
- Fall Economic Statement 2018
- Charities and giving
- Fact Sheet
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