Bram Abramson, Commissioner for Ontario
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
Check against delivery
Thanks for the introduction and the warm welcome. It's been great to spend these last couple of days with you here in Gatineau on unceded, unsurrendered Algonquin Anishnaabeg territory.
So let me start by thanking the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation for having me as a guest, and for stewarding these lands and waters since time immemorial. And, also, by thinking the Canadian Independent Telecommunications Association for asking me to address all of you in closing this year's event, and adding myself to a long-running historical chain.
Until I began preparing for this speech I don't think I realized how long that chain extends back. CITA was founded at Toronto City Hall in the year 1905. That's 120 years ago. Canadian Confederation was 38 years old. Five years later, when Ontario would begin regulating independent telephone systems under what was then the Ontario Railway and Municipal Board in 1910, they turned to CITA to help them compile a list of those systems.
