Human Resources committee  Yes. As I mentioned earlier, the federal jurisdiction is relatively stable and the board has a robust jurisprudence regarding intimidation and coercion. I took a look at the last 10 years. In the last 10 years, the board has issued over 4,000 decisions globally on all of the ma

Human Resources committee  I believe the process that was followed following the Sims report worked very, very well. There was a lot of consultation during the preparation of the Sims report. After the Sims report came down, there were numerous rounds of consultation again with labour and management over t

Human Resources committee  I'm not an expert in international law. I really can't give an opinion on whether this meets the ILO conventions to which Canada is a signatory.

Human Resources committee  Perhaps I could just give a quick answer to that. The bill could potentially have some perverse effects, probably, that were not intended by the drafters. Perhaps I can give you an example. In the paper we speak about displacement applications. This is a situation where there i

Human Resources committee  I've been chair of the board for six years and prior to that I was the director general of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. I have my undergraduate degree in industrial relations from McGill University, which I obtained in 1971. So I've spent more than 40 years in

Human Resources committee  I'm sorry but I have to ask the chair if it's appropriate for a public servant to answer a question of policy.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We thank the committee for the opportunity to make a presentation to you this morning in your study of Bill C-525. I intend this morning to speak a little bit about the board's responsibilities and then to cut right to the specifics regarding the conduct

Status of Women committee  Certainly. I would be happy to do that, Madam Chair.

Status of Women committee  The cutbacks in the public service really don't affect the work of our board because our board is responsible for the federal private sector. In terms of the nature of cases coming before the board, they tend to be relatively stable. Applications for certification and our duty of

Status of Women committee  Thank you.

Status of Women committee  On the test that we apply in this case, we're not looking at the merits of the grievance, at whether or not there was sexual harassment. That's not our job. Our role is to tell whether the union—

Status of Women committee  —fairly represented the employee with respect to whatever that grievance was.

Status of Women committee  We don't look at the merits of the grievance. We look at the union's conduct.

Status of Women committee  I'd have to go back and look at the results. The—

Status of Women committee  In a sense, that's an under-reporting, because when we get a complaint, our labour relations officers will often try to mediate, and certainly, if there are complaints—