Thank you very much, Mr. Fergus.
I think my role with the Canadian Human Rights Commission will serve me in good stead. It has trained me well, because there are many similarities between this mandate and that of the Privacy Commissioner.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission deals with fundamental legislation. It deals with fundamental rights of Canadians, which must be protected and interpreted in a broad and rigorous manner. At the same time, we are talking about a law that must be interpreted in the real world, taking into account public interest considerations and consequences. We need to ensure that there is a better understanding of this legislation, both for Canadians and for industry and governments. It is a matter of using several tools to achieve the goal of protecting and promoting these fundamental rights. These tools can be education, interaction and prior agreements. They can also be policies or laws, complaint mechanisms, as well as legal decisions. There is a multitude of potential tools.
At a time when technological change is having such an impact on our society, it is important to consider all of these tools and the proactive tools. I gained this experience at the Canadian Human Rights Commission where I dealt with pay equity cases, among others. These were cases that resulted in huge compensation awards for employees who had been discriminated against. It took a lot of time, and it required complaints. We saw this in the new Pay Equity Act, which is a more proactive model.
I think this combination of proactive tools and complaint systems, all based on a law model, has similarities with my new role and will have trained me well. My experience pleading before the higher courts, including the Supreme Court, has served me well. This experience is useful in communicating complex concepts in a simple and accessible way for all Canadians.