Human Resources committee  Thank you for inviting us here to make remarks on Bill C-65. In preparing these remarks, we drew on our experience as a law firm that solely focuses on investigation and training relating to employee misconduct in the workplace, the vast majority of which involves harassment. We

Human Resources committee  I certainly echo the comments on the benefits of a third party. Certainly the benefit of a third party is that it allows people to feel more comfortable when making anonymous complaints, and it provides a better vehicle for that. I don't know that it's always practical, and it al

Human Resources committee  The model in Ontario is absolutely the managerial one. We spend an extraordinary amount of our time doing training in organizations that are small, large, and medium-sized, but we train managers to understand exactly that. In some organizations, the only reporting mechanism is fo

Human Resources committee  It depends on the organization. I would say that larger organizations are absolutely considering more of those mechanisms, and I think more are becoming available in the form of whistleblowing hotlines and independent organizations that are setting up. However, those would be f

Human Resources committee  That is our specialty.

Human Resources committee  That's our entire business.

Human Resources committee  That's our business, and there are many that do it, absolutely.

Human Resources committee  Yes. That's the investigation piece as opposed to the reporting piece.

Human Resources committee  No, I completely agree, and I think here you have a myriad of resources to turn to. In human rights legislation across the country, we have harassment and sexual harassment definitions that have been used for years. I think the beauty of that for investigators like us is that w

Human Resources committee  This is really something that I think that you can give some thought to. I'm not singling out unions here. I speak from our experience in dealing with all kinds of large organizations where they are dealing with competing resource interests. Training tends to be something that ma

Human Resources committee  One of the concerns in Ontario was that the language used was “provide education and information”. Some organizations interpreted that as a training requirement, others as putting something up in the lunchroom. You could be explicit about training, and you could talk about the t

Human Resources committee  In the vast majority of cases we do, the employer does pay for the investigation. Occasionally, on the rare occasion that an issue is raised by one of the parties—sometimes it might be union or it may be a complainant's or respondent's counsel—as to the potential lack of neutrali

Human Resources committee  I'd be happy to begin. First of all, I will say that I think “competent” should be clarified to make it clear that it is intended to mean trained and knowledgeable on the subject matter of the investigation. As far as independence is concerned, I think the concern that I would

Human Resources committee  —and then making clear that they need to be unbiased.

Human Resources committee  Actually, to the point that you have been advised that a broader definition means more unfounded complaints, I think the opposite is true. I think the broader definition—and I think this echoes your point—means that there will be more cases, because more things will be found to b