Finance committee  Thank you very much, Chair. Good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to thank you, Chair and members of the committee, for the invitation to appear today. My name is Michelle Douglas. I'm the former chair of the board of directors of WE Charity. I resigned from WE Charity on March 27,

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  Let me be more precise: at WE Days.

Finance committee  Employees spoke at other events, and of course they were compensated, but—

Finance committee  No, I don't believe so.

Finance committee  At least for WE Days, which was the focus of our inquiries, that was my understanding.

Finance committee  I don't know the precise nature of what they were paid for, but if it was exclusively to speak on the WE Day stage, that would have surprised me.

Finance committee  I never made inquiries into that kind of adjunct or associated area, so I just don't know about that particular aspect.

Finance committee  They did.

Finance committee  Or that may have come from the executive director of the organization, but I know that the board made inquiries into that.

Finance committee  It was one of two. I can't be precise on the time. It was either Scott Baker or Dalal Al-Waheidi.

Finance committee  Well, they were certainly seized with issues surrounding the impact from the virus, and I know that the organization was being impacted significantly. For example, schools were closing; WE Days had to cease and the ME to WE entity could no longer run trips or have retail operatio

Finance committee  Essentially that was a reduced essence of why people were being laid off, yes.

Finance committee  I wouldn't characterize it as financial hardship, but I think they were looking to the future implications of sponsorship, and they were talking to sponsors at the time, but I don't believe they referred to the organization as being in a financial hardship or vulnerable situation

Finance committee  Well, I objected to the layoffs not as a general matter. Perhaps they were necessary. I objected to the fact that they were being done without the full consultation of the board and without our being provided detailed information that would confirm that it was absolutely necessar