I joined the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) as a Classification and Equal Pay Specialist over 18 years ago. I have represented PSAC members as a technical expert and team-lead on numerous joint union/management job evaluation projects for private-sector federally-regulated employers. I represented PSAC in pre-legislation consultations and as a witness before the Standing Committee on Pay Equity in 2016, appeared as a witness before the Senate and House committee hearings into the Pay Equity Act (PEA), and as the PSAC representative for the PEA regulation consultations.  In June 2020, I was appointed by PSAC as its representative to the Pay Equity Commissioners Tri-Partite Pay Equity Committee.

Colby Briggs is an advocate for bringing labour and management together to solve shared problems as equal partners.  As Compensation Team Lead at the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, he and his team are responsible for issues which, under federal law, generally do not have recourse to independent third-party adjudication.  This means that, to advance the rights of membership, a focus on win-win outcomes is critical to obtaining employer buy-in.  Colby has also worked as a policy design and pay equity consultant to progressive employers in the non-profit and technology sectors.  He is the President of the PIPSC Staff Association (UNIFOR) and previously served as a Vice President of the McGill University Administrative Staff Union (PSAC).  His HR interests include inclusive workplace design, collective leadership, organisational architecture, and anti-bias policy development.

Raquel Chisholm advises employers at both the Ontario and Federal jurisdictions in all areas of labour and employment law, with a particular focus on human rights, disability management and pay equity. Raquel articled with Emond Harnden in 2003, joined the firm as an associate in 2004 and became a partner in 2014. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bishop’s University in 1992 and an LL.B from the University of Ottawa’s Common Law Program in June 2003.

Raquel provides a wide variety of services including drafting employment contracts, management training, legal opinions, collective bargaining and policy writing. She represents clients at labour arbitrations, as well as hearings before the Pay Equity Hearings Tribunal, Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, and Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. Raquel also advises clients during investigations by the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Raquel has in-depth knowledge of the pay equity area. With considerable experience in both the provincial and federal sectors, she has aided clients with pay equity audits, conducted seminars for employers, negotiated pay equity plans, responded to and settled pay equity complaints, and assisted clients with addressing and managing their pay equity obligations both in achieving and maintaining pay equity.

Before embarking on her legal career, Raquel worked for The War Amputations of Canada for seven years and developed an expertise in many areas of charity and not-for-profit management. During that time, Raquel became a member of the Canadian Society of Association Executives (“CSAE”) and earned her Certified Association Executive (“CAE”) designation through its Association Management Education Program. Raquel uses this experience to advise her charity and not-for-profit clients on corporate governance matters such as corporate law compliance, by-law revisions and conflict of interest.

Ian Cullwick currently serves on the faculty of the Telfer School of Management’s Executive MBA program, and is a retired Partner with an international consulting firm.  He also served as the Vice-President of HR and Organization Research at the Conference Board of Canada.

Ian is a specialist in human resources governance, organization and performance management, and compensation strategy.  He is also a noted thought leader and has authored articles on organization design, performance management and compensation strategy. Ian currently serves on Boards of the TransCanada Trail and FSO Ottawa.

Wendy Glaser is a Human Resources consultant with a deep expertise in pay equity compliance across Ontario and Quebec. Currently the Director, Pay Equity at KPMG Canada, Wendy has over 15 years of experience assisting companies from a wide array of industries in complying with pay equity legislation. She has spearheaded numerous Human Resources mandates with a focus on compensation structure development and management. Wendy holds a B.A. in Psychology and a certificate in Human Resources Management from McGill University as well as an M.Sc. in Administration from the John Molson School of Business. She is a certified member of the Human Resources Professional Association and a member of the Board of Directors at JVS Toronto, a not-for-profit organization.

Jennifer Hodgins practises in all areas of employment and labour law, including human rights, pay equity, employment standards, labour and employee relations, grievance arbitration, wrongful dismissal and health and safety matters. Jennifer has acted on behalf of employers in grievance arbitrations, human rights tribunal proceedings, wrongful dismissal claims, judicial review proceedings and federal and provincial labour board matters. She also regularly provides proactive and strategic advice to employers relating to workplace issues and labour relations, including collective bargaining.

Prior to joining our Toronto office, Jennifer practised labour and employment law at a management-side labour and employment boutique firm and completed a clerkship at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto. She has also worked as in-house labour counsel at a large regional hospital.

Related services

• Employment and labour
• Human rights

Key industry sectors

• Financial institutions
• Life sciences and healthcare
• Transport

Education
B.A. (Hons.), University of Toronto, 2006
LL.B., Dalhousie University, 2010

Admissions

• Ontario 2011

Speaking engagements

• “Proactive pay equity legislation for the federal sector,” Norton Rose Fulbright Canada client webinar, June 12, 2019.
• “Ontario’s New Pay Transparency Legislation,” HR Masterclass, Human Resources Directorate, September 10, 2018.
• “Update on Workplace Investigations,” The Six-Minute Employment Lawyer 2017, the Law Society of Upper Canada,  June 7, 2017.
• “The Right to Strike and Other Musings from the Supremes” (co-presenter with Richard Charney), client seminar, May 2015.
• “Update on Employment Standards: Protected Leaves, Frustration, and More” (co-presenter), client seminar, September 2014.
• “The Canada Labour Code: A Primer for Federally Regulated Employers,” HR Reporter webinar, Thomson Reuters, April 10, 2014.

Memberships and activities

• Ontario Bar Association
• The Advocates’ Society

Marie-Eve Jean is a litigation lawyer with a growing practice focused on employment and labour relations, as well as commercial disputes. Marie-Eve assists employers in all aspects of labour and employment law, including COVID-19 response, employment contracts, wrongful dismissal, employment standards disputes, human rights complaints and corporate transactions. She also provides guidance on the development and implementation of workplace policies. Marie-Eve advises clients in both of Canada’s official languages. Prior to joining McMillan, she completed the dual civil and common law program at the University of Ottawa (Programme de droit canadien). Marie-Eve has been building expertise with federally-regulated employers, notably giving various presentations about recent and upcoming changes to the Canada Labour Code.

Acting in a range of commercial and employment disputes, Marie-Eve is skilled in the drafting of briefs, factums, arguments and pleadings. She has appeared before the Small Claims Court and the Ontario Superior Court. She has also participated in various mediations and settlement conferences.

Cynthia is a Principal in the Ottawa office of Mercer and specializes in total rewards, classification strategy, pay equity, and performance management. She holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Relations and a B.A. (Honours) degree, both from Queen’s University.

She is a human resources professional with a decade of experience in industry where she worked as Director of Total Compensation at Export Development Canada, and Director of Compensation at Canada Post Corporation. Cynthia also worked as a human capital consultant in Ottawa and Western Europe. While with Canada Post and EDC, she was an active member of the Compensation Research Centre at the Conference Board of Canada and regularly provides an overview of the strategic role of compensation to the CHRP class at Carleton University.

Jackie VanDerMeulen is a partner in the Labour, Employment and Human Rights Group at Fasken, where she practices all aspects of labour and employment law. She is a skilled advocate who regularly represents employers in labour arbitrations, interest arbitrations, federal and provincial labour board matters, human rights proceedings, employment litigation and applications for judicial review.  Jackie is recognized by Lexpert in the category of Workplace Human Rights and has developed particular expertise in accessibility legislation and pay equity.  She frequently assists federally and provincially regulated employers with their accessibility and pay equity programs, including any resulting litigation.