Courtney Betty, began his legal career as a Crown Attorney at the Department of Justice Canada representing the Federal Government in a cross section of complex legal matters. His law office champions inclusive legal representation and helps individuals as well as well as large corporations address issues of Diversity and Equity.

Courtney Betty’s remarkable journey embodies his commitment to both justice and community. Beyond the courtroom, he tirelessly advocates for marginalized groups, striving for a more inclusive legal system. He presently serves as lead co-counsel in a $2.5 billion class action against the Government of Canada for failing to promote black employees in the federal public service. . His efforts were recently recognized with a Nation-building award for his contribution in using the law to advance the goals of a just and equitable society in Canada. One example is working with the association of General Counsels to implement an equity diversity strategy.

Leigh Gross is the Manager of Workplace Safety at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH). Her career began at RVH working as a clinical physiotherapist working on medical and surgical floors and the outpatient clinic within the facility. Throughout her entire career she has had a keen interest in keeping workers safe. She also worked as the ergonomist within the Occupational Health and Safety team focusing on workstation ergonomics and manual material handling/patient handling injury prevention. She also assisted with disability case management prior to moving into her current role in 2019 as the Manager of Workplace Safety. Her team supports workers and leaders with injury prevention and risk assessments, including incidents of violence and harassment.

Norm Keith is a management-side employment and labour lawyer, most notably he is one of the leading Occupational Health and Safety (“OHS”) lawyers in Canada. Additionally, Norm represents businesses in regulatory and white-collar crime investigations. He has successfully defended more than 1,000 OHS regulatory, criminal and related charges.

Norm’s advisory practice includes executive compensation, employment contracts, restrictive covenants, HR policies, COVID-19 vaccine policies, ethical practices, fraud prevention, and workers compensation claims management. Norm’s litigation practice includes wrongful dismissal, restrictive covenants, fraud recovery, whistle-blower complaints, work refusals, human rights claims, OHS prosecutions, labour arbitrations, OLRB hearings, and fiduciary duty lawsuits.

Norm has extensive experience in the complex subjects of alcohol & drugs and harassment & violence in the workplace.

Sharad Kerur is a Harvard-trained professional mediator and a certified conflict management coach and instructor. He is also a certified workplace fairness advisor, a conflict dynamics profile assessor, and instructor in the areas of navigating conflict relationships and managing difficult conversations. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (with Honours) and Master of Industrials degrees from Queen’s University and is CEO of his own consulting firm, Resolution Pathways. For over 30 years he held executive level positions in the association and non-profit sectors. Sharad currently resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Dr. Brianne Layden obtained BA, MA, and PhD degrees in psychology at Simon Fraser University.

She is a clinical and forensic psychologist specializing in the assessment and management of risk for violence toward the self and others. She works as a Threat Assessment Specialist at Protect International Risk and Safety Services Inc., is a contract psychologist with Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission of British Columbia, is an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Simon Fraser University, and is the associate editor of Intelligence, an e-newsletter that keeps professionals up to date about recent advances in threat assessment around the globe. She also serves as a Member-at-Large for the International Association of Forensic Mental Health Services.

Her expertise involves the assessment and management of self-directed violence and personality disorders, particularly borderline personality disorder, and intersecting risks (e.g., general and self-directed violence). She has provided training workshops and invited presentations for forensic mental health, law enforcement, corrections, security, victim services and higher education, and has co-authored over 50 articles and conference presentations. She is currently in the process of developing structured professional judgment tools for the assessment and management of self-directed violence.

Jennifer holds a Master of Arts in Labour Studies from McMaster University with a research specialization in workplace harassment. Using an intersectional equity framework, Jennifer helps organizations embed human rights and equity into their policies, procedures, practices, processes, and programs to address and, ultimately, eliminate workplace harassment, discrimination, and violence at the systemic level.

In her various capacities, including education and training, policy development, and complaints resolution, Jennifer has worked in and with both public and private sector organizations, such as municipal, provincial, and federal levels of government, post-secondary institutions, non-profit agencies, and private firms, in both unionized and non-unionized environments.

Dara Marcoccia holds the position of Vice President, People Experience, and Chief Human Resources Officer at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre. Under her guidance, her team provides essential services encompassing employee relations, labor relations, recruitment, talent development, total rewards, performance management, health and safety, disability/WSIB management, well-being, occupational health, change management, volunteer management, and organizational development. With an extensive background in leadership roles spanning nearly two decades in the public sector, she previously served as the Director of Human Resource Services at Trillium Health Partners for ten years. During her tenure, she played a pivotal role in coaching and developing a team responsible for supporting 10,000 employees and 1,000 volunteers.

Dara Marcoccia is renowned for her leadership style, which places a strong emphasis on coaching, counseling, and building high-performing teams that contribute to organizational success through collaborative partnerships. She is deeply committed to creating a healthy, safe, and inclusive workplace culture that fosters excellence, diversity, and a sense of belonging. Her academic background includes a Bachelor of Administrative Studies with a major in Human Resources from York University, and she is also a Certified Human Resource Leader (CHRL).

Simon-Pierre Paquette is Director, Labour, Employment & Litigation at Purolator Inc., having previously worked as general counsel of a Crown corporation, in-house counsel and labour relations director for a large federally-regulated employer and in private practice at a leading national law firm. His practices has been focused on labour and employment law, and he benefits from extensive experience in subjects such as labour relations, labour standards, grievance arbitration, human rights, privacy, official languages, pensions and workplace drug and alcohol testing.

Nitin studied law at the University of Ottawa and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2012. In 2020, Nitin completed his Master of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School with a specialization in Dispute Resolution. Over the past decade, Nitin has received extensive training on techniques, credibility assessment and other best practices honing his workplace investigations skills.  As RVH’s legal counsel, Nitin is adept at comprehending and applying legislation and case law to a particular set of facts.  As an investigator, Nitin is capable of synthesizing complicated, voluminous and at times contradictory information.  As a dispute resolution professional, Nitin is a firm believer that there is no one-size-fits all solution to a problem.

Patricia Phillips, is a Registered Nurse who holds current Canadian Occupational Health Nursing Certification, and has been working as an Occupational Health Nurse for 20 years. She was an Executive Director at the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario workers, a province wide occupational health clinic system funded through the Ministry of Labour, Training & Skills Development and is currently the Manager of Occupational Health and Wellness with the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Barrie, Ontario. Patricia has a special interest in workplace mental health. This passion for psychosocial wellness was additionally fostered via Patricia’s membership on the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development’s Work-Related Mental Health and Workplace Violence and Harassment Steering Committee and the Ministry’s Opioid Harm Reduction Working Group.

Larry Rousseau was first elected Executive Vice-President in May of 2017, and was most recently re-elected to this position at the Canadian Labour Congress’s Constitutional Convention, in May of 2023.

Larry has a long history of trade union and political activism, particularly on issues like labour relations, health and safety, human rights, and equity.

His involvement in the 2SLGBTQIA+, anti-racism and peace movements has been an integral part of his engagement and commitment to social justice.

Over the past few years, working closely with CLC President, Bea Bruske, Larry played an important role in advancing workers’ rights leading to several labour gains that benefit every worker in Canada.  From 10 days of paid sick leave for federal workers, to legislation to make workers the priority when companies go bankrupt and, most recently, the introduction of the Sustainable Jobs Act.

Before serving at the CLC, Larry was the Regional Executive Vice-President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s National Capital Region, and a Union of National Employees (UNE) Regional Vice-President.

He has a Certificate in Civil Law from the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Civil Law Section, and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the École nationale d’administration publique in Quebec.

I am not one of those lawyers that is ideologically married to one side. While many individuals have their rights trampled on, I have also seen employees take advantage of those same rights to the detriment of their employer. I realize that there is good and bad in every group, and I believe that being able to advise Employers and Employees makes me a better lawyer than only seeing matters from one perspective.

Since I have also been trained in Alternative Dispute Resolution techniques and act as a Mediator in Employment matters, I am able to see things from a third side: that of a neutral third party, working with those involved to achieve a reasonable resolution to their issues. I pride myself on providing objective, strategic advice to my clients, whichever “side” they are on.

I am proud of the recognition I have received, including being

• selected by my peers for inclusion in ‘The Best Lawyers in Canada’ in the area of Employment Law for the past nine years in a row;
• routinely named in Canadian HR Reporter’s Employment Lawyers Directory (a comprehensive directory of the top employment law and immigration law practitioners in Canada),
• recognized as one of Canada’s top Legal Social Media Influencers, and
• recognized as the only Legal Influencer in Canadian HR Law in the first Lexology Awards.

In addition, my Toronto area employment law firm, Rudner Law, was

• selected as the Silver Winner for Best Labour & Employment Boutique Law Firm in the seventh annual Canadian HR Awards, presented by HRD Canada and supported by Canadian HR Reporter
• named one of the Top 3 Employment and Labour Boutiques in Canada in the Canadian HR Reporter’s Readers’ Choice Awards for 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022
• Awarded the 2021 Business Achievement Award, Professional Services by the Richmond Hill Board of Trade
• Selected as the Gold Winner for Best Labour & Employment Boutique Law Firm in the 2023 annual Canadian HR Awards, presented by HRD Canada and supported by Canadian HR Reporter
• Selected as the Silver Winner for Best Labour & Employment Boutique Law Firm in the seventh annual Canadian HR Awards in 2020, presented by HRD Canada and supported by Canadian HR Reporter
• Selected as a finalist for Best Labour & Employment Boutique Law Firm in 2021 and 2022 Canadian HR Awards, presented by HRD Canada and supported by Canadian HR Reporter

I am a firm believer in education. I frequently chair and teach at conferences, participate in seminars and webinars, and provide commentary to the media on Employment Law matters. Recently, I have been providing expert analysis to 680 News as their “go-to Employment Lawyer”.

I designed Osgoode Professional Development’s HR Law for HR Professionals Certificate course, which I am also the founding Director of. I also co-designed and am co-founding Program Director of their Advanced HR Law for HR Professionals Certificate course.

As a firm and with my family, I support a number of worthwhile causes including 360Kids, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, United Way, One Voice Network, Job Skills, Family Education Centre, Lawyers International Food Enterprise (LIFE), and Volunteer Lawyers Network.

I also believe in giving back to the professional communities that I am part of. Since the start of my career, I have been actively involved in the Canadian and Ontario Bar Associations and have held several leadership positions. I have also volunteered countless hours leading sessions on HR Law topics and serving on committees for the HRPA. Since our firm is based in York Region, I take particular pride in sponsoring the York Region Chapter of the HRPA and presenting an annual Employment Law update for our membership.

With two active children, much of my time is spent in dance studios and hockey arenas (and, of course, in my car driving them to and from games, practices, tournaments and competitions). I am a firm believer in using technology to make my life easier without sacrificing the needs of my clients. Rather than being chained to my desk, I can be out and about with my family. I may be at the rink, but you will find me if you need help.

Ultimately, the most important thing is my family, and a close second is knowing that my clients are confident that they can count on our team to provide them with the cost-effective, strategic advice that they need.

Meg Steele has worked as a lawyer for the City of Ottawa since 2002. She specializes in labour arbitrations, human rights matters, and employment law. Meg’s practice also includes providing advice on collective bargaining, workplace safety, and accessibility issues. She leads a group of lawyers and labour relations professionals that provide strategic advice on all aspects of the employment relationship.

Meg holds a B.A. (Hons.) in English and Political Science from Mount Allison University (1996) and a B.C.L/LL.B. from McGill University’s National Program (2000). She was called to the Ontario Bar in 2002.

Ozlem Yucel is a Partner at Turnpenney Milne LLP, which has been recognized as one of the top employment law firms by the Globe and Mail and Canadian Lawyer Magazine.  Ozlem represents employers and employees on all employment law matters, including human resource strategy, workplace harassment and human rights, hiring and firing, employment contract, and other matters involving the workplace.  Ozlem also acts as Workplace Investigator as well as Trainer, providing staff training on topics like workplace harassment and discrimination.  Ozlem is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops, including at Osgoode Hall Law School, Ryerson University and the Human Resource Professionals Association.