Anna is a seasoned Human Resources professional with over 20 years of experience spanning recruitment, employee relations, performance management, compensation, benefits, and training. She has held key HR roles at Field Aviation, Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS), and Precision Geomatics Inc. currently with Sunwest Aviaiton, where she has been instrumental in shaping workplace culture, streamlining hiring strategies, and supporting both union and non-union environments. With a strong background in executive support, Anna previously served as an Executive Assistant to military commanders and the president of Field Aviation. Her deep-rooted passion for aviation stems from her father and husband’s service with the Canadian Air Force, fueling her commitment to fostering strong, people- focused workplaces. Anna thrives on building meaningful connections and ensuring employees feel valued as integral members of their teams. She brings expertise in communication, organization, and talent acquisition, always striving to create a positive and engaged workforce. Beyond her professional life, Anna is a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and is a hockey and curling enthusiast.

Sara Bennett was counsel to the Canada Industrial Relations Board for over 18 years before becoming Executive Director and Senior General Counsel. In her role, she leads the delivery of all support services to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, including registry, mediation, and legal services.

Recognized as a leading lawyer by Who’s Who Legal® (National Leader), Sundeep represents employers in a wide range of employment law, labour law and human resources matters. He regularly speaks at industry conferences, and is frequently invited to appear on leading media, including CBC and CTV, to comment on labour relations matters impacting Canadian businesses. Sundeep is trilingual – English/Hindi/Punjabi.

Sandra Haydon is a consultant specializing in pay equity with 25+ years of experience. She has worked extensively with the Ontario Pay Equity Act and under federal legislation including both the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Pay Equity Act. Over the last 4 years, Sandra has worked with over two dozen organizations to support compliance under the new federal Act. This includes both private and public sector organizations in each of unionized and non- unionized workplaces.

Kyle is an accomplished complex arbitration and trial lawyer, offering practical advice in construction, infrastructure, and employment law. With in-depth knowledge of arbitration practice and legislation, he represents Canadian and multinational businesses in both international and domestic arbitrations and has represented clients in litigation before all levels of Ontario courts, the Federal Court, in adjudication proceedings under the Construction Act, and in administrative tribunals.

In his employment law practice, Kyle specializes in advising federally regulated employers. This includes helping employers navigate the Canada Labour Code, the Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations, and the federal Pay Equity Act. He regularly advises large employers in federal sectors like aerospace, aviation, banking, and telecommunications, helping frequently international companies navigate Canadian regulatory and common law requirements.
Kyle is proactive in minimizing workplace disputes, while having significant experience in executive termination and contentious employment law cases. He also assists employers with regulatory investigations and public commissions of inquiry, including responding to summons and participating in hearings.

Melanie Martens is a seasoned a professional with a proven track record in the transportation industry. Throughout her career she has worked in the public, private, and cultural sectors to drive organizational change through labour relations, human resources and strategic communications.

Since 2018 Melanie has worked in various capacities at Canadian National Railways, most recently as a Director of Labour Relations, where she leads a team responsible for 10 collective agreements governing 7,500 employees across Canada.

Prior to joining CN, Melanie worked for VIA Rail, Canada’s national passenger rail service, where she transformed the organization’s approach to employee communications at a critical time period, before transitioning into LR and HR roles.

Melanie is a Certified HR Professional who holds a Bachelor’s degree from Queen’s University and a Labour Relations Certificate from the Queen’s Industrial Relations Centre. She lives and works in Montreal.

Marie-Claude is an experienced senior HR professional and leader that has over 25+ years progressive HR leadership and managerial experience within Canada Post. As the General Director Human Resources partner, Marie-Claude leads all core human resources and people functions across Canada. She is responsible for a team of over 300 employees located across Canada providing HR services and processes such as HRBP, Talent development, Employee Relation, learning and development, labour relation, human right and disability management. She is a key strategic enabler for her clients and collaborate to achieve key business performance targets and objective. Marie-Claude is fluently bilingual (English and French) and has obtained her bachelor of law from the University Laval in Quebec City.

Caroline is a Partner of the Firm, and was called to the Bar in 2002. Fluently bilingual, she provides legal representation and advice to employers in both official languages in respect of all labour and employment matters, including wrongful dismissal actions, labour arbitration matters, human rights complaints, collective bargaining, occupational health and safety work refusals and prosecutions, and workers’ compensation claims.

Caroline has appeared before the Federal Courts, the Ontario Provincial Court, the Ontario Divisional Court, the Ontario and Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, the Public Service Labour Relations Board, the Workplace Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal, the Occupational Health and Safety Tribunal Canada, and labour arbitrators in Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick.

Simmy Sahdra is a management side employment and labour lawyer in Dentons’ Toronto Employment & Labour group. She provides strategic labour and employment advice and representation to clients of all sizes, including multinational corporations, mid-market businesses, start-up businesses, and not-for-profit based organizations. Simmy represents provincially and federally regulated clients in both the private and public sector across various industries. With her diverse client service experience, she offers customized solutions to address the specific labour and employment needs of each client. Simmy is focused on providing targeted labour and employment advice, which reflects an incorporation of the necessary legal compliance balanced with an understanding of unique business needs and industry norms. Simmy is committed to achieving favourable outcomes for her clients in a wide range of workplace-related matters. She routinely represents management in all aspects of labour and employment related disputes, including: employment standards claims, labour claims, wrongful dismissal litigation, labour arbitrations, interest arbitrations, occupational health and safety claims, and human rights litigation.

Alysha has a broad employment and labour law practice. She provides advice to employers in all areas of employment and labour law, including pre-employment and hiring issues, employment standards, human rights, labour relations, workplace safety and insurance, privacy, occupational health and safety, and wrongful dismissal. Alysha also advises on the employment aspects of corporate transactions.

A Partner in the Vancouver office of Mathews Dinsdale & Clark, Jennifer represents employers in all areas of labour and employment law including wrongful dismissal, employment contracts, human rights issues, employment standards, union organizing, collective agreement interpretation, grievance handling, progressive discipline and investigations into employee misconduct. Jen has experience appearing before arbitration boards and a variety of administrative tribunals including the Human Rights Tribunal and the Labour Relations Board. She has also appeared as counsel in Provincial Courts, Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal. A significant part of Jen’s practice involves acting for and advising First Nations governments, economic development corporations, and First Nations-owned entities and business and assisting with their policy development and training, as well as governance. Jen volunteers for the BC SPCA Vancouver/Burnaby Branch as a Community Council member.