She/Her Professor Adelle Blackett is one of the most highly esteemed labour law scholars in Canada and internationally. Currently on public service leave to the International Labour Organization as Senior Advisor to the Director-General, she is Professor of Law and the Canada Research Chair in Transnational Labour Law at the Faculty of Law, McGill University and the Founding Director of the Labour Law and Development Research Laboratory. An elected fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, an Advocate Emeritus of the Barreau du Québec and recipient of the Christine Tourigny Award of Merit, she has also been awarded honorary doctorates in law from Queen’s University, Université catholique de Louvain, and Simon Fraser University, and received the global Labour Law Research Network’s Bob Hepple Award for Lifetime Achievement in Labour Law. Professor Blackett is widely published in the field of transnational labour law, with a focus on emancipatory approaches. Much of her research is at the interface between trade and labour standards, where she calls for a “social regionalism” that fosters transnational spaces for redistributive labour governance and voice. In addition, she is widely published on domestic workers’ rights and is the recipient of the Canadian Council on International Law’s Scholarly Book Award for Everyday Transgressions: Domestic Workers’ Transnational Challenge to International Labor Law. Her most recent co-edited volume, Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Slavery: on the presence of the past, is the result of her International Academy of Comparative Law General Rapporteurship. Her research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s Bora Laskin National Fellowship in Human Rights Research and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Fellowship. Professor Blackett has made meaningful public policy contributions. Internationally, she was the lead expert in an ILO treaty-making process on decent work for domestic workers, and prepared a draft Haitian labour code in a highly consultative tripartite-plus process. She served on the Québec Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse for 7 years, and chaired the federal Human Rights Experts Panel of the Court Challenges Programme. She chaired Canada’s Employment Equity Act Review Task Force, and her comprehensive report, A Transformative Framework to Achieve and Sustain Employment Equity, was publicly released with Ministerial commitments to law reform. She is the principal drafter of the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education, which has been signed by close to sixty institutions of higher education in Canada. A beloved teacher and mentor, she was awarded the McGill Principal’s Prize for Excellence in Teaching in recognition of her core courses in labour law and employment law, her pedagogical innovation on Law and Development, Slavery and the Law and Transnational Labour Law, and her support to a new generation of labour law scholars in Québec, Canada and abroad. La professeure Adelle Blackett est l’une des spécialistes du droit du travail les plus estimées au Canada et à l’échelle internationale. Actuellement en congé de service public pour occuper le poste de Conseillère principale auprès du Directeur général de l’Organisation internationale du travail, elle est professeure de droit et titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada en droit transnational du travail à la Faculté de droit de l’Université McGill, ainsi que fondatrice du Laboratoire de recherche en droit du travail et développement. Membre élue de la Société royale du Canada, avocate émérite du Barreau du Québec et lauréate du Mérite Christine Tourigny, elle a également reçu des doctorats honorifiques en droit de l’Université Queen’s, de l’Université catholique de Louvain et de l’Université Simon Fraser, ainsi que le prix Bob Hepple du Réseau mondial de recherche en droit du travail pour l’ensemble de ses réalisations dans ce domaine. La professeure Blackett a publié de nombreux ouvrages dans le domaine du droit transnational du travail, en mettant l’accent sur les approches émancipatrices. La plupart de ces recherches se situent à l’intersection entre le commerce international et les normes du travail, où elle prône un « régionalisme social » qui favorise les espaces transnationaux pour la représentation au travail et la redistribution. Elle a également publié plusieurs textes sur les droits des travailleuses et travailleurs domestiques et a reçu le prix du livre universitaire du Conseil canadien de droit international pour son ouvrage Everyday Transgressions: Domestic Workers’ Transnational Challenge to International Labor Law. Son dernier ouvrage coédité, Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Slavery: on the presence of the past, est le fruit de son travail en tant que Rapporteuse générale de l’Académie internationale de droit comparé. Ses recherches ont été soutenues entre autres par la Bourse nationale Bora Laskin en droits de la personne du Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines et par la Bourse de la Fondation Pierre Elliott Trudeau. La professeure Blackett a apporté une contribution significative aux politiques publiques. Au niveau international, elle a été l’experte principale d’un processus d’élaboration d’une convention de l’OIT sur le travail décent pour les travailleuses et travailleurs domestiques, et a préparé un projet de code du travail haïtien dans le cadre d’un processus tripartite hautement consultatif. Elle a siégé pendant sept ans à la Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse du Québec et a présidé le groupe d’experts fédéral sur les droits de la personne du Programme de contestation judiciaire. Elle a présidé le groupe de travail sur la Révision de la Loi sur l’équité en matière d’emploi du Canada, et son rapport complet, intitulé Réaliser et soutenir l’équité en matière d’emploi : Un cadre transformatif a été rendu public avec les engagements ministériels en faveur d’une réforme législative. Elle est la principale rédactrice de la Charte de Scarborough sur le racisme anti-Noirs et l’inclusion des Noirs dans l’enseignement supérieur canadien, qui a été signée par près de soixante établissements d’enseignement supérieur au Canada. Enseignante et mentor très appréciée, elle a reçu le Prix d’excellence en enseignement du recteur de l’Université McGill en reconnaissance de ses cours fondamentaux en droit du travail, de ses innovations pédagogiques en matière de droit et développement, d’esclavage et droit, et de droit transnational du travail, ainsi que de son soutien à une nouvelle génération de chercheurEs en droit du travail au Québec, au Canada et à l’étranger.

Following graduation from University of Toronto in history and political science and from Osgoode Hall Law School, Brian established a flourishing practice in labour law, first at Heenan Blaikie and then at Fasken’s in Toronto. In fact, he is Canada’s leading counsel for employers in the realm of federal and international labour law. In his domestic practice, Brian has acted as a lead advisor to major Canadian employers like Canada Post, Air Canada and Telus. He is counsel to FETCO, the principal association representing federally regulated employers, and on the international stage has been a member of the ILO’s governing body. His contribution, however, transcends that of a purely partisan lawyer. In recognizing the importance of addressing the “social deficit”, and in promoting the need for dialogue between labour and management, Brian has sought to bring together disparate groups with a view to accommodating their opposing interests while providing remedies for the denial of justice to individuals. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, where he lectures on “International Developments in Labour and Human Resource Policy”. No one in Canada has done more to advance an understanding of the importance to business of human rights. In this regard, he has been instrumental in pioneering dispute resolution mechanisms designed to heal divisions and resolve conflict. His contribution to the development of labour law – including the elimination of child labour, forced labour and human trafficking – has been and continues to be important and indeed irreplaceable. Brian has been widely recognized for his professional achievements and contributions to the practice of law. He is ranked by Chambers as a senior statesperson nation-wide and is a recipient of the Canadian Freedom of Association Award presented by the Canadian Industrial Relations Association.

Born and raised on a wheat farm in Gravelbourg, one of the few French towns in Saskatchewan, Rick studied political science as an undergraduate at the University of Saskatchewan and law at Queen’s University in Kingston. Since then, Rick has built the largest union-side labour law firm in Saskatchewan, where he is held in high regard, not only by unions, but despite his adversarial role as a union-side lawyer, by employers and employer counsel. Rick’s record of mentoring union-side lawyers is proverbial, as is his readiness to instruct the profession through educational seminars. Less well known is, as Justice Crystal Norbeck has written, “Rick’s passion for protecting and advancing human rights in his work in addictions and mental health.” Besides acting as an advocate in the field of human rights, Rick has been a key player in the development of labour law in Saskatchewan and across Canada. His impact on the evolution of the Charter of Rights cannot be overstated. In the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour case, Rick led the team of lawyers who persuaded the Supreme Court of Canada to establish the right to strike as an essential element of freedom of association under the Charter. No case has had a more significant and lasting effect on the rights of workers in the history of this country.

She/Her Paula Knopf decided to become an arbitrator while attending her first arbitration hearing as an articling student in 1975. She was called to the Bar in 1977 and soon began Fact Finding and Mediation training with the Education and Colleges Relations Commission. That led to Ms. Knopf beginning to arbitrate in the early 1980’s. Ms. Knopf is an active mediator and arbitrator in the private and public sectors. She has been chosen to resolve disputes in Ontario, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Iqaluit, travelling as far north as Pond Inlet to hear cases. She has been named as a roster arbitrator in many collective agreements. Ms. Knopf was the Chair of the Ontario Education and Colleges Relations Commission from 1991 – 1997. She was a member of the 1996 Federal Task Force that made the recommendations for changes to Part One of the Canada Labour Code contained in the Report entitled, Seeking a Balance. Ms Knopf also served as a part-time Vice Chair of the Ontario Labour Relations Board and the Grievance Settlement Board. Ms. Knopf feels her most significant contribution to the labour relations community has been through her teaching and mentoring. As an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School from 1999 to 2006, she taught a Labour Arbitration seminar to countless students who have become leading practitioners in Ontario and other provinces. Ms. Knopf was also the Director of two Arbitrator Development Programs, leading to the successful careers of several much-needed new arbitrators and mediators across Canada. She also takes pride in her individual mentoring and support of colleagues. Ms. Knopf has focused her career on the importance of professional responsibility, competence, and ethics through publications, public addresses, and professional activities. To that end, she has authored several articles and contributed to many texts. She was the Director of a recent Interest Arbitration Skills Program for the Ontario public sector community. She has also helped to develop and present educational programs for the Ontario Labour-Management Arbitrators’ Association (OLMAA) and the National Academy of Arbitrators (NAA). Her professional activities include being named the President of the OLMAA and the NAA’s Vice President, member of the Board of Governors, Chair of the Committee on Professional Responsibility and Grievances, and Co-Chair of two Program Committees.

He/Him Tel: (416) 964-5500 Email: pcavalluzzo@cavalluzzo.com As the co-founder in his firm, Paul is a leading constitutional, labour and administrative law lawyer, arguing significant cases before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Courts of Ontario, and labour and administrative tribunals. Paul was appointed by Associate Chief Justice Dennis O’Connor to act as lead commission counsel to the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar. Previously, Paul acted as lead commission counsel in the Walkerton Inquiry. In this role, Paul was responsible for ensuring all necessary evidence was brought forward to determine the cause of the May, 2000 e coli water supply crisis. More recently, Paul has been appointed by the Federal Minister of Justice to act as a Special Advocate in security certificate cases. In this regard, Paul acts as counsel representing the interests of persons alleged to be threats to the national security of Canada in top secret hearings before the Federal Court of Canada in Ottawa. Paul’s role is to ensure that the top secret evidence relied upon by the government is reliable and that as much information as possible is released to the named person so that he is given an opportunity to defend against the allegations. Paul is presently acting in one security certificate case which have been ongoing since February 2008. Although Paul has been thoroughly engaged in these public interest roles since 2000, he has continued in his private practice representing his clients in important cases before the courts. For example, in the last few years he has argued many significant cases before the Supreme Court of Canada. These cases will all have a significant effect upon the development of the law in Canada. Paul was awarded the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario and the Law Society Medal for his contributions to social justice, equality and the rule of law in Canad Paul graduated with honours from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1970 and Harvard Law School in 1971.