Her term is set to end on June 25
Ginette Brazeau has been reappointed the Canada Industrial Relations Board’s full-time chair, announced Steven MacKinnon, minister of employment, workforce development and labour.
Brazeau will hold the post until June 25. She will be working alongside newly reappointed full-time vice-chairpersons Allison Smith, Annie G. Berthiaume, and Jennifer Webster.
Brazeau began her first term as CIRB chair on December 28, 2014. Prior to taking on this role, she was executive director and GC on the board. She also served as CIRB senior registrar – positions in which she helped the board chair with administrative tasks. Brazeau also oversaw case management, legal services, and the board’s regional operations.
Before joining the CIRB, Brazeau was the federal labour department’s senior director of strategic policy and legislative reform. Moreover, she was director of legislation, research and policy at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. In these roles, she advised senior management and the labour minister on labour and employment program or legislative initiatives, as well as on administering the Canada Labour Code.
Meanwhile, Smith will serve as full-time vice-chairperson until June 20. She started her first term in the role on January 5, 2015.
As a lawyer, she concentrates on labour, employment and human rights law. Before commencing with the CIRB, she was the Canada Post Corporation’s senior legal counsel from 2007 to 2015; she also once served as a senior policy advisor with the Canada government.
Like Smith, Berthiaume’s term as full-time chairperson ends on June 20. She commenced in the role on January 26, 2015.
She focuses on the labour and employment law and is fluent in English and French. Prior to joining the CIRB, she was a partner at Ottawa firm Bird Richard and had worked with employers, unions, and employees.
Webster will serve as full-time vice-chairperson until October 14, 2029. She was initially appointed to a five-year term that began on July 1, 2019.
She is a mediator, arbitrator and facilitator concentrating on labour, employment and human rights law. She is on the minister of employment, workforce development and labour’s list of arbitrators and adjudicators under the Canada Labour Code. Her previous roles include practicing as a labour lawyer and acting as an in-house union counsel.
“The leadership, in-depth knowledge and experience of CIRB members play a huge part in promoting safe and healthy workplaces in federally regulated sectors. I wish to congratulate Ms. Berthiaume, Ms. Brazeau, Ms. Smith and Ms. Webster on their reappointments and thank them for their dedication and commitment to workers across Canada,” MacKinnon said in a statement.
The CIRB operates as an independent, representational, and quasi-judicial tribunal focused on fostering harmonious industrial relations in federally regulated sectors.
