Investigative Services

Areas of Expertise

Challenges

Amendments to Bill C-65 created a new resolution process with ripple effects for our public and private sector clients. Understanding and applying legislative changes in real time is costly and risky for organizations and teams. With numerous stakeholders including Workplace Health & Safety Committees, unions, employees, vendors, and subcontractors it is imperative that clients work with suppliers who stay abreast of changing legislation. QMR quickly identifies legislative changes, emerging jurisprudence and new developments in case-law and institutionalizes the changes, providing best practices, recommendations and guidance in real time.

Access to Investigative Experts

QMR Consulting & Investigative Services has conducted more than 800 Investigations and Workplace Assessments for more than 150 clients. We are qualified on 12 multi-year Master Vendor of Record Contracts for unionized organizations. QMR has access to more than 75 Senior Investigators and Workplace Assessment (WPA) Practitioners. Our reach includes Coaches, Trainers, Human Resources and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Specialists. QMR will take a lead role and contribute our expertise to help guide your organization and provide recommendations to protect your workplace from legal liability.

Workplace Harassment & Violence

Harassment in the workplace stems from real and perceived behaviour among employees within the workplace. Harassment encompasses improper conduct by an individual, that is directed at and offensive to another individual in the workplace.

Workplace Harassment may occur directly within the organization itself or at any event or any location related to the organization. To be deemed Harassment, the burden of proof is in demonstrating that the employee/individual knew or ought reasonably to have known that their behaviour in the workplace would cause offence or harm to the recipient individual or team.

Workplace Harassment comprises objectionable act(s), comment(s) or display(s) that demean, belittle, or cause personal humiliation or embarrassment, and any act of intimidation or threat. It also includes harassment within the meaning of the Canadian Human Rights Act (i.e. based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability and pardoned conviction). Workplace Harassment is typically a series of incidents but can be one severe incident which has a lasting impact on the recipient individual.

Disclosures of Wrongdoing

Disclosures of Wrongdoing in the Workplace are serious violations that go against the public interest and serve to disrupt the workplace.

Wrongdoing includes a wide range of violations of any Act of Parliament or any Act of legislature of the provinces, misusing public funds or public assets, and gross mismanagement in the workplace.

Essentially, Wrongdoing is doing something – or failing to do something – that creates a substantial and specific danger to the health, safety, or life of persons or to the environment, acts that seriously breach organizational codes or policies and/or knowing directing or counselling a person to commit a wrongdoing.

Disclosures of Wrongdoing can involve Administrative Investigations, Audit Investigations, Misconduct Investigations, Fraud Investigations and can lead to criminal charges under Canada’s Criminal Code. Wrongdoing Investigations may require collaboration and cooperation from several units within an employee organization to ensure that all relevant particulars are captured including emails, documents, files, text messages, voice mail messages, and client and employee correspondence.

Wrongdoing Investigations tend to be longer in terms of level of effort, mainly due to the size, scope and severity of the disclosure involved.

Professional and Respectful

QMR is a leading consultancy that government and private sector clients across Canada trust to provide the highest standard of services to meet the complex and diverse requirements of today’s workplace.

All parties are treated with respect and dignity, and their rights are protected. Being subject to a complaint or being involved in an investigation as a witness is stressful and can affect reputations. All parties want to be heard and assured that the investigative process was impartial, that procedural fairness was followed, and the results were reasonable.

Our Investigators have conducted hundreds of investigations and apply a trauma-informed, survivor-focused, and anti-oppression lens when interviewing parties and witnesses. Our Investigators are also committed to:

a) Providing a neutral, fair, and unbiased assessment of the evidence without having a pre-determined outcome in mind.

b) Endeavouring to uncover all of the information required to make an informed decision and ensure all conclusions are supported by evidence.

c) Acting promptly to conduct and conclude the investigation without delay.

d) Maintaining open lines of communication with the parties and our clients throughout the investigative process and being responsive to inquiries.

In every case, the facts and evidence speak for themselves. Our reports do not rely on speculation or presumptions, but on facts, evidence, and carefully considered assessments of credibility.

The reports our Investigators produce rely on the hierarchy of evidence to make assessments and determinations which include conducting a fair and unbiased review of the evidence. This includes a detailed analysis of admissions, partial/quasi-admissions, corroborative evidence, credibility assessments (where appropriate), witness statements, and any other relevant sources of information. Reports are authored using plain language to prevent creating unnecessary barriers and redacted appropriately to protect the identity of the individuals involved. Where appropriate, recommendations are provided to prevent recurrence which serves to strengthen the workplace, should the client decide to implement them.

Role of the Investigator

QMR Workplace Investigators and consultants are highly-trained specialists with extensive experience and diverse professional backgrounds, and include former judges, lawyers, HR professionals, senior executives, retired officers of the RCMP and the Canadian Armed Forces, conflict resolution practitioners and mediators. All Investigators and consultants serve as neutral fact finders who interview the Complainant, the Respondent and any Witnesses to the alleged incident of harassment, violence or wrongdoing. Evidence is gathered and a confidential report is prepared by the Investigator, which sets out the evidence and examines it in the context of the organization’s internal policies, as well as any applicable Human Rights or Occupational Health & Safety legislation. The confidential report is then submitted to the employer who determines what action will be taken.

Investigative Services Brochure

“My experience with QMR has been a testament to how innovation, adaptability, and creativity can be leveraged.”

—Shequille Gayle, workplace investigator