Agenda
Our moderator Montréal Ombudsman (and International Ombudsman Institute President) Nadine Mailloux will guide us through the following agenda:
- Opening Remarks
- Welcome and introductions – Paul Dubé, Ontario Ombudsman – 1:00 p.m.
- Opening remarks – Rob Behrens, former Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman of the U.K. – 1:05 p.m.
- Panel #1: Issues in Complaint Handling
- Proactive Communication and Managing Expectations – David Paradiso, Deputy B.C. Ombudsperson – 1:15 p.m.
- Promise of Technology in the Evolution of Complaint Handling – Jean-Marc Nantais, Canada Post Ombudsman – 1:30 p.m.
- Challenging Complaint Behaviour and Empowering Teams – Craig Thompson, Patient Ombudsman – 1:45 p.m.
- Measuring Efficiency: Why, What and How? – Kwame Addo, Toronto Ombudsman – 2:00 p.m.
- Discussion and Questions – Panel Members – 2:15 p.m.
- Break - 2:40 p.m.
- Panel #2: Democracy and the Role of the Ombudsman
- Protecting Rights as Well as Services – Jay Chalke, B.C. Ombudsperson – 2:50 p.m.
- Ombudsman Under Threat: How to Respond – Bradley Moss, N.L. Citizens' Representative – 3:05 p.m.
- How to Best Use International Standards and Principles – Paul Dubé, Ontario Ombudsman – 3:20 p.m.
- The Value of Collaboration: Defining Relationships – Sandy Hermiston, P.E.I. Ombudsman – 3:35 p.m.
- Discussion and Questions – Panel Members – 3:50 p.m.
- Wrap-Up and Closing Remarks – Paul Dubé, Ontario Ombudsman – 4:15 p.m.
All timings are in Eastern Standard Time (EST).
Biographies
Paul Dubé - Ontario Ombudsman
Paul Dubé is Ontario’s seventh Ombudsman, first appointed in 2016 and reappointed in 2021. Under his leadership, this independent Parliamentary Ombudsman office has seen its largest-ever expansion – now overseeing more than 1,000 public sector bodies, including municipalities, universities, school boards, French language services, and child protection services. Ombudsman Ontario handles more than 30,000 complaints annually and has driven major systemic reforms in areas like long-term care inspections, police de-escalation training, inmate segregation tracking, Landlord and Tenant Board delays, developmental services, and child welfare that have benefited millions of people in the province.
Previously, Mr. Dubé was Canada’s first Taxpayers’ Ombudsman, where the implementation of his recommendations on systemic fairness and service at the Canada Revenue Agency benefitted people across Canada. Earlier in his career, he practiced criminal law in New Brunswick, where he was known for his Charter-based advocacy and dedication to access to justice for marginalized communities.
Mr. Dubé has held several national and international leadership roles in the ombudsman community, including President of the North American chapter of the International Ombudsman Institute, Chair of the Canadian Council of Parliamentary Ombudsman and Secretary of the Forum of Canadian Ombudsman. He is a recipient of the Canadian Bar Association’s Pro Bono Award, the Ontario Bar Association’s Tom Marshall Award of Excellence for public sector law, and the Cassells Brock Award for Legal Practice Skills. His current strategic plan solidifies his Office’s position as a leading force for fairness, accountability, and respect for rights across Ontario’s public sector.
Nadine Mailloux - Montreal Ombudsman and President of the International Ombudsman Institute
Nadine Mailloux is the Ombudsman for the City of Montréal. A lawyer who graduated from the Faculty of Law at the Université de Montréal, she is a member of the Barreau du Québec and an accredited mediator.
Ombudsman Mailloux is President of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI), where she serves on the UN working group. She has also been involved with the Forum of Canadian Ombudsman (FCO), which she chaired for four years.
Dedicated to training the next generation and advancing best practices, Me Mailloux co-directs the certificate program Advanced Issues in Ombuds Practice at Osgoode Hall Law School.
She also contributes to the organization and teaching of the program Ombudsman: Essential Concepts and Best Practices, offered jointly by the Faculty of Law at Université de Sherbrooke and FCO.
With over 25 years of experience in the ombudsman role, Me Mailloux worked for 13 years in Montréal’s health network, and then for 7 years as Ombudsman for the City of Laval, appointed by the Québec Municipal Commission during the city's trusteeship.
Rob Behrens - Former Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman of the U.K.
Rob Behrens is a public servant and Ombudsman who was Higher Education Ombudsman in England and Wales (2008-16) and United Kingdom national Ombudsman (2017-2024). He has worked as an academic and public servant. He is currently Deputy Chair of the UK Infected Blood Compensation Authority, and Chair of Governors at the new University ARU Peterborough.
Rob has a background of working in emerging democracies and transition states, and has worked in more than 26 countries. He was thanked personally by President Nelson Mandela for work (as part of the UK Cabinet Office, 1992-7) on assisting the creation of the post-apartheid public service, and contributed to the work of the Constitutional Assembly in Cape Town and Ministry of Public Service in Pretoria. . He was European and World Board member of the International Ombudsman Institute 2020-24, and Visiting Professor, UCL (2016-24).
Rob was awarded a CBE for 'services to higher education' in the Queen's New Year's Honours List, December 2015 and a Knighthood for 'Public Service' in the King's Birthday Honours, 2024. In the same year he was awarded the Certificate of Merit 'for distinguished service to the Ukrainian People' by the Verkhovna Rada, the national Parliament of Ukraine. He has Honorary degrees from Worcester and Coventry universities and is a lifelong supporter of Manchester City FC.
Rob writes and broadcasts on public accountability and issues of public trust. He is the author of 'Being an Ombudsman in Higher Education', Vienna, 2017, and 'The Art of the Ombudsman: leadership through international crisis', London 2021. His book, 'The Ombudsman and the struggle for Accountability: Lessons from the United Kingdom and Beyond' will be published by Edinburgh University Press in 2027.
David Paradiso - Deputy B.C. Ombudsperson
David Paradiso is Deputy British Columbia Ombudsperson. David has 35 years’ experience in the oversight and investigation of the public sector. After starting his career articling for Ombudsman Ontario, David became an Investigator in the areas of workers’ compensation, social benefits, corrections, family responsibility, the Public Guardian and Trustee, the Human Rights Commission and psychiatric institutions.
He participated in the establishment of the Ombudsman for Canada Post and was a Senior Analyst in the RCMP Public Complaint Commission. He has been Director of Investigations with the Correctional Investigator of Canada responding to complaints from federal offenders. David served as Executive Director and Senior Counsel for the RCMP External Review Committee that reviews employment grievances and disciplinary decisions affecting RCMP members. He was twice appointed interim Chair.
David has a law degree from Western University in London, Ontario and is a member of the Law Society of Ontario. He lives in Victoria with his wife and together they are exceptionally proud of their four adult daughters.
Jean-Marc Nantais - Canada Post Ombudsman
Jean-Marc Nantais has been Canada Post’s ombudsman since 2018. The ombudsman is the final appeal authority for postal service complaints that have not been resolved to the customers’ satisfaction by Canada Post. Mr. Nantais joined Canada Post in 2003, and held various executive roles in marketing, change management and, most recently, as General Manager of Customer Service. The ombudsman office was created back in 1997 and reports to the Chair of the Board.
Craig Thompson - Patient Ombudsman
Craig Thompson was appointed Ontario’s Patient Ombudsman in March 2021, after serving as the office’s Executive Director since 2017. The Office of the Patient Ombudsman addresses complaints about experiences with Ontario’s public hospitals, long-term care homes, home and community care services, and community-based surgical and diagnostic centres. With more than 40 years of leadership experience across the public and private sectors of health care, communications, and engineering, Craig is dedicated to improving the quality, safety, and experience of health care for patients, residents, and caregivers. He is a Certified Health Executive, Professional Engineer, and former Vice-President of the Forum of Canadian Ombudsman.
Kwame Addo - Toronto Ombudsman
Kwame Addo is Toronto’s Ombudsman. He and his team stand up for fairness, working to keep the City accountable to the people it serves. Ombudsman Addo believes that everyone deserves fair treatment from their local government and has the right to speak up if they don’t get it.
Ombudsman Addo’s more than 30-year career is widely recognized in the Ombudsman community. He is passionate about advancing equity and fairness, breaking down barriers, and amplifying the voices of people from underserved groups.
He has served as Ombudsperson at Toronto Metropolitan University, Director of Investigations and Interim Ombudsman with Ombudsman Toronto, and Investigator with Ombudsman Ontario. He has held positions on the Board of Directors and Education Committee of the Society of Ontario Adjudicators and Regulators (SOAR). Ombudsman Addo has also been a faculty member, panelist, and moderator for the Osgoode/Forum of Canadian Ombudsman Essentials for Ombuds certificate program and served on the City of Toronto Mayor’s Committee on Community and Race Relations.
In 2022, Ombudsman Addo became a SOAR Medal recipient, which “honours those who have made a significant contribution and demonstrated their commitment to the field of administrative justice.”
His seven-year term as Toronto’s Ombudsman began in August 2021.
Jay Chalke - B.C. Ombudsperson
Jay Chalke has been the Ombudsperson of British Columbia since May 2015. In this role, he has led several wide-reaching systemic investigations, including the first referral of a matter to the Ombudsperson by a legislative committee, which resulted in the 2017 report Misfire: The 2012 Ministry of Health Employment Terminations and Related Matters, the most resource-intensive investigation in the 40-year history of the Ombudsperson’s Office in BC. Other public reports have covered a wide range of public administration issues including findings of unfairness into financial assistance arising from evacuations during extreme weather events, failure to protect rights of psychiatric patients, unfairness for vulnerable homeowners impacted by municipal tax sales and inadequate inspections of correctional facilities.
Jay has an extensive background in executive leadership, conducting fair and independent investigations and the use of modern approaches to dispute resolution. As Ombudsperson, he has led the development of a proactive fairness consultation and training service for public authorities and an initiative to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of ombuds services to Indigenous people.
Jay is a leader in the national parliamentary ombuds community. He is the course co-director of the leading ombuds certificate course in Canada, Essentials for Ombuds and is a contributor to Advanced Issues in Ombuds Practice, both offered by the Forum of Canadian Ombudsman and Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development.
Jay is a member of the Law Society of British Columbia, and was appointed Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel) in 2006.
The Ombudsperson’s office is located on the traditional lands of the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) Peoples and ancestors and our work extends across the homelands of the Indigenous Peoples within what we now call British Columbia. We honour the many territorial keepers of the lands and waters where we work.
Bradley Moss - N.L. Citizens' Representative
Bradley Moss was appointed as the Citizens' Representative for the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, in May of 2025 on a unanimous resolution of the House of Assembly. He is currently serving his second term as Ombudsman for the province.
Mr. Moss entered the public service in 2002 as the Office’s first staff Investigator. He was promoted to Senior Investigator in 2006 and then worked for over a decade as Deputy Citizens' Representative. He is active in the pan-Canadian Ombudsman community, including the Forum of Canadian Ombudsman where he has served as a conference chair and presenter, and as an instructor at Osgoode Hall’s "Ombuds Essentials" and “Advanced Issues in Ombuds Practice” courses at York University. Over the course of his career he has served as an external Ombudsman evaluator, and has represented the province on several ad hoc working groups set up by the Canadian Council of Parliamentary Ombudsman, and the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Protected Disclosure Officers.
He is also active as a member of Lions Clubs International, elected as District Governor for eastern Newfoundland in 2024-25 and then elected Chair of the Council of Governors for Atlantic Canada in 2025-26. In 2015 he co-founded the first Lions eyeglass recycling centre in eastern Canada at the Bishops Falls Correctional Centre which has recycled nearly one million pairs of eyeglasses, diverting them from landfill for use in over 90 countries around the world. He is passionate about improving the lives of visually impaired people, and has led 13 Lions vision testing and eyeglass distribution missions into Haiti, Nicaragua and Guatemala. His accomplishments in this field have been acknowledged by Lions Clubs International, as well as the House of Commons and the Senate of Canada.
Mr. Moss holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Political Science from Memorial University of Newfoundland, where his graduate work centered on governmental accountability structures and the Ombudsman concept in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Sandy Hermiston - P.E.I. Ombudsman
Sandy Hermiston was appointed Prince Edward Island’s first Ombudsperson in February 2022. From 2017 to 2022, Sandy served as the Cayman Island’s first-ever Ombudsman. She has more than 35 years of experience as a lawyer, most of which have been spent in the public service. Prior to her ombuds work, she held positions as general counsel first with an administrative tribunal and then at the office of the Alberta Ombudsman and Public Interest Commissioner. She has extensive experience in administrative law and procedural fairness and possesses a broad understanding and knowledge of public administration and government structures and functions. In her private life, Sandy spent many years volunteering with parasport organizations locally, provincially, nationally and internationally.