Vice-Chairs Appointed to the Labour Relations Board - News ...
The Honourable Bernard Davis, Minister Responsible for Labour, today announced the appointments of Chantelle MacDonald Newhook, B.A., LL.B., KC, Q.Arb. and W. John Clarke, KC, B.Comm., J.D., C.Arb., C.Med, as Vice-Chairs of the Labour Relations Board. The appointments are effective December 8, 2022 and January 17, 2023 respectively and are both for a five-year term.
Biographical information is provided in the backgrounder below.
The Labour Relations Board is an independent, quasi-judicial body which contributes to and promotes harmonious labour relations in Newfoundland and Labrador by adjudicating and mediating a variety of employment and labour relations matters.
These appointments were recommended though the merit-based Independent Appointments Commission process.
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“I am pleased to announce the appointments of Ms. MacDonald Newhook and Mr. Clarke, to the Labour Relations Board. They each bring extensive experience and expertise which will prove invaluable as they carry out their responsibilities in support of harmonious labour relations within the province.”
Honourable Bernard Davis
Minister Responsible for Labour
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BACKGROUNDER
Biographies
John Clarke, KC, B.Comm., J.D., C.Arb., C.Med
John Clarke is a lawyer and has been involved in the area of dispute resolution since 1979 when he first became a trainee with the Labour Management Co-operation Committee, a self-regulating body that set qualification standards for labour arbitrators and maintained the listing of qualified arbitrators in Newfoundland and Labrador. Mr. Clarke was first admitted to the list in 1984, when he first served as Vice-Chair of the provincial Labour Relations Board and Chair of its Construction Panel. He has been a member of the panel of Labour Adjudicators with the Federal Department of Labour. He has been appointed in several hundred labour cases. He has also served as a member of the Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan.
In 1994, Mr. Clarke began academic training as a mediator attending theoretical training in Toronto, ON, and St. John’s, as well as practical training in Victoria and Vancouver, BC and St. John’s. From 2006 to 2016, he also completed specialized workplace training in California, at Memorial University and Harvard University. He has conducted several hundred mediations in personal injury, labour relations, estates, construction and commercial matters.
In addition to his dispute resolution career, Mr. Clarke has served as a director on the board of Directors of Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc., since 1996. He also serves on the Audit Committee and is Chair of the Governance and Compensation Committee of that corporation.
Mr. Clarke was also a principal in the Centre for Innovative Dispute Resolution, which was a self-contained business arrangement, devoted exclusively to the processes of dispute resolution as alternatives to the court structure in the province.
Chantelle MacDonald Newhook, B.A., LL.B., KC, Q.Arb.
After seventeen years of public service in both legal and executive roles with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Chantelle MacDonald Newhook established her private legal practice in 2022 as a neutral arbitrator, mediator, and investigator.
During her tenure with the Provincial Government, Ms. MacDonald Newhook’s legal practice included advising on, and appearing at, arbitrations and labour relations matters, including having argued labour cases before the Labour Relations Board, the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal, and the landmark Saskatchewan Federation of Labour “right to strike” case at the Supreme Court of Canada.
Ms. MacDonald Newhook was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2020 and achieved her Qualified Arbitrator (Q.Arb.) designation in 2022.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts from St. Thomas University, a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New Brunswick, and is an internationally published author, including having authored the first internationally available trade publication about domain name dispute arbitration, Cybersquatters Beware! Insiders’ Tips for Winning Domain Name Disputes (McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2002).
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