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Page 6 November 14, 2016 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com sitions within a larger firm, it's not just about advis- ing clients. Law firms themselves are not immune to harassment complaints, which is why Hann's words of warning should be heeded as wise. Hope- fully, the issue never comes to pass — but having an action plan in case it does is prudent. LT COMMENT ©2016 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written per- mission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. 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The requirements are due to Bill 132, which means employers must conduct investigations after concerns of workplace harassment come to light. Much discussion centred on the bill, not in the least because of its emergence at a time when the Jian Ghomeshi trial was front and centre. The trial itself is no longer in the public eye — but its aftermath has impacted the way labour and employment lawyers will be con- sulted. It has also impacted how a generation of young Canadians see their employers, and their workplaces, and understand their rights. The heightened awareness among all age groups about the issue is heartening. Lawyer Jeremy Hann told McKiernan that businesses both large and small have an incentive to do investigations correctly, since pro- vincial Ministry of Labour inspectors will be following up. "We're telling smaller clients that they need an action plan for this type of complaint, because they are very time sensitive, and delaying an investigation can cause all sorts of issues," says Hann. And for lawyers who run their own firms or are in leadership po- Canada, the good W hen the new Liberal gov- ernment decided a year ago to throw wide open the doors to 25,000 Syrian refugees and settle them as residents of Canada, many of our country's lawyers decided they, too, should respond to the call of humanity. Dozens of refugee and immigration lawyers in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and other cities and towns across Canada have formed their own benevolent legal associations and are working to help the current f lood of Syrian refugee families arriving in our country. The refugees need legal help and the lawyers are happy to do it and for free. Welcome to Canada. Therefore, I was hardly surprised when a mother who is a Syrian refugee approached me the other day and said, "I didn't know lawyers work for free in your country." I replied: "Unfortunately, they don't. Why do you ask?" She said a Canadian lawyer had of- fered to help her for free with the refugee documents she had to sign. "Yes, it's all legal," I explained. The lawyers bring in their legal part- ners, articling students, law students and lawyers from other firms they know. It's all pro bono. Some are the best lawyers we have. Law professors bring in law students. When your law prof asks you to help out on a special project, you don't say no. The lawyers feel they owe it to Syrian refugee fami- lies who barely got out of the Middle East with their lives. Some lost part of their fam- ilies, others struggled several years to stay alive in refugee camps. There's nothing delightful about be- ing a refugee. Refugees need all sorts of things when they get here — housing, schooling, health care, jobs, transportation, social integra- tion, language training. Choosing suit- able rental accommodation is not easy when you can't even read the language on the lease, never mind figuring out the fine print. A lawyer can help a lot. The same goes with finding the right school for the kids or figuring out how to calculate the compound interest on a credit card. Denise Workun is a partner with Nelligan O'Brien Payne LLP in Ottawa. She specializes in human rights and employment law. Back in 2006, she co- ordinated a human rights and judicial law reform project with the Legal Stud- ies Institute of El Salvador. For this sponsorship group, she has put together a team of 62 Canadians, including law- yers, legal experts, doctors, social workers and language teachers. They have brought in two Syrian families and two more extended families are on the way. Arghavan Gerami is an- other Ottawa immigration lawyer. She is the founder and managing director of Gerami Law PC, a respected legal firm specializing in helping refugees. Gerami graduated first in her class with a Bachelor of Arts at York University and later received her Juris Doctor and Master of Laws de- grees at Osgoode Hall. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 2007. She founded Gerami Law in 2011 and focused her practice on immigration and refugee law, specializing in judicial review cases, stay of removal motions and immigra- tion appeals. Gerami is on the board of the Refugee Lawyers Association and the Litigation Committee of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers. She has taken part in several parliamentary committee pre- sentations on immigration, refugee and citizenship bills. "We know there are a lot of public groups helping Syrian refugees," she says proudly. Hers is but one of them. And with the federal government promising to let in more Syrian refugees next year, there will be a need for more willing law- yers and legal experts. Gerami says helping refugees the way Canadian lawyers are pulling together to form teams to help refugee families is "the most rewarding work a lawyer can do." Toronto lawyer Barbara Jackman is one of the best immigration lawyers in the country. Her team of lawyers has spent a lot of time in the past year filling out forms for Syrian refugees. "We had additional work to do fill- ing out forms for those who didn't get to come over with relatives," she says. "Nor- mally, the people are in a queue to get in, and a skilled worker can almost always be landed faster." Jackman says citizens, not govern- ments, did "most of the heavy lifting bringing in refugees." She hopes things go as well again next year. Another 30,000 are expected. LT uRichard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parliament Hill. His email address is richardcleroux34@gmail.com. The Hill Richard Cleroux

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