FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Half-day forums on terminations, AI, sexual harassment, bargaining, investigations, impairment and return to work run from December 2026 to November 2027
KINGSVILLE, Ont. (Oct. 26, 2026) — North Wall Media Inc., publisher of HR News Canada, HR Law Canada and Safety News Canada, today announced a seven-event virtual series running from December 2026 through November 2027, built for the HR, employment law and occupational health and safety professionals who share responsibility for Canadian workplaces.
Each half-day event takes on a single issue in depth, with speakers drawn from employment and labour law firms, workplace investigators, safety specialists and senior HR practitioners across the country.
“The problems landing on an HR director’s desk today don’t come in neat categories,” said Todd Humber, publisher and editor-in-chief of North Wall Media. “A positive drug test is a safety issue, a human rights issue and a discipline issue all at once. We built this series so the people who have to make those calls can hear from the lawyers, investigators and practitioners who’ve been in the room when it went right, and when it went badly wrong.”
The 2026-2027 lineup
- Under the Influence: Canada’s Workplace Impairment & Drug Testing Forum — Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2026. When employers can and can’t test, pre-hire screening, responding to suspected impairment on the job, and the choice between accommodation and discipline after a positive result.
- Termination Law Review 2027: Clauses, Cases, and What’s Changed for Canadian Employers — Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2027. HR Law Canada’s flagship event: an annual roundup of termination case law from a panel of employment lawyers in different provinces.
- Code of Conduct: AI, Algorithms and the Canadian Workplace — Thursday, March 4, 2027. Where artificial intelligence helps, where it creates liability, and what Canadian law already requires, from disclosure in job postings to privacy and human rights obligations.
- Unwelcome: The Workplace Sexual Harassment Forum — Thursday, May 6, 2027, during North American Occupational Safety and Health Week. Prevention, policy, complaint intake, harassment by leaders, clients and over digital channels, and the debate over non-disclosure agreements.
- Bargaining Table: Canada’s Labour Relations Summit — Thursday, June 3, 2027. Bargaining preparation, strikes and lockouts under the federal replacement worker ban, government intervention in disputes and grievance arbitration trends.
- Fact Finders: Canada’s Workplace Investigations Forum — Thursday, Sept. 16, 2027. The full investigation lifecycle, from choosing the investigator and setting the mandate through procedural fairness, proportionate discipline and repairing the team afterward.
- Back on the Job: The Return-to-Work and Accommodation Forum — Thursday, Nov. 18, 2027. Return to work end to end: workers’ compensation re-employment obligations, the duty to accommodate, innocent absenteeism and frustration of contract, and making modified work succeed.
One afternoon, three perspectives
Every event is presented jointly across HR News Canada, HR Law Canada and Safety News Canada, and programs are designed so HR, legal and safety leaders get practical takeaways from the same sessions. Several events feature point-counterpoint sessions pairing management-side counsel with union or complainant-side counsel.
“Most conferences hand you one side of the argument,” Humber said. “When you put employer counsel and union counsel on the same screen and let them disagree about arbitration remedies or NDAs, the audience walks away understanding where the real risk sits. That’s far more useful than another slide deck of best practices.”
Humber said the series reflects what readers of the three publications have been asking for. “Our readers told us they want depth without losing a full week out of the office. Four focused hours, live Q&A with people who actually litigate and investigate these files, and a recording they can share with their team the next morning. That’s the format.”
Format and registration
All events are virtual, run live from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET and include live Q&A. Sessions are recorded and available on demand to registrants.
Early-bird registration is $99 plus tax for individuals and $299 plus tax for teams of up to 10. Rates rise to $199 and $499 plus tax one week before each event.
For Termination Law Review 2027, North Wall Media is seeking CPD eligibility for lawyers along with HRPA and CPHR recertification credits.
Registration and full program details are available at hrtalks.ca.
Speakers and sponsors
North Wall Media is accepting speaker proposals and sponsorship inquiries for all seven events. Sponsorship packages start at $995, with Gold and Platinum levels including a guaranteed speaking slot.
“For a law firm, an investigations practice or a benefits provider, these events put you in front of a national audience at the exact moment they’re wrestling with the problem you solve,” Humber said. “Sponsors aren’t buying a logo on a banner. They’re getting a seat at the table on the issue that defines their practice.”
About North Wall Media
North Wall Media Inc. is an independent Canadian business-to-business publisher based in Kingsville, Ont. Its three national properties, HR News Canada, HR Law Canada and Safety News Canada, cover employment law, labour relations, occupational health and safety and HR practice across the country. The company was founded by Todd Humber, who spent more than two decades as publisher and editor-in-chief of Thomson Reuters’ workplace media brands, including Canadian HR Reporter, Canadian Employment Law Today and Canadian Occupational Safety.
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Media contact: Todd Humber Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, North Wall Media Inc. | todd.humber@northwallmedia.com| 289-264-4883 | hrtalks.ca
