Ishat Reza is a workplace investigator with a background in employment and human rights law. She specializes in discrimination, harassment and sexual violence claims, and conducts independent, thorough and timely investigations. Ishat also provides guidance to organizations on a wide range of institutional policies and programs. She is fair, thorough and service-oriented, and handles sensitive workplace issues with confidentiality, care and a trauma-informed approach.

 

Ishat began her legal career as a litigator at Torys LLP where she worked on diverse issues including employment law, human rights (such as disability legislation and sexual harassment cases), and equality rights and religious freedoms under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. She has been a Member of the Law Society of Ontario since 2012, and holds LL.B. and B.C.L. degrees from McGill University, a Master of Arts from Harvard University and an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree with high distinction from the University of Toronto.

 

Prior to her legal career, Ishat was a Lead International Negotiator for the Government of Canada where she led bilateral negotiations on trade in goods, agriculture, safeguards, tariffs and technical barriers to trade, with countries in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East. She also represented Canada at the World Trade Organization in Geneva during the Doha Development Round of negotiations.

 

Ishat was also a portfolio manager with the Public Sector Integrity Division of the OECD in Paris, and was a Change Management Consultant in London, UK, where she advised UK public sector organizations, local authorities and universities on a variety of program and change management initiatives.

 

Ishat leverages her diverse experiences to provide a contextualized and well-rounded approach to her current workplace assessment and investigation work.