View cases - Stewart McKelvey

38Ms. Friendly had not personally engaged in empirical studies, but had only studied available dataof which there is not an abundance and of which there is not recent data. The Respondentsuggested that Ms. Friendly be accepted only as an expert on childcare policy in Canada. Inaccepting Ms. Friendly’s qualifications as an expert on the basis put forward by the Complainant,this Tribunal found in the description of Ms. Friendly’s long writing and teaching career, that shehas an overall awareness of the general availability of childcare, both traditional andnon-traditional, in Canada for all Canadian workers, and knowledge of factors that affect womenin the workforce including the impact of childcare availability on Canadian working women.This Tribunal felt that any concerns that Respondent’s counsel had with respect to the reliance ondata that was insufficient or dated could be addressed in cross-examination.2010 CHRT 20 (CanLII)[175] Ms. Friendly is the Executive Director of the Childcare Resource and Research Unit“CRRU” in Toronto, Ontario. CRRU is a policy research facility concerned with early childhoodeducation and childcare and family policy. She filed a written report to address the extent towhich child care is accessible to employed parents who are working non-standard, rotating,unpredictable hours. The Respondent took the position that Ms. Johnstone had more childcareoptions that she presented herself as having, and Ms. Friendly’s report was tendered by theComplainant to address that position. In the preparation of her Report, Ms. Friendly alsoreviewed the Statements of Particulars of both parties.[176] For over 30 years CRRU was part of the University of Toronto, but in 2007 became aseparate non-profit organization in receipt of provincial and federal funding. Ms. Friendly is aspecialist in policy concerning early childhood education and childcare. She is also part of aninternational childcare policy community that researches, analyzes data and writes on topics thatarise by virtue of her specialization. She is a published author in her field and teaches in theMasters Program at Ryerson University.[177] Although her evidence revealed that Ms. Friendly is an advocate for increased publicfunding for childcare options, her evidence of interest to this hearing was her knowledge ofavailability of childcare in Canada, and there was no suggestion by the Respondent that herevidence on this relevant point was influenced by her policy positions.