It is too close, too senior, or too sensitive for anyone inside to handle. Contour North runs an independent, procedurally fair investigation built to withstand scrutiny, and treats everyone in it with respect.
The Mackenzie Delta · the largest in CanadaNot sure it needs an outsider? That’s worth ten minutes.
For employers from small teams to workforces of 5,000+, across the public and private sectors.
Ellice holds a BMgt with a double major in Human Resources, Organizational Studies and Industrial Relations, and has spent much of her career in unionized environments where complaint and grievance processes are formal.
Not a rushed inquiry. A thorough, neutral investigation that gives you findings you can stand behind.
An external, neutral inquiry into what happened, run from outside the internal reporting lines.
Sensitive matters handled with rigour and discretion, so every account is heard fully.
Conduct concerns examined fairly, so the workplace can move forward on solid ground.
A check on process, so decisions rest on a footing that can be reviewed.
A clear, documented report with practical next steps you can act on.
Guidance after the report, so leaders and teams can rebuild trust and steady the workplace.
Where people have to keep working together and nobody wants a formal finding, a facilitated route to resolution before it hardens into a case.
No single complaint, but the turnover and the silence say something. A structured read of what is happening in a team, and what is driving it.
A sound investigation follows established procedural fairness principles. Every one runs the same way.
Everyone knows the allegations and how the process works, in writing, before it begins.
Each person gets a fair chance to respond, and to answer what has been said about them.
Reasoned from the evidence rather than assumption.
Documented, reasoned, and written to withstand review, internally or beyond.
Intake: the concern, the context, in confidence.
Scope and a fair process, agreed up front.
Interviews and evidence, handled with care.
Findings and practical recommendations.
Nobody can say on day one how many people will need to be interviewed, so investigations are billed hourly. The written estimate, and the point where we stop and check in with you, are what keep that from turning into an open bill.
The same rate at every stage, and the same person from intake through to the report. Travel and disbursements are quoted separately.
After intake, before anyone is interviewed, you get a range in writing with the assumptions it rests on.
If the file is running toward the top of the estimate, we stop at 60% of it and talk to you. You hear it from us, not from the invoice.
How many people have to be interviewed, how much documentation there is, and whether the scope widens once we’re into it.
When to bring in an outside investigator, what a fair process looks like, and how to protect everyone involved.
Get the guide →The first conversation is free, and handled in confidence within the limits of the law. Tell us only what you are comfortable sharing.
Before you send anything: we only need enough for a conflict check. The organization, the general nature of the complaint, and who is involved. Please don’t send evidence, statements, or personnel files until an engagement is confirmed. If we don’t take the file, we delete what you sent. How we handle information.
We are not lawyers. Contour North does not provide legal advice, does not represent any party, and does not make the discipline decision. We investigate, and we hand you findings you can act on. If we think a matter needs counsel, we will say so. Our two principals are also partners. Worth saying plainly, because independence is the product: investigations are Ellice’s work alone. Larry does not run them, does not see the files, and does not hear about them.