The Team
To carry out her mandate, the Ombudsman, Me Nadine Mailloux is supported by a team of 11 people: two secretaries who provide administrative support, three Intake Officers, as well as six Advisors who conduct investigations and advise the Ombudsman. Except for the secretaries, all staff have legal training, with all the Advisors being lawyers.
The OdM staff works exclusively for the Ombudsman’s Office and is not allowed to hold any other function within the City. OdM employees cannot play any role within a municipal political party of Montréal nor be related or close to an elected official. There is, therefore, no possible conflict of interest.
Me Nadine Mailloux
Ombudsman de Montréal
Me Nadine Mailloux graduated from the Faculty of Law at the Université de Montréal and was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1999. She is an accredited mediator by the Quebec Bar and the Institut de médiation et d’arbitrage du Québec, and a member of the Arbitration and Mediation Institute of Canada.
Me Mailloux is president of the Forum of Canadian Ombudsman. She draws on the best practices and experiences of ombudsmans who are recognized throughout Canada for their expertise. She also sits on the Comité des adhésions de l’Association des ombudsmans et médiateurs de la francophonie (AOMF).
Me Mailloux codirects the “Advanced Issues in Ombuds Practice” certificate program at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. The program is offered by renowned ombudsmans in Canada and internationally, and is aimed at experienced ombudsmans. Over the years, she has offered many training sessions devoted to the best ombudsman practices. She is also involved in organizing and teaching the Ombudsman: Essentials and Best Practices program at the FCO/Université de Sherbrooke Law School.
She is one of three elected members who represent North America on the board of directors of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) and sits on the IOI’s Comité de relations avec l’Organisation des Nations unies (ONU).
Me Mailloux has been an ombudsman for more 23 years. The majority of her career has focused on alternative methods of conflict resolution. At first an ombudsman of second-instance at the Régie régionale de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal-Centre, she then served in that capacity at a major university hospital centre, and subsequently at a university health and social services centre. She was named Ombudsman de la Ville de Laval by the Commission municipale du Québec in 2013 and opened the office, where she lent her expertise to that city’s citizens until she was appointed Ombudsman de Montréal in August 2020.
For several years, Me Mailloux coordinated a pro bono legal-aid clinic in poor communities. She is also pro bono ombudsman with The Lighthouse Children and Families, a non-profit organization that offers respite care and support for families of children afflicted with illnesses requiring complex care.
Throughout her career, Me Mailloux has resolutely embraced a policy of cooperation, with a goodwill approach that aims at offering an alternative to plaintiffs who consider themselves aggrieved. Transparency, fair decisionmaking, respect, authenticity and openness are facets of her solution-seeking process and are undoubtedly the reasons for her success over the years in resolving situations that have been brought to her attention.