Current and Past Commissioners

Renée Caron

Renée Caron is the current Equal Pay Commissioner of the Northwest Territories. As one of Canada’s foremost pay equity experts, Renée Caron has been a leader in pay equity operations and policy for nearly 15 years. She has a deep understanding of pay equity policy as a result of her work on the federal Pay Equity Act. She also has extensive operational experience, having represented the federal Government in relation to many pay equity complaints under the Canadian Human Rights Act and overseeing the process for assessing the value of work and making pay comparisons. She has led pay equity negotiations with bargaining agents and oversaw the Government’s settlement of a large pay equity case involving more than 20,000 employees.

Renée has 30 years’ experience in employment and labour relations, including at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the Privy Council Office, the Canada Industrial Relations Board and in the private sector. She authored the seminal text, Employment in the Federal Public Service, published by Canada Law Book and cited by the Public Service Labour Relations Board, the Federal Court of Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada. Renée holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from Dalhousie University and a Master of Public Policy and Administration degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and is bilingual.

Bronwyn Watters

Bronwyn Watters was the Equal Pay Commissioner from December 7, 2021 to June 24, 2023.

A native of Sydney, Australia, Ms. Watters immigrated to Canada in 1967 and took up residence in the NWT in 1978. She began her public service career as a psychologist for the Kitikmeot and Keewatin regions, and then as a coordinator of special education with the NWT Department of Education. She held many progressively responsible public service positions over the years, including as the Deputy Minister of Justice (2008 – 2012). She served as the Executive Lead on the NWT Anti-Poverty Strategy and Action Plan, and as a member of the NWT Human Rights Commission until 2015, when she returned to the public service as Deputy Minister of Human Resources. She was a generous volunteer and supported the community by serving on the NWT Legal Aid Commission and sitting on the Executive of the Yellowknife Community Foundation and the AVENS Board of Directors. She was also an accomplished photographer.

Joy Noonan

Joy Noonan was the Equal Pay Commissioner from October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2021.

Joy was an accomplished lawyer in the private sector, practicing in a variety of areas that included pay equity. She was legal counsel in an equal pay case involving Bell Canada and was team co-lead for the complaint filed against the Government of the Northwest Territories by the Union of Northwest Workers and the Public Service Alliance of Canada, a case that ultimately led to the establishment of the position of Equal Pay Commissioner.

Joy earned her law degree at Dalhousie University in 1989 and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1991. She earned her Masters of Law (LL.M) in Alternate Dispute Resolution from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2011. Joy holds a Chartered Mediator (C. Med) designation from the ADR Institute of Canada, has served on the ADR Institute of Ontario’s Board of Directors and continues to co-chair the ADR Institute of Canada’s Chartered Mediator assessment committee.

Nitya Iyer

Nitya Iyer was the first Equal Pay Commissioner of the NWT. She was appointed on July 1, 2004 and held the office for 12 years.

Nitya started her legal career teaching at the Faculty of Law of the University of Toronto, followed by the University of British Columbia. She was a legal expert in the fields of administrative and constitutional law, focusing on human rights and pay equity. Nitya was a member of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal from 1997 to 2000. Nitya has been a generous volunteer throughout her life and was recognized for her volunteer work when she was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. In 2017, she was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.