Ambrosia Varaschin

Ambrosia Varaschin is a nationally and internationally recognized arbitrator, mediator, neutral third-party investigator, and negotiation specialist. She has attended well regarded Canadian institutions such as the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Ottawa, as well as the acclaimed Norman Patterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University.  In addition, she has completed her post graduate studies at some of the top conflict and negotiation campuses in the world, including the United States Institute of Peace and the Institute for Research and Education on Negotiation (IRENE) at ESSEC Paris.  She is the principal for her ADR firm, Incarna Consulting, which prides itself on streamlined processes, disciplined case management protocols, cost-controlled solutions for expedited disputes, and maintaining personable relationships while maximizing technological efficiencies.

Ms. Varaschin is proud to be the first Saskatchewan resident appointed to an international trade council, serving as the Co-Chair for Diversity and Inclusion Sub-Committee of the CUSMA Private Commercial Disputes Advisory Committee, and one of the inaugural members of the first arbitration rosters in the world focusing on Canadian-MENA international disputes.  Her arbitration practice specializes in international trade relations, domestic commercial disputes, and commercial real estate matters, with a special interest in serving the SMB/SME market.

Ms. Varaschin serves as a public appointee to the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association’s Disciplinary Tribunal, hearing misconduct and malpractice cases as needed. In addition, she works on harassment, professional misconduct, and workplace incident files for all levels of government, multinational natural resource and energy corporations, labour relations organizations, and professional associations—leading teams in managing, investigating, and resolving complaints of harassment, discrimination, misconduct, and personnel grievances.  She formerly worked in the Indian Residential School Adjudication Secretariat and was awarded the Deputy Minister’s Award for Service Excellence for her role with the Independent Assessment Process for extraordinary abuse claims—as such she is adept at assessing liability and assigning valuations to non-pecuniary damages.

Ms. Varaschin conducts workplace investigations as an independent neutral—including investigating and collecting evidence regarding allegations of negligence, misconduct, malpractice, harassment, workplace violence, near-misses, or incidences to determine the facts of the complaint(s) and assess for violations or high-risk behaviour.  As one of the few practitioners in the country trained and licensed to deliver the complete New Ways framework of conflict management, she provides a comprehensive employee and management training program to reduce and prevent conflict in the workplace. The New Ways for Work restorative workplace program, developed by Bill Eddy of the High Conflict Institute, Shiv Martin of the Dispute Resolution Board of Queensland, and Susan Rayner of the Australian Mediation Institute, delivers skills training and conflict coaching to teach employees how to manage their emotions and behaviours in a way that is constructive instead of destructive. 

Ms. Varaschin devotes her volunteer hours to improving the healthcare system as a patient advisor, sitting as a member of the Provincial Patient & Family Leadership Council and Practitioner Advisory Council to the Chief Medical Officer with the Saskatchewan Health Authority, and formerly served as Vice-Chair of the Data and Analytics Oversight and Governance Council with the Ministry of Health and on the Steering Committee for the Saskatchewan Centre for Patient Oriented Research.  She is a frequently recurring panelist for the Public Service Information Community Connection on topics surrounding privacy and data security, public interest protection, and the role of technology in society.  Her work at such high levels serves to inform her practice on life sciences and health care disputes, digital assets and artificial intelligence issues, and intellectual property and patent protection.