I’m not sure what field or part of the country you’ve worked in, but I’ve worked at around 8 different companies here, and in 7/8 cases the HR team was implicated in poor treatment of employees while I was there, in some cases openly being dishonest with people.

One example I can give you directly was the open bait and switching of interns, where they would advertise a salary, wait until a week before the internship starts, and send the offer letter with 30% lower pay per hour. They gambled that interns wouldn’t reneg, and they never did. It was always “a clerical error” with the Job posting. This was for a tech internship for a company in Burnaby, BC.

Many of them were outwardly nice people. But, their job was, first and foremost, to protect the companies interest. The only exception to this rule was when I worked at a large company that had a huge unionized workforce.

I’m happy you have had positive experiences with HR, but there is no universal rule that distinguishes Canadian HR from American HR. We have slightly more workers rights here, but in comparison to Europe, it’s a joke.