An Ontario Securities Commission hearing will on Thursday decide whether to approve a proposed settlement with Research in Motion, the Canadian, maker of the BlackBerry family of smartphones, and the company’s senior executives ending a long-running controversy over the backdating of stock options.

The commission staff and RIM announced agreement on the proposed settlement with company and eight senior executives including James Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, RIM’s co-chief executives, earlier this week following an investigation into a stock option accounting controversy dating back to 1996.