Tories rejected recommendation on workplace harassment nine months ago

OTTAWA—Sexual harassment on Parliament Hill — whether among politicians, staffers or media — has long been the subject of whispers or occasional rumours, but never has anyone come out into the marbled halls with direct allegations.

Yet it was partly the subject of parliamentary study by a Commons committee just nine months ago.

As part of a broader report, the committee issued a call on Status of Women Canada — a federal agency — to work with Parliament to raise “awareness of the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace.”

However, the Conservative government — through the two ministers responsible — rejected that specific recommendation.

The government’s response was posted in June: “We recognize the value of improving awareness of the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace among parliamentary staff, however this recommendation deals with matters that are within the responsibility of the Parliament of Canada and, as such, not within the purview of Ministers to address,” replied Treasury Board President Tony Clement and Kellie Leitch, who is the minister of Labour and the minister responsible for Status of Women Canada.

It was not the first such recommendation to be ignored.

ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO

NDP Status of Women critic Niki Ashton says the lack of a sexual harassment policy like the one that would have come out of the report sends a signal to alleged victims that they should not come forward, because their complaints won't go anywhere.

In 2012 the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an international assembly whose participants included Canadian MPs, senators, and Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer adopted an action plan at a Quebec City meeting for “gender-sensitive parliaments.”

It specifically urged parliamentarians to develop anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies “to ensure that all parliamentarians and parliamentary staff work in an environment free from all forms of discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment.”

Beyond introducing a code of conduct that would penalize “language and behaviour that is considered sexist,” it said Parliament should “develop and implement anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies in line with national legislation applicable to all parliamentarians and parliamentary staff including the establishment of an independent body to which complaints can be submitted and addressed.”

But no such independent body exists.

The House of Commons is now scrambling to figure out how to investigate and address “serious” but separate allegations that have arisen this week regarding “personal misconduct” by two Liberal MPs toward two New Democrat MPs.

New Democrat MP Niki Ashton, status of women critic for her party, says the lack of a sexual harassment policy like the one that would have come out of the report sends a signal to alleged victims that they should not come forward, because their complaints will not go anywhere.

“We need to be clear that in this environment in which we work, with its history of being male-dominated . . . we need to have policies that protect all of us, that make us all feel safe and welcome.”

That committee specifically made a recommendation regarding sexual harassment in the parliamentary workplace — an environment not subject to any of the usual Treasury Board policies that govern the government’s workplaces, and subject only to the decisions and policies of Parliament itself.

After months of hearings into the broader questions of policies in all federal departments and agency workplaces, the committee reported last February.

It noted there are three groups of federal employees “for whom normal policies and complaints procedures are either not accessible or not effective.”

Those included foreign staff in embassies, correctional services officers harassed by inmates, and staff of Members of Parliament. They are the employees of the individual MP hiring them, and are not covered by sexual harassment policies and processes available to staff of the House of Commons itself.

The report notes that Commons administration does offer orientation to new MPs, which includes their responsibilities as employers. But the report is silent on MPs who might become involved in a complaint of harassment themselves.

In the end, their report repeated much of what they heard and resulted in 14 recommendations to improve awareness of the issue among workers and managers, policies for dealing with reports by women who say they’ve been harassed, more alternate dispute resolution methods and better leadership training.

Original Article
Source: thestar.com/
Author: Tonda MacCharles Ottawa Bureau reporter, Joanna Smith Ottawa Bureau reporter