Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, February 25, 2021 -

The Canada Border Services Agency’s and Correctional Service Canada’s approaches to dealing with harassment, discrimination, and violence in the workplace did not do enough to promote and maintain respectful workplaces, according to a report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts (the Committee) presented today by Kelly Block, Chair of the Committee.

In the fall of 2019, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) released a performance audit whose purpose was to determine whether both organizations promoted and maintained respectful workplaces free of harassment, discrimination, and violence by co-workers and supervisors.

The audit found that even though both organizations knew these problems were present in the workplace, neither organization had developed a comprehensive strategy to address them, including a way to measure and report on progress toward reducing harassment, discrimination, and workplace violence. Also, employees feared reprisal if they made complaints of harassment, discrimination, or workplace violence against fellow employees or supervisors.

As part of its report on this audit, the Committee made three recommendations to each organization to promote and maintain respectful workplaces, free from harassment, discrimination and violence. It also recommended the OAG expand its gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) in its performance audits.