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Madam Chair, members of the committee, good morning. Thank you for welcoming me today by videoconference. The members of the centre and I are happy to participate in your study on sexual harassment in the workplace.
I am aware that you received a document that provides a general overview of our organization, but I would still like to focus on a few points before we move on to the question period.
As the chair mentioned, my name is Cindy Viau and I am the Director's Advisor for the Quebec Help and Information Centre on Harassment in the Workplace. In broad terms, I work jointly with the managers of the organization, I run awareness sessions, I provide in-house training and I manage several special projects. That depends on which projects are in progress during the year.
I would first like to talk about what our centre does. The centre is a non-profit organization that assists victims of harassment in the workplace. Initially, we were a committee affiliated with another organization known as Rank and File, which still exists today. Our mandate was to help victims of sexual harassment in the workplace.
The organization was originally created by women for women. However, since 2004, when the Act respecting Labour Standards came into force, we have also been helping victims of psychological harassment in the workplace. Our mandate has expanded as a result of the growth in demand by the public. Our clientele has also slightly changed. In the beginning, women were the ones who came to meet with the workers at the centre. Today, we are also helping men. However, most of our clients are still women today.
To ensure that the organization runs smoothly, our team is made up of six people. So we have six permanent employees. We have a lawyer, a director, myself, a receptionist and case workers in our two departments. I will briefly tell you what they do.
We also get help from interns who come from various universities in Montreal, specializing in law, criminology, sexology and social work. We can count on the support and help of about seven or eight interns every year. Thanks to those young university women who donate their time, our centre is able to provide high-quality services.
To provide those services to our clients, the centre has put in place a number of services, the main one being the support and information department. I am going to take the time to explain a little about how this department works on a day-to-day basis.
Individuals who call the centre will be directed to the support and information department. A case worker specialized in criminology will take the calls. The worker will be an active listener and provide support and information to the person calling. They try to provide a lot of moral support as well as demystify some situations. When more technical support is needed, other case workers will also be available to help the person draw up their version of the story or to prepare a complaint.
There is a lot of variety and it all depends on the type of call. Some people call once and only have one question. The case worker will be available to answer the question. Sometimes, the files may stay active in this department for months. It depends on the psychological state of the person and whether the person needs long-term support.
The support and information department also organizes café-rencontres. Those are informal meetings for people who have experienced sexual or psychological harassment in the workplace. At the outset, in 1980, the centre was sort of a big café-rencontre between women. Women would get together to talk about what they were experiencing in their workplaces.
The department organizes those meetings three times a month and they are open to the public. People can come and talk about what is working and what is not working for them and what the status of their files is. Our mandate is to break the isolation and to empower women to confront their harassment situation at work.
We also have an internal newspaper called Info-GAIHST. It is an informational newspaper that is published on average four times a year and is distributed to our members, contacts and partners with a view to sharing the news of the organization. In addition, if an interesting ruling is made, we will publish it in our internal newspaper. The goal is always to keep people informed.
After someone calls the support and information department and the criminologist does the follow-up, if the person requires legal assistance, their file may be transferred to the legal services department of our organization. We have a lawyer and a criminologist available to help clients with their legal proceedings. I am talking about legal assistance. In addition, the case workers will provide information to ensure that the clients fully understand what is going on. It is our experience that a number of steps can be taken to deal with workplace harassment. Depending on the situation, it can be quite complicated to really understand all the obligations of an individual. So those workers are available to provide information. They also provide moral support and they can go with the clients to court. Depending on the file, they can provide legal representation. It can also mean negotiating with the employer, mediating between the employer and the client to find common ground in a harassment case. The scope is rather vast and it depends on each case. Some files are active for a few months whereas others are active for a few years, depending on the needs and all the factors that come into play in a particular case.
We also have a department that organizes awareness sessions. That is one of the organization’s major objectives and we are trying to expand it, given how important it is to talk about harassment. We provide this service so that people know what harassment is and what they can do if they ever feel that they are victims of sexual or psychological harassment in the workplace. Those awareness sessions are between one hour and a half and three hours long. It all depends on the needs of the organization that makes the request.
For instance, we can go and talk to the employees of a company about the definition of harassment, how to recognize it and what to do if a person ever feels that they are a victim of harassment. We also visit women’s groups and community centres where there is a real demand to clarify the basic concepts related to harassment.
We also offer in-house training sessions to employers, managers, human resources staff and union members to explain what harassment is, how to recognize it and how to handle a complaint if an employee wants to meet with a manager to talk about a harassment problem at work.
Generally, employers are the ones who call us to receive this type of training. So we adapt the content of the training to their needs. For instance, we determine whether there is a workplace harassment situation or whether they just want to make sure that everyone knows what the law says and what their obligations are, by also reminding them what the policies contain. That really depends on the needs of the company that requests our services. So we try to adapt our training.
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That depends on the circumstances. When people come to see us, they are certainly in a fragile state of mind. If we consider it necessary, we can advise then to take sick leave from work. That means they are no longer in the workplace and they can gather their strength again. Certainly, we encourage a meeting with the employer to discuss the situation and see if there is a way for anything to be done.
It may be rare, but it does happen that some people stop the harassment when the situation is addressed and they are told that their behaviour is not acceptable. If a person who has been complained about does not then stop the harassment, we try to determine the best solution for the victim, of course. I can tell you that, at that point, the person in many cases wants to leave that workplace. They no longer trust the company, or they feel uncomfortable with their colleagues, who often know what is going on.
We then make sure that it is really what they want. In fact, we always assess the needs of our clients. We never push them in one direction or the other. We really work according to their needs. We help them to leave the company without losing everything. We try to negotiate; for example, we try to get a letter of reference, a severance payment, the reimbursement of the costs of psychological care, if there have been any, or the costs of searching for a new job.
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Yes, I think that people are more sensitive to it, and, in general, they are a little more aware of what sexual harassment is. They may not know precisely what it means legally, but they understand that certain actions are unacceptable in the workplace. In my opinion, people are blowing the whistle on their harassers more often, given that more resources are available.
In the past, all women could do was to quit their jobs or, if they wanted to keep them, to put up with the harassment. Today, that is no longer the case. In that respect, I find it very good, but the fact that people are still coming to the centre shows that there is still work to be done. To our centre, I mean. People call us almost every day to tell us about a situation of workplace harassment.
There have been some advances in awareness, but, obviously, our mandate is not over, given that we have so many files to deal with and that so many people are calling us to talk about situations that they are experiencing in their workplace.
:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Madam Viau, for coming to speak to us today.
I understand you've been working on this since 1980, so I congratulate you for really being on the leading edge of this problem and helping women and men who are victims of sexual harassment.
I also noted that in 2004 you expanded the definition based on demand and what you saw as a need to expand it to psychological harassment. This study is really about sexual harassment. I know it was almost 10 years ago now.
Could you give us some examples of psychological harassment versus sexual harassment? Can you tell us roughly, at this time, in 2013, the number of complaints, cases, or files, that you deal with? How many are now sexual harassment and how many are now psychological harassment?
:
Bonjour. Thank you very much for the opportunity to share some insight from the Toronto Police Service.
The Toronto Police Service is committed to the protection of its members from inappropriate conduct such as sexual harassment. We have rules in place that prohibit members from engaging in harassment of any sort in the workplace.
In June 2010 we created additional procedures as required by Bill 168, a provincial bill that amended the Occupational Health and Safety Act of Ontario. It was specifically designed to address harassment and violence in the workplace.
We recognize that a victim of any sort of harassment may for many reasons feel uncomfortable reporting or confronting her harasser so the service has created a whistle-blower telephone line whereby a member can anonymously report the misconduct of another member. We also have rules in place protecting a reporting member from reprisal of any sort.
The service has developed support options for members who need assistance or advice, including those who may have been harassed in the workplace. We have an employee and family assistance program that offers our members a range of family and individual support. It is a cost-free assistance program for any person working for the service.
In 2006 we created our diversity management unit whose mandate is to coordinate human rights issues and activities across the service, and address barriers and gaps to create a more inclusive workplace.
In 2007 we partnered with our Toronto Police Services Board and the Ontario Human Rights Commission in what is now known as the project charter to develop strategies that help the service address human rights concerns that would include sexual harassment.
In 2008 we approved the formation of internal support networks. These are peer support networks designed to assist our members and ensure that we have an inclusive and welcoming workplace. These networks can be based on gender, sexual orientation, race, culture, and faith, and allow a member to seek advice and support from other members with whom they feel comfortable.
The Toronto Police Service has also developed psychological services dedicated to the well-being of our members in maintaining a healthy workplace as these contribute to a satisfied and professional employee. These efforts have been recognized by the Ontario and the American psychological associations.
As an employer we are dedicated to developing diverse and inclusive training for our members, and we continue to develop training regarding sexual harassment in the workplace. This training provides supervisors with effective tools addressing sexual harassment in the workplace and provides our front-line members with an increased awareness of the issues.
We have also partnered with a law firm to provide specialized training to our complaint investigators so that human rights concerns are identified early in conduct reviews.
These steps have the potential of reducing risks and costs to the service through the reduction of human rights complaints, civil actions, and grievances. Awareness of workplace harassment prohibitions can also reduce Police Services Act charges, which is our internal discipline process, and other service-imposed discipline. Depending on the circumstances, it may also preclude possible criminal charges.
A workplace free of harassment can also help reduce staff turnover and lower rates of absenteeism.
All these steps are in place to help ensure our members work in an environment where they feel appreciated and safe, both of which contribute to job satisfaction, morale, and productivity.
Those conclude my comments. I would be happy to answer any questions.
:
Thank you very much for coming.
That's fascinating. We're certainly building a good view here of some of the successful things that have been done to deal with sexual harassment, which we take very seriously, of course. So thanks for coming.
I'm really interested in your last comments about how dealing appropriately with sexual harassment can actually save costs. I think one of the things we've heard is that it's great for employers to be proactive, and this may help us build a moral case for this with employers. I wonder if you could elaborate on that a little more.
I realize this isn't a primary objective in putting these forward; it's more of a happy consequence, but how can you save costs? Can you let us know the reason employers might want to look at doing this, other than just for its moral correctness?
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Well, it can help avoid the costs that are associated with complaints that get filed against the employer, costs that may involve settlements as a result of a grievance registered against the employer. So there are those direct costs.
There are also direct costs in the form of productivity. Workers are absent from work because they're feeling stressed or uncomfortable being in the workplace because of either harassment or discrimination, so we lose that worker's productivity. It can also have a radiating effect. It can affect other workers who aren't directly involved because of their association with what we call a poisoned work environment, so we're not getting the job done through the people we have available. That has a direct cost implication. It certainly does for agencies that are dependent upon public support, taxpayer support.
The costs associated with settling some of the claims that employers have faced, claims that have resulted in awards to the complainant, represent a cost right off your bottom line.
When we talk about the cost of maintaining a healthy and safe work environment, I'd classify those two costs. Employee morale and job satisfaction have a big impact on productivity, and of course, there are those direct payouts if an award goes against the employer.
Deputy Chief Federico, Toronto is recognized, perhaps internationally, as one of the most diverse cities in the world; we certainly welcome people from all over the world to Toronto.
In working with harassment or discrimination cases, often your victim or complainant may be from a minority group, an immigrant of colour, and may also be handicapped. They may be handicapped by the fact that their linguistic ability in one of our official languages, English or French, is not fluent, or perhaps their skills, or the appearance of an age factor.
Perhaps you could walk us through how you handle when you receive a complaint like this. How do you determine which avenue to go down in terms of dealing with it as sexual harassment, racial discrimination, or as a faith discrimination? How do you dissect a case to give you the best outcome, the best knowledge of how to deal with it? Are there policies that guide you through that?
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The Toronto Police Service has policies as well as procedures that animate the policies. Policies are declarations of principles that we want the service members to follow. Procedures lay out the actual steps that will be taken to achieve the policy goal.
In the case of having a harassment-free workplace, the procedures will establish how a complaint can be filed. Again, I make reference to the fact that one of the ways is the complainant can anonymously report the complaint. The procedure then directs the service on how that will be investigated. As in many investigations, the first step is to gather all the facts, then focus on the behaviours involved and determine whether the behaviours reflect incompetence or ignorance, which might benefit from training or education. If they constituted acts of inadvertence or oversight, then they're mistakes, and mistakes can be corrected through a combination perhaps of discipline or training. If they're outright wilful, they will result in a disciplinary sanction.
Policing in Ontario is governed by provincial legislation, which has a scheme of internal discipline that police services must follow. That discipline can result in the actual termination or dismissal of a police officer from the service if the offence is proven and the offence is egregious enough.
One of the overriding goals of responding to a complaint, though, is to seek a resolution. It isn't always inevitable that the complaint will result in some discipline. There may be an attempt to accommodate or reconcile the parties if it's appropriate. The complainant in a case does have a measure of choice and a role of decision to help guide the investigation. We're always trying to be sensitive that the complainant has a stake in the outcome as does the offender.
I hope that answers the question.
:
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Deputy Chief Federico, it's nice to see you again. I'm amazed to see that you're still pursuing these very issues that you and I talked about when I was on the Toronto Police Services Board. Clearly you are having some success.
I think one of the concerns continues to be the issue of under-reporting. I am of the belief, and I think probably most share it, that people don't look to find themselves in these situations.
Are you able to do much within the service to encourage people to verbalize directly back to whoever the person is who's causing them the problem? If you just cut to the chase of it, if the individuals, male or female, who are feeling that they.... And again, this is more on sexual harassment because that's been the focus of our study, but can they just do the pushback right up front, flat out, and so on? Then you can go into all of the other areas. Is there much done to encourage people to verbalize directly back at the person who's causing it, especially within the police service? Whether it's the RCMP or our police service, you would expect people to have the ability and the courage to be able to push back in those situations.
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They are associations of members who have shared some characteristic or some perspective. It's an opportunity for them to share their experiences. A sharing of experience might help them come to grips with or cope with the stresses of the job. It might also offer them some insight and job enrichment or job enhancement opportunities, promotions, special assignments.
It's also an opportunity, though, to just socialize, build those kinds of informal networks that we all know help an organization run smoothly. During those conversations and those activities, there may be opportunities for members of the service to express concerns about how they're dealing with co-workers or their supervisors. They're another forum where members can seek some support from people who share characteristics or perspectives, give them a little safe and secure place to have a conversation without necessarily formalizing a complaint or elevating it in some official way.
As you know, Ms. Sgro, the service does expect members to report misconduct, and so it's not a forum where people can avoid taking direct responsibility or action, but it is an opportunity for members to engage in those informal support kinds of conversations that might help them make decisions about how they want to proceed if they have a concern about harassment in the workplace. It's another safe environment.
:
You'll have to give me a second. I wasn't prepared for that type of question.
We have women in every rank except the chief's office, because there's only one chief. We recently had a woman deputy chief retire. There is a woman in every one of the highest ranks in the organization, if you'll just permit me to rhyme them off—chief of police, deputy chief, staff superintendent, and then on down to inspectors—with the exception of deputy chief and chief of police.
We just had a woman retire from the deputy chief's office, and we have reduced the number of deputy chiefs. There are currently three men in deputy chief positions. Two are visible minority members, African Canadians, and then there's me and our CAO; but in every other rank in this organization, women are represented. All leadership positions reflect women in the organization. I'd be happy to provide the exact numbers. I wasn't prepared for a specific statistic.