Question Period Note: Suspension of Canada's $3 million voluntary contribution to the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

Canada has decided to suspend its $3 million voluntary contribution to the OIF for 2023-2024, due to the results of an internal survey indicating a toxic internal climate and transparency issues.

• We are deeply concerned about the results of an OIF survey on the internal climate within the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) as well as questions around the proper use of funds.

In mid‑March, Canada learned that according to the results of a survey conducted by OIF's personnel committee in December/January, 44% of employees believe they have been victims of moral harassment at work and 9% believe they have been victims of sexual harassment. Although OIF said in December 2021 that it was in the process of finalizing an anti‑harassment policy, it is still not in place. Given our zero tolerance policy towards sexual harassment, Minister Joly sent a letter to SG on March 21, 2023 asking her to take steps to remedy the situation. Similarly, at the Permanent Council of La Francophonie (PCF) on March 21, Canada also raised our concerns on this subject and reiterated the need to quickly adopt a policy against harassment within the IOF, as well as recourse mechanisms, to ensure that employees are treated with dignity, respect and fairness.

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