Question Period Note: ILO Convention 190 on violence and harassement

What is International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 190 (C190) and what are the next steps for Canada?

Everyone deserves a work environment that is free from harassment and violence, and where harmful behaviours are not tolerated.

ILO Convention 190 is the first-ever global treaty on ending violence and harassment in the world of work, and represents an important international response to this issue.

The Government of Canada played a strong leadership role throughout the negotiation and adoption of the Convention.

We have been working closely with the provinces and territories towards the ratification of C190 and expect to be able to ratify the Convention very soon.

Federal legislation to address violence and harassment in the workplace came into force on January 1, 2021.

Canada and the ILO

Canada is a founding and active member of the International Labour Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. The ILO’s mandate is the promotion of social justice, decent work, and internationally recognized human and labour rights. The ILO, with its 187 Member States, has a unique tripartite structure in which employers’ and workers’ representatives have an equal voice with that of governments in shaping the Organization’s policies and programs.

ILO Convention 190

In June 2019, the International Labour Conference of the ILO adopted C190 and R206 on violence and harassment. In the past, violence and harassment had often been dealt with in a fragmented manner, or treated as either an equality issue, a non-discrimination issue, or an occupational safety and health (OSH) issue. The Convention and Recommendation bring these various aspects together in an integrated manner, and call for violence and harassment to be prohibited, prevented and addressed in relevant law and policies as well as through collective bargaining. It is the first international treaty addressing the matter.

Member States who ratify C190 are required to, among other things, adopt laws and regulations to define, prohibit and prevent violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and harassment, in the world of work. The Convention also requires that specific sectors, occupations and work arrangements in which there is more exposure to violence and harassment be identified in consultation with employers’ and workers’ representatives, and appropriate measures taken. Recommendation 206 is non-binding and supplements C190 by providing guidelines on how the Convention should be applied.

In Canada, workplace violence and harassment was addressed federally with the adoption of Bill C-65 (An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence), the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1) in 2018, as well as the associated Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations which came into force in 2021. It is noteworthy that Canadian Bill C-65 was used as a model for elements of C190.

Canada played an active and key leadership role during the two-year negotiations that led to the adoption of C190 and R206. The tripartite (government, worker and employer) negotiations were chaired by a Canadian senior official, and the Worker’s group Vice-Chair/spokesperson was Marie Clarke Walker, former Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). Representatives of the Canadian Employers Council (CEC) and Labour Program officials also actively contributed to the negotiations. Provincial and territorial officials also played a significant role throughout the two-year standard-setting process by providing input on ILO questionnaires and draft texts, which helped shape the final Convention and Recommendation.

Work in Canada Towards Ratification of C190

Many of the issues addressed by C190 fall within the responsibility of the provinces and territories, due to shared FPT jurisdiction over labour matters under the Canadian Constitution. It is the long-standing policy of the federal government to obtain the support of provinces and territories before ratifying international treaties with implications for provincial and territorial governments.

Over the past two years, Labour Program officials have been working closely with the provincial and territorial governments towards ratification of C190. This included a technical review process to determine if there are any barriers to ratification. At the conclusion of the technical review process, all provinces and territories signaled their support for, or confirmed that they had no objection to, Canada’s ratification of Convention 190.

It is anticipated that the domestic ratification process will commence in fall 2022, and that Canada will be able to formally ratify the Convention with the ILO in early 2023.

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