Question Period Note: HARASSMENT AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN FEDERAL WORKPLACES

Harassment and violence continues to be an ongoing issue in workplaces within the federally regulated sector, for example in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Department of National Defence (DND). The Government took action by strengthening provisions in the Canada Labour Code and passing new Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations on January 1, 2021, and will continue to prioritize the effective implementation of these changes

• Bill C-65 (the Bill) received Royal Assent on October 25, 2018. The Bill and associated Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations (the Regulations) came into force on January 1, 2021.

• This historic piece of legislation creates a more robust and integrated regime protecting employees from harassment and violence in federal workplaces – including the federally regulated private sector, the federal public service and parliamentary workplaces.

• Under the new Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations (the Regulations), federally regulated employers, including Ministers, are required to take steps to prevent, protect against, and respond to occurrences of harassment and violence in the workplace, which includes a spectrum of reprehensible behaviours ranging from teasing/bullying to sexual harassment and physical violence.

• Further, employers have key obligations including conducting workplace risk assessments; developing workplace harassment and violence prevention policies; developing or identifying training on harassment and violence; and, following specific steps and timelines in a resolution process when responding to notice of occurrences of harassment and violence.
• Budget 2018 committed $34.9 million over five years, starting in 2018-19, and $7.4 million per year ongoing to support this regime. It also provides several other measures to support victims of violence, including guidance documents, a roster of investigators developed through tripartite working group, and paid leave for victims of family violence in the federally regulated private sector.

• The Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Fund ($3.5M/year) was established to support implementation and help guide culture change around harassment and violence in the workplace. Seven projects are currently underway and include the development of tools and resources and training materials for a variety of workplaces across Canada, including workplaces in First Nations communities and in the marine, trucking, banking and performing arts sectors.

Mandate letter commitment

• One of the priorities in the Minister of Labour’s mandate letter of 2019 is to work with the Minister of Status of Women Canada and other ministerial colleagues to take action to ensure that federal workplaces are free from harassment and sexual violence (i.e., the federal public service and the federally regulated private sector). The other ministers tasked with similar priorities are the Minister of National Defence, the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and the President of the Treasury Board.

Supplementary mandate commitments

• There were two priorities outlined in the Minister of Labour’s supplementary mandate letter, dated January 15, 2021, relating to harassment and violence prevention:

1. Continue to work to ensure the effective implementation of the Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations under the Canada Labour Code to advance our goal of achieving harassment- and violence-free federally regulated workplaces.

2. To support the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to implement a comprehensive plan to make the Royal Canadian Mounted Police a safe, healthy and supportive work environment for all employees and to address toxic workplace cultures, including systemic harassment.

Bill C-65

• Following comprehensive consultations by the Labour Program with federally regulated employers, unions and subject matter experts, Bill C-65 was drafted and tabled on November 7, 2017, and received Royal Assent on October 25, 2018.

Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations Consultations

• The consultations, which started in March 2018, were held in three phases: in-person round tables across the country, WebEx sessions, and online. The online consultations were open to the public from July 24th to October 5, 2018.

• Over 1,000 Canadians participated in the round tables, WebEx sessions, and presentations. In addition, approximately 18,000 Canadians visited the consultations and survey websites, over 1,000 completed the online survey and close to 60 individuals and organizations submitted detailed responses. Survey respondents were overwhelmingly supportive of the proposed regulations.

• Key elements of the new regulatory framework include requiring employers to:
o Co-develop with their workplace committee or representative a comprehensive harassment and violence prevention policy and mandatory training programs specific to the context of their workplace;
o Provide employees who are the object of a harassment and violence occurrence with options for the resolution process;
o Implement measures to mitigate the risk of family violence from entering the workplace;
o Provide support to employees who have been affected by harassment and violence; and,
o Report on all occurrences in the workplace to the Labour Program to improve data collection.

• The new draft Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations were pre-published in Canada Gazette, Part I on April 27, 2019, for a thirty-day public comment period.

• Key issues raised included:
o Inability to assess the occurrence against the definition of “harassment and violence”;
o No exception for work places where harassment and violence are a normal condition of work e.g., Correctional Services Canada and Royal Canadian Mounted Police;
o Timelines for the resolution process were protracted;
o Inability to continue or initiate conciliation if an investigation has begun; and
o Burden of requiring to work jointly with employee representatives.

• The above issues were considered and addressed as part of the review and revision of the draft Regulations.

• Regulations were published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, on June 24, 2020, and came into force on January 1, 2021.

Bill C-65: Harassment and Violence Regime

• Bill C-65 amends the Canada Labour Code to create a single, integrated regime that will protect federally regulated employees from harassment and violence in the workplace. More specifically, it would:

o Expand the current violence prevention requirements under Part II (Occupational Health and Safety) to ensure that employers take the necessary steps to prevent and protect against both harassment and violence in the workplace;
o Repeal the sexual harassment provisions currently found in Part III (Labour Standards);
o Require employers to investigate, record and report occurrences of harassment and violence, subject to regulatory requirements;
o Protect the privacy of employees who report occurrences of harassment and violence in order to encourage potential victims to come forward;
o Narrow the grounds for exemption from the establishment of a workplace committee;
o Extend coverage of Part II of the Code to cover staff in ministers’ offices, also known as “exempt staff”;
o Incorporate by reference Part II of the Code within the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act to ensure that parliamentary workers benefit from the same occupational health and safety protections as other federally regulated workers; and
o Provide the Minister of Labour with the power to establish pilot projects to test new amendments under the Code to determine if they would lead to better outcomes for employees and employers.

• In Budget 2018, which was announced on February 27, 2018, the Government committed $34.9 million over five years, starting in 2018-19, and $7.4 million per year ongoing to support activities included in the proposed regime under Bill C-65. This new funding will be used for assisting workplace parties in resolving harassment and violence complaints, establishing an outreach hub to support employees, regulatory development and enforcement activities, training programs for inspectors, an awareness campaign, education materials and tools, and funding other initiatives related to harassment.

• Budget 2018 also contains several other measures to support victims of violence, including amendments to the Canada Labour Code to provide a total of five days of personal leave per calendar year, with the first three days paid, to workers in the federally regulated private sector for reasons including to treat an injury or illness, take care of health obligations for any member of a worker’s family or care for them, and manage any urgent situation that concerns the worker or a family member. This paid leave will build on the new 10-day unpaid leave for victims of family violence that was introduced in the Code and came into force September 1, 2019. This will help employees protect their financial security while they seek the support they need. Research shows that financial dependence is one of the most significant reasons why victims of family violence stay with their abuser, or return after leaving.

• Statistics Canada released a report on December 5, 2019, titled: Gender-based violence and unwanted sexual behaviour in Canada, 2018: Initial Findings from the Survey of Safety on Public and Private Spaces.

• 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) was tabled on November 7, 2017 in the House of Commons. Bill C-65 received Royal Assent on October 25, 2018. Bill C-65 came into force on January 1, 2021, and the necessary regulations are now in place.

• In Budget 2018, the Government committed $34.9 million over five years, starting in 2018-2019, and $7.4 million per year ongoing in funding to support the proposed regime under Bill C-65.

• Bill C-65 creates a single, integrated regime that will protect federally regulated employees, including those in the federal public service and parliamentary workplaces, from harassment and violence in the workplace.

• The Labour Program ran an online survey in early 2017 to gain insight into the nature of workplace harassment and violence situations faced by Canadian workers.

o According to this survey, a full 60% reported having experienced harassment; 30% said they had experienced sexual harassment; 21% reported experiencing violence; and 3% said they had experienced sexual violence. According to respondents, incidents are under-reported, often due to fear of retaliation and when they are reported, they are not dealt with effectively: 41% of survey respondents stated that no attempt was made to resolve an incident they reported.

• According to a 2018 Angus Reid study, 52% of Canadian women have experienced workplace sexual harassment and 28% were subject to non-consensual sexual touching. 89% of the women surveyed reported taking steps to avoid unwanted sexual advances.

• In the 2017 Public Service Employee Survey (PSES), 22% of public servants indicated that they had been a victim of harassment on the job in the last 24 months. This is up from 19% in 2014.

• In the 2020 PSES, 11% of public servants indicated that they had been a victim of harassment on the job in the last 12 months. This is a slight decrease from the 2019 results of 14%.