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I call the meeting to order.
Good morning, everyone.
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I hope everybody had a good constituency week back in their ridings.
Colleagues, we are here for the 128th meeting of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. This will be our final meeting to review the members of the House of Commons workplace harassment and violence prevention policy.
As a friendly reminder, and as a piece of information for our witnesses, should you not be using the earpiece when it's plugged in, please make sure you have it placed on the sticker in front of you. Of course, if it's in your ear, there's nothing to worry about. That's done in order to protect the well-being and safety of our translators.
Colleagues, you know the drill. We have three witnesses with us here today. I would like to welcome them.
From Equal Voice, we have Chi Nguyen, executive director. From the Heritage Skills Development Centre, we have Madeline Nwokeji. From WomanACT, we have Harmy Mendoza, executive director.
Witnesses, we'll turn the floor over to you momentarily for introductory remarks of up to five minutes, and then we will move to our line of questioning.
With that, colleagues, we are going to begin.
I'm not sure if there is a witness who has a preference for going first. In the absence of that, I will ask Ms. Nguyen to start us off.
My name is Chi Nguyen. I am the executive director, as Mr. Carr mentioned, of Equal Voice.
We are a multipartisan organization focused on electing women to all levels of government in this country. For more than 20 years, we have been advocating for gender parity by working with the parties and equipping women with the skills they need in order to help retain them in elected office.
We have been doing some work in this space and researching these issues. Our research shows that with the increasing and shifting culture of harassment and violence in politics, there are real challenges in recruiting people and supporting them so they stay engaged. We're very delighted that you have been taking a look at your own internal practices and are considering how to continue to create a workplace environment that's safer for all involved.
There are two pieces of work we've been involved in that touch directly on your area of study at the moment.
One of them is a piece of work on systemic change and how to create more gender-inclusive legislatures, which we released in 2020. One of the three pillars in that work is a focus on safe and respectful workplaces.
Following that work, we continue to explore and try to better understand the sexual harassment policies that are in play in some of the provinces and territories. We released a report this spring. It's called “Combatting Sexual Harassment in Canada's Legislative Assemblies”. Let me tell you that it's a page-turner.
I would like to share a few of the findings from this work. There are eight key themes in it, but there are things most relevant for your context today.
The first is that there are certain risks that increase the likelihood of sexual harassment in Canada's legislative assemblies. We know we have under-representation in nearly all of the legislatures in this country, though we might see some changes in B.C., and that's very exciting, and in Quebec, of course, as well.
That under-representation means there isn't the mass culture or the numbers for women to feel safe. That is an area where we think we—
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Okay. I'm going to try to stay focused and slow down.
The other elements that we uncovered in our research—we did a fairly extensive study of qualitative and quantitative data—were that excessive alcohol consumption plays a role in the context of many legislatures and that the precarity of the nature of the work that happens in parliaments is something to note as well, in addition to the hierarchical culture of this particular kind of workplace.
We also know that sexual harassment and gendered behaviours impact different groups within the legislature differently. Different workers have varying degrees of power and differing employment arrangements and diverse norms. These characteristics mean that sexual harassment, along with other gendered behaviours, can manifest and affect different groups differently.
Many research participants in our work also talked about the potential ramifications on their own career and mental health. With respect to the question of training during an onboarding process, one person responded, “I don't think we've ever received any training on anything. We were thrown into the deep end, and it's trial by fire.”
Those who had witnessed sexual harassment in legislative assemblies were concerned about the personal and professional ramifications of coming forward. Many such witnesses were also personally impacted by these behaviours. Some experienced trauma, fear for their careers and worry about their safety and well-being in the workplace.
The last finding I want to point to is that many research participants who had used or considered using legislative policies found that they didn't always meet their needs. Anti-harassment policies that don't meaningfully support complainants can inadvertently cause harm to those who experience sexual harassment and protect the harassers.
The policies can create a level of legitimacy to the efforts, but if there's not also a stream around prevention and mitigation, then we can create undue harms in other ways.
As part of this, when policies don't meet the needs of survivor-victims, including mechanisms to ensure independence and clear and consistent communication with complainants, those who experience sexual harassment are at risk of further harm.
I also want to speak briefly about some public opinion research work that we've done to understand the views of Canadians on these issues. I'll just note one particular stat, which is that as we interviewed and polled young women about coming forward and thinking about a career in politics, we've seen an increase from 75% to 82% of women saying that they were concerned about online safety and harassment as issues if they thought about pursuing politics as an opportunity.
We also want to note that many Canadians actually talked about harassment and physical safety as concerns keeping them from stepping forward as potential candidates. Therefore, when you think about your long-term recruitment strategies as political parties and about having strong, great candidates, it's part of the piece that I think we need to pay attention to.
We regularly work with women and gender-diverse people across the country. We've been running campaign schools now for the last several years. This past year we've run campaign schools with more than 250 participants, and we know that we hear from them directly about their concerns about these issues. We talk about them, but that doesn't mean that talking is the solution. People being aware of the challenge means that they're better equipped to face it, but it doesn't get to the prevention and the other work that needs to happen. I'll—
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Good morning to distinguished members of the standing committee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.
My name is Madeline Nwokeji. I'm the program director at Heritage Skills Development Centre, a non-profit organization in Scarborough, Ontario.
HSDC was established in 1993 with a mission to promote the social, cultural, health and economic integration of women, low-income marginalized individuals and newcomers. Through skills development, social programs and capacity-building programs, we work to support high-risk youth, low-income disadvantaged individuals, families and more. We do take pride in being a trusted service provider and have served the community for over 30 years.
Today I would like to address a critical issue that impacts all workplaces across Canada: workplace harassment and violence.
As an organization deeply committed to providing safe, equitable and respectful environments, we recognize the profound impacts that workplace harassment and violence can have on individuals, organizations and society as a whole. Workplace harassment in all its forms, whether it be verbal, physical, sexual, emotional, microaggressions or even cyber-bullying, can have severe consequences for victims. This includes affecting one's psychological well-being, leading to anxiety, depression and diminishing self-esteem. As we know, victims may also struggle with chronic stress that can affect their overall productivity and well-being.
At HSDC we see the ripple effects of such trauma among the marginalized groups we serve, including women who already face multiple barriers and challenges in the workplace. Harassment can compound feelings of alienation and isolation, which delays their path to self-sufficiency. Beyond the personal toll, workplace harassment can also impact team dynamics and morale and undermine organizational culture. We also know that it can invite serious legal and financial repercussions.
Employers and leaders are obligated by law not only to provide a safe working environment but also to foster a culture that values inclusivity, respect and dignity. To address this, policies and proactive measures are essential.
For example, at HSDC we have implemented a comprehensive workplace violence and harassment program that not only meets the legal requirements but goes beyond them to foster an inclusive culture of respect. This includes training for staff and volunteers, clear reporting mechanisms and safety procedures, such as an emergency response plan. We believe that creating an environment where employees feel safe to speak up and are supported is the key to preventing and addressing harassment.
In addition to this, we also have an upcoming project that will train our employer partners in Scarborough, Ontario, on workplace harassment prevention strategies, with a focus on microaggressions that women face in the workplace.
Furthermore, a solution to the issue of workplace harassment lies not only in creating a policy but also in regular training. An effective training program should educate House members and employees on recognizing all forms of harassment and understanding how it impacts us in and outside the workplace.
It's also important that all members and employees have an active role in maintaining a safe workplace. We recommend an open door policy to the reporting of workplace harassment, as well as putting specific measures in place for taking immediate action, including conflict resolution strategies.
An additional recommendation is cultural competency training for House members, staff and leadership. We do believe this is important, given the diverse members of the House of Commons who come from all walks of life. Cultural competency will help to improve understanding and sensitivity towards the diverse cultures, as well as toward behaviours or language that could constitute workplace harassment.
I also want to add that it is vital to note age gaps and generational differences within the House. Thus, as everyone brings their own unique lived experiences, everyone should be treated with the same dignity and respect, regardless of age or gender.
It is not enough to simply react to incidents. We must create an environment where harassment and violence are not tolerated and where employees and members feel empowered to raise concerns without fear of retaliation. By fostering open communication, diversity and inclusivity, we create workplaces that respect the dignity of all individuals. Failure to do this can have detrimental mental health impacts, as well as affect our ability to thrive in our role as public servants.
Members of Parliament are representatives of the people and also serve as our role models. Community members and youth look up to their MPs, including what they will do to address workplace harassment. Especially in this Internet age and social media age, members do have an obligation to portray a strong image as leaders and what it truly means to be Canadian, which is a respect for differences.
In conclusion, workplace harassment and violence have far-reaching effects on individuals, organizations and our communities. By investing in prevention, education and accountability, we can create workplaces where everyone feels safe, respected and valued. I urge the committee to consider the importance of strong policies, robust training programs and a comprehensive support system to ensure every Canadian workplace remains a space of dignity and respect.
Thank you for your time.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Harmy Mendoza. I am the executive director of WomanACT.
I want to thank the committee for the opportunity to speak today.
WomanACT is a charitable organization advancing gender equity by mobilizing research, policy and education.
Why is it essential to have a strong workplace harassment and violence prevention policy? Well, the pervasive nature of gender-based violence and harassment across all sectors is glaringly evident.
Let me share my first statistic with you. One in eight women reported that they have been sexually assaulted in a work-related context at one point in their working lives. This rate is four times higher than what men experience.
We cannot discuss this without acknowledging intersectionality. For example, women with disabilities face inappropriate sexualized behaviour at a rate of 35%, compared to 20% for those without disabilities. This is why, at WomanACT, we advocate an intersectional and anti-oppressive approach.
Moreover, let's talk about workplaces and productivity. What is the impact of harassment on productivity? Well, 55% of those who experienced harassment reported decreased productivity, 70% missed workdays and 46% lost trust in their teams.
To address such a concerning problem, it is crucial to implement trauma-informed and organization-wide practices.
Now, on your current policy, we were thrilled to see that the current policy includes harassment and violence prevention training for all members and employees to maintain a culture of respect. Thank you for that.
This training curriculum should encompass bystander intervention training, including interactive exercises, role-playing scenarios and industry-specific examples emphasizing empathy, allyship and shared responsibility. Our newly launched WomanACT in the Workplace initiative is a great example of how partnering with community organizations can help assess your workplace's needs and develop tailored training and resources to foster a survivor-centred and inclusive workplace culture.
There is also a need for the current policy to explicitly mention the need to respect the privacy and confidentiality of all persons involved and a statement forbidding any reprisal against a complainant following a disclosure. Research shows that disclosures can be accompanied by feelings of shame, stigma and fear of repercussions. In fact, studies tell us that survivors report that the outcome they most desire is confidentiality and to be shown concern.
The current policy briefly mentions voluntary and confidential support services through the employee and family assistance program. Complementary to these services, our research revealed the merits of counselling and peer support groups in healing and in maintaining employment.
What are our recommendations?
Well, it would be good that the provision of domestic violence leave, its eligibility criteria and the request process be readily available to all employees in a way that ensures the confidentiality and safety of the disclosure. Domestic violence leave should be explicitly mentioned in the policy and must be included as part of any related mandatory training and onboarding of employees to encourage survivors to feel safe and comfortable enough to disclose any instances of harassment and violence.
Additionally, we recommend adding trauma-informed gender-based analysis and anti-racist, anti-oppressive training to the required qualifications for investigators. This ensures that investigation procedures comply with the code and the Canadian Human Rights Act, reducing the risk of trauma and revictimization that may discourage disclosure and erode trust.
Finally, implementing a zero tolerance policy for sexual and gender-based workplace harassment is crucial for fostering a safe and inclusive work environment. Such policies protect employees from harmful behaviours and reinforce the organization's commitment to respect and dignity for everyone.
Thank you very much.
In Canada, instances of criminal harassment are up 36% over the last decade, and that's just the incidents that are reported; countless other times, they're not. That's true for any Canadian, but particularly for elected officials. It's extremely difficult for victims to get justice. That's because of a lot of different issues: grey areas in existing laws, bail issues and lack of education in the judiciary and among law enforcement officials.
To end this problem, it's been suggested that the government should enact legislation that would create a so-called “digital restraining order”. In this, a legal threshold similar to criminal harassment could be met. If it was met—not impinging on charter-protected speech—courts could require Internet service providers and other online platforms to both identify digital stalkers and require them to take measures to prevent these people from communicating with these victims. This would provide victims, including elected officials, the judiciary and law enforcement, with simple, easy-to-use tools to quickly end online criminal harassment.
Would you recommend that the government enact such a measure, Ms. Nguyen?
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Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Through you, I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here today.
As my colleague Ms. Rempel Garner said, today is the 10th anniversary of the attack on Parliament Hill. For those who were there that day, it's a pretty tough day.
With that, the reason we brought forward this study is that currently there are two policies that deal with harassment of parliamentarians. One is the sexual harassment policy and the other one is the harassment policy.
Currently, the sexual harassment policy does cover sexual harassment between two members of Parliament, but the harassment policy does not. Currently, the harassment policy does cover harassment between an employee and a member of Parliament or between employees, but it does not protect MPs from MP-to-MP harassment. We're looking at that because obviously there is an impact.
Currently, there is no mechanism for a member of Parliament who is going through psychological harassment—I assume physical harassment would come under the Criminal Code—to get some relief when going through such a difficult moment.
The nature of the job that we do is very adversarial. We're not talking about debate in the House; what we're talking about is someone who is being bullied, isolated, intimidated and so on and so forth.
In that regard, I'd like to ask Equal Voice if you have done any research in terms of that. You mentioned a little bit about recruitment for people considering this line of work. Have you looked into any research that would identify this as an impediment for people considering this role?
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We have not done that specifically.
One thing that came out loud and clear in this review was that many harassment policies across the country are not necessarily delivered in plain language that is easy to digest. Of course, going from jurisdiction to jurisdiction means that each context is going to have its own realities, and of course where you sit within that legislature matters immensely.
Plain, level information and clear and plain language and accessibility around the delivery of these harassment policies are critical for people to feel trust in them so that they can come forward and come forward safely.
When we looked at Newfoundland's workplace harassment policy, we found it to be very comprehensive. There are a lot of very strong practices there that are worth taking a look at.
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Yes, I will definitely elaborate on that.
Absolutely, and that's why we talk about bystander intervention. Research tells us that it's not that people don't care; it's that they often don't know what to do or how to respond. Having proper mechanisms that are clearly available to people is very important. It's crucial, and so is the training to be able to respond. First it's to identify it and to respond to it and know that you're doing the right thing.
I always compare it to CPR training. We get trained every year, just like you have your training and your policy, and you're supposed to repeat it every year. The training has to be really on what to do when you see it.
Absolutely, I will definitely second that.
To your question earlier, I believe there should be a mechanism. I believe there should be a mechanism so that everybody feels safe but also so that what people can do when they are experiencing harassment is clear.
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Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
First, I'd like to sincerely thank the witnesses for being with us and presenting their reports and statistics. I'd be grateful if they would send us the documents they've talked about. We could talk about this for hours.
Ladies, as my colleague mentioned earlier, we're talking about modernizing the policy for preventing harassment between MPs. I don't know if you've ever compared Question Period in the House of Commons, which can be seen in person or on television, to those that exist elsewhere. Of course, I'm very familiar with the Quebec National Assembly. It's respectful. Members listen to what others have to say. There's no shouting. There's no fuss. In fact, it's healthy.
First, I'd like to know what you think of the climate in the House of Commons. I'd call it a lot of nonsense. I'd like to hear your comments on that. What do you think of the way we behave?
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Yes, I want to second that.
I absolutely do agree that there should be a review of certain guidelines for members of Parliament and behaviour in the legislature. There's a lot of work to be done, and with the changing environment, as things keep changing, we particularly talked about cyber-bullying and online harassment, as everything is now posted online.
I think we should keep in mind, as I mentioned earlier in my speech, that members of Parliament are role models and have to portray themselves in a manner that the community will respect and youth will look up to, especially young people who are looking to be in Parliament. The policies and behaviours that are acceptable or not acceptable among peers in Parliament are things to constantly think about.
Thank you as well to the witnesses for appearing on this important study today.
As a staff person who worked on the Hill 10 years ago, which is very strange to me to say, I want to acknowledge the 10-year anniversary of the death of Nathan Cirillo and the impact it had on us here.
We spoke a little about the pledge. One of the reasons I thought about bringing it forward here is that it concerns me that we can and should have a lot of rules and regulations that are clear and that are well communicated, as you said. I understand that entirely, but it doesn't necessarily get to what is needed, so I thought that the pledge would be more peer pressure. The second a member signs it, they think twice.
How effective do you feel that peer pressure can be if we all take that moment and we're consistently talking about it here on the Hill?
That's to all of you, or any of you.
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I think it would be very effective. You are right. I think one of us spoke about that in terms of prevention and preparing ourselves to learn about that and recognize the signs and speak about it.
I talk about bystander intervention and role-playing. I also talk about research we undertook at WomanACT. On top of your supports through the different services that you have, peer support is very important: Survivors told us that when it comes to bringing forward a complaint, the best outcome is not only confidentiality but feeling safe. I think peer support is very important when it comes to the response on this key issue, so I highlight it as an important part.
We talk about all of the different legislation and really good work that you are doing, including restraining orders. They are tools, but that's it. We're not going to solve it with that alone. We need prevention and training, and everyone, everywhere, needs to do it.
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Everyone, everywhere, absolutely needs to be aware of how trauma impacts, how we don't want to retraumatize by implementing policies in a way that is not appropriate. The policies will, hopefully, take you one step further, but you need to make sure that all the frameworks are properly applied to the procedures so as to not retraumatize people, lose trust or lose really important politicians, women who could be at the front.
You talk about different sectors. That's actually part of the work we have been doing at WomanACT. We have been going out and knocking on different doors from different sectors that are, as I'm going to call them, the “non-social services sector”, just for lack of.... I don't want to go into it specifically, but yes, especially for male-dominated workplaces, we need to start having conversations about this problem that we all have.
The statistics are there. It's very clear that there is a problem that continues to exist. We can only hope to eliminate it if we work in different areas of the spectrum. Legislation, the work that you do, is very important, but other areas of work are as crucial and critical.
I'm going to end by speaking about something that we talk about a lot at our end. It's called “climate assessments”. What that means is that when we knock on different sectors' doors.... Sometimes they actually come and knock at our door and say, “Hmm, we think we have an issue here.” We say, “Okay. How do you know?” They say, “Well, there was this complaint.” We say, “Okay, what else do you know? What else is happening in your organization?” Then we propose undertaking climate assessments. Why is that? It's because that will give a better sense of what and how big the issue is, and interventions can be tailored that are more applicable to that particular sector. That means, for example, what language do they use?
You talk about the military. You know, there are these rules of engagement that they talk about. How does that intersect or in any way align to anti-oppressive training? Maybe it doesn't—maybe not at all—but I think that it is important to start having those conversations. What are the areas where we could actually align, to some extent, to recognize that there is an issue here?
For us, for people like me who work in this sector, it's about women dying every day in Canada in the context of gender-based violence and IPV and women experiencing workplace harassment.
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Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Ladies, thank you for taking the time to testify today.
I'll start by trying to reassure you about the ability of parliamentarians to work together, regardless of political affiliation. It's no secret that safety is a very important issue for the political party to which I belong.
Before coming to the Parliament of Canada, I sat in another parliament, that of Quebec. I ended my 15-year career there as Minister of Labour. I feel I left an important legacy in this last position. Among all the changes I made to labour standards, one has to do with time limits and what happens when you leave a workplace. We're talking a lot about what happens upstream this morning, but we need to talk about that too.
In Quebec, people were given three months to file a complaint, regardless of whether they were sitting MPs or former employees. To me, this timeframe was clearly insufficient. Indeed, we all know of cases of harassment or violence in the workplace that prove this. It takes time for people to understand what's happened and what's going on inside them. In Quebec, the law has been changed to increase the time limit from three months to two years. What I heard in terms of feedback from the groups that spoke out at the time was that the two-year timeframe was a good one and that it allowed people to take the necessary steps.
At the federal level, there is no issue for current employees, since there is no statute of limitations. In recent years, former employees have been given three months to lodge a complaint. Since 2021, there has been no time limit. I therefore tabled, with all my Conservative Party colleagues, Bill . Ms. Mendoza, you seem to be familiar with it. I'm glad you are.
Thanks to this bill, we're going to take a step forward. We're going to increase the time limit from three months to two years, and we're going to allow former employees who have not received satisfaction following an incident notice to file a complaint.
I now come to your comment, Ms. Mendoza. There are, of course, times when we work very well together. The proof is that this bill will probably receive the assent of all parliamentarians, and it's a Conservative Party initiative.
In your opinion, will this two-year period that will be granted, God willing, as we say back home, be sufficient?
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I would also agree with that.
Women already face tremendous barriers in the workplace, whether in terms of rising up or, for example, in the case of a new MP who has just begun their career. Having all those barriers in the workplace and having a short time frame might not necessarily be conducive to their reporting.
Also, we talk about whom they're reporting to, which was mentioned earlier. The person they're reporting to also has a big role in this. If there is some form of intimidation or a fear of reprisal, it may not necessarily come out. It might be four or five years before they're able to speak out about their trauma.
We recommend a little bit more time and flexibility in the harassment reporting procedures.
Ladies, thank you so much for being here this morning. We're having a really good conversation. I really like what I'm hearing from Mrs. Vien, because I think we need to put mechanisms in place that move us forward.
First of all, I want to say that I remember where I was ten years ago to the day. I was at La Cité college, which is 10 kilometres from here. There was a lockdown during the situation, and I have clear memories of it. We must recognize the memory of Corporal Nathan Cirillo and all the people who lived through the situation, not only in the Parliamentary Precinct, but throughout the national capital region.
I also want to thank MP Lindsay Mathyssen and Senator Marilou McPhedran for their parliamentary engagement initiative. For our part, MP Pam Damoff encouraged us to make this parliamentary commitment. In my opinion, it's important to be even more aware of what's going on, and that's why I signed this parliamentary commitment.
Ms. Nguyen, I'd like to continue the discussion on the study conducted by your organization, Equal Voice. We talk a lot about recruitment, but I wonder if you're also interested in retention. I must admit that, as an elected official and as someone who has been recruited, I have a lot of questions. How can we make sure that women who get involved in politics, like me, want to stay in politics?
Have you conducted any studies on ways to encourage women, among other things, to stay in politics?
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Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I thank the witnesses for their comments.
We are in a democracy. We parliamentarians represent the people. Scandinavian countries, Quebec and a few other countries have succeeded, in practice, in establishing parity. For my part, I see even further ahead. I'm talking about representing the whole population.
We can solve problems between MPs. We can help each other and remain vigilant. However, in a minority context, if we experience discrimination or intimidation, do you believe that achieving parity or representativeness of the population could change our democracy and the way we act?
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I have way more than two and a half minutes' worth of questions, so I'll try to put them together
The first question I want to ask is specifically for Equal Voice. It's about the comparison of legislatures that you did. I too am worried about the impacts that this level of hate has on the people who serve within them, and not just the elected officials. I'm wondering whether you surveyed people who work within those institutions about the impacts of harassment and what they're seeing in that hate coming toward them.
If you can, I would also like to talk about how we were seized in this Parliament with foreign interference and the roles of foreign governments in disinformation and that fuelling of hate, and what that all leads to. We're certainly seeing that internally and nationally.
I wonder what certain groups' end goal is. Especially for the extreme right, what is their objective in undermining our democracy in that way?
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Colleagues, I don't come to this committee often, so I'm going to use this time to give you my recommendations as an expert in this field, having been here a hot minute.
You guys are going to want to recommend to put the MP-to-MP harassment within the existing code, but we all know the reality of what's going to happen with that. It's going to be politically weaponized. Even if it goes through House of Commons administration, I know that many of you, if we had a Conservative Speaker, wouldn't feel comfortable putting it through there. We've seen leaks happen through that process. It's just not going to work. Let's be realistic.
Let's think about what the impact of that would be. My colleague Mr. Gerretsen and I have had some pretty “rock'em, sock'em robots” conversations on Twitter. I know I blocked him on Twitter. That doesn't mean I don't respect him as a colleague, but what would happen if I put in a harassment complaint against him? All of a sudden, he is going to be tried in the court of public opinion, which I might like. I mean, that sounds really great, because it's a cheap political win, but it goes against the principles of good HR management, so we can't do this. Let's be realistic. That's not going to happen.
However, that doesn't mean, given the change in gender composition of Parliament, that we shouldn't have something, so this is what I would suggest.
Number one, don't put anything in this report that allows for the weaponization of HR. Don't do that—and we all know that it's going to happen. To give credit to our witnesses, they don't live in our world. They just don't. I used to manage a team of 40 staff in a unionized environment. That world doesn't apply here, because of political weaponization.
So what do we do? I think this is a question of privilege. I have the right to work in an workplace without harassment, so this is what I would suggest.
First of all, extend EFAP services to include a mechanism to de-escalate tension, particularly within caucuses. Liberal Party, you're about to go through a leadership race. That is an ugly time within a party. You need to have a process to de-escalate tensions.
Number two, make it a violation of privilege. Change the Standing Orders so that if somebody uses an EFAP process to de-escalate tension and they leak it to the media, there's some sort of House censure for that. Make it absolutely sacrosanct to not leak this stuff to the media, because it needs to be done in good faith.
Number three, make sure that there's training for party whips. We all understand that party whips are in a difficult situation because they have to maintain votes and adherence to party standards, but at the same time they're also managing HR in an environment where HR law doesn't apply. Perhaps there could be some training or some processes for that. I have only five minutes, so I won't suggest what that looks like.
The same goes for caucus chairs. Caucus chairs should be independent from the centre of a party. There should be rules in caucus meetings for party leadership, as well as for caucus chairs, on how to manage interaction in a caucus meeting so that you don't have people yelling at each other or berating each other.
Again, at the end of the day, there should also be some sort of process for vexatious complaints. If I go after my colleague Mr. Gerretsen with some sort of accusation, and it's completely bunk.... We've seen this happen in this place. Reputations have been destroyed. Lives have been destroyed. What does that mean? There should be some sort of process to discourage that.
On the notion of the pledge that has been made, that's nice, but what we really need here is some sort of process that relates to the privilege of being able to be in a workplace without any sort of harassment that is not going to be weaponized for political gain. MP-to-MP harassment absolutely will be weaponized, so don't do that. Do something smarter.
That is my two cents. Thank you.
I want to thank my colleague for those excellent recommendations.
In addition to that, I would include in the current policy a reference to harassment between members of Parliament so it is specific about this being unacceptable behaviour. The appendix already has examples of behaviours that are considered unacceptable.
I like the recommendation about training. I agree about bystander training. In addition to the pledges, we need stronger mechanisms here in the House for that.
I agree with the idea that the Speaker shouldn't be the arbitrator of complaints with respect to sexual harassment. The reason, as my colleague mentioned, is that whoever is in the chair is also a member of a political party.
We already have a chief human resources officer who looks at complaints of sexual harassment or harassment between MPs and employees or among employees. This person is already trained and an expert in the field, in terms of human resources and in going through an EFAP process, a mediation process, and so on and so forth. I would say that it's similar to what we're trying to do with Bill for the military justice system in taking complaints outside. We don't want the military to investigate itself in terms of cases. Similar to that, I don't think political parties should be investigating themselves.
It's been 10 long years since a report came out saying that we need to get this loophole closed. Do you have any additional recommendations for us to make sure that this gets done once and for all?
I feel we need to make sure this training is implemented and embedded. We need to make sure that it's clear and that people feel less scared to go through a process, especially as a complainant, and that they know they have certain venues, and it's clear to them what those venues are going forward.
I will reiterate to include an anti-oppressive framework and intersectionality. I think those are important areas to include.
I did provide other venues in my speech. Domestic violence leave is not in your current policy. That's an important area that would be good to include in there as well.
I don't have any other suggestions. I don't know if my colleagues do.
:
Thank you very much, Mrs. Romanado.
Thank you very much, witnesses, for being here. Your testimony certainly adds important insight to our work.
We will suspend momentarily and give everyone a couple of minutes to reset. Any folks who are not staff or members of Parliament need to leave the room, as we're going to be heading in camera.
Colleagues, we have some committee business to attend to. I don't anticipate it's going to take us too long, although I may regret saying that. Nonetheless, we will be back in a few moments.
[Proceedings continue in camera]