Harassment casts pall over local restaurants
Worker tells of being targeted by top chef Matthew Carmichael
Wednesday, Matthew Carmichael appeared sober and contrite.
“I’m using the opportunity to take ownership of my actions and shed light on my behaviour,” the acclaimed Ottawa chef told a television interviewer.
Speaking softly, Carmichael offered himself as a “champion of change” on the issue of sexual harassment. His demeanour was a far cry from his actions of earlier this year that led to his admissions that have sent shock waves through Ottawa’s restaurant community.
The 46-year-old chef and partowner of Riviera, Datsun and two El Camino locations — all downtown dining hot spots — fell from grace Wednesday with his own admission that he had sexually harassed three women with inappropriate comments, and that cocaine and alcohol abuse factored into his behaviour.
A woman who worked at Riviera earlier told this newspaper Wednesday morning that she received an inappropriate message via Facebook from Carmichael.
The woman, who was at times tearful when speaking to a reporter, said she left the restaurant when she learned that Carmichael had targeted other women.
“I didn’t want to stay. I was angry, and I didn’t want to support Carmichael with my services as a worker,” said the former Riviera worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Carmichael also said that in June he sought therapy for drug and alcohol addiction and that he has removed himself from the operations of his restaurants for the past five months — but did not say he would be leaving them entirely.
The admissions were all the more startling given that just last week, Riviera, a Sparks Street hot spot popular with Parliament Hill denizens, from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on down, was feted as one of Canada’s Top 10 new restaurants of the year by enRoute magazine.
Yet, Carmichael’s admission was also not entirely surprising to many in Ottawa’s restaurant community, who had been swapping rumours for months.
If anything, the timing of Carmichael’s admission is of a piece with similar sexual harassment revelations involving prominent men in high-profile domains across North America, from film mogul Harvey Weinstein to New Orleans celebrity chef John Besh to Montreal Just For Laughs Festival impresario Gilbert Rozon.
The Riviera worker who spoke to this paper said that Carmichael messaged her that he liked certain clothes she wore. She did not respond to the message, she said.
“I didn’t need to feel that type of gaze when I am working,” she said.
(Riviera servers wear jeans, an apron and a dusty rose uniform shirt, and the work outfit was unisex.)
The woman spoke to York Street Entertainment, the management company behind the restaurant. Administrators there listened to her and presented her with options, including taking her complaint to the Ontario Labour Relations Board, or another job at a different restaurant managed by York Entertainment, she said.
(In response to an inquiry, a spokeswoman for the Ontario Ministry of Labour said it does not have any records of harassment complaints about any of Carmichael’s restaurants in the past two years. A similar request to Social Justice Tribunals Ontario also found there have been no complaints about Carmichael and his restaurants.)
The woman said that one day in late May, several workers started talking about the issue. “Things changed that day for myself. Things were out in the open,” she said. She left Riviera.
She said it was more difficult when she believed she was the only one targeted. “When things like this happen, you feel isolated. When you find out it’s other women, there can be change. There’s an open dialogue now.”
The woman said she had been proud to work at Riviera.
“It was really enjoyable,” said the woman. “I was mad. He took that from me.”
The revelation of Carmichael’s behaviour claimed another Riviera worker on Wednesday afternoon when Stelios Doussis, the restaurant’s general manager, issued a statement through his lawyer, saying he had resigned.
“There is no place for sexual harassment in the workplace or in society,” the statement read.
“When these allegations came to light in June, management took immediate action and removed Matt from his managerial position and offered support to everyone affected.
“I took steps to put in place a structure to protect and support staff at Riviera and implemented support programs and benefits for staff who need assistance.
“However, I resigned from Riviera at 6 a.m. this morning, because I could not in good conscience continue in this workplace environment.”
Doussis is the husband of Seamus O’Regan, the federal minister in charge of veterans affairs.
In response to the news, en Route, Air Canada’s inflight magazine, said it was unaware of the harassment issue when it drew up the Top 10 list, and added: “We have since updated the digital version of the piece to reflect the fact that Chef Carmichael has stepped away from daily operations of the establishment.
“We do not condone this behaviour and believe harassment has no place in the restaurant industry or anywhere else.”
Carmichael was contacted by this paper about the harassment claims on Tuesday night via email. He did not respond.
In a widely distributed email statement Wednesday morning, he said: “my fiancée Kelly Landry and I have decided together to speak out about harassment as part of my recovery. I feel this is a crucial step in this process.
“In a clear state of sobriety I feel its full effect and to the women I have harassed, I apologize.”
He also told CTV News that thanks to rehab, he was a changed person spiritually and emotionally, and that his rehabilitation is ongoing.
Meanwhile, others in Ottawa’s close-knit restaurant industry drew a line between Carmichael’s admissions this week and his departure five years ago as the chef overseeing several high-end By Ward Market restaurants.
In the fall of 2009, Carmichael was at a triumphal point in his career. As the executive chef at Restaurant E18hteen on York Street, he won the regional Gold Medal Plates competition and then finished third at the Canadian Culinary Championships.
But in the spring of 2012, Carmichael left E18hteen, SIDEDOOR and its sister restaurant, Social, with no subsequent career move charted.
E18hteen’s co-owner, Caroline Gosselin, said Wednesday that she and Carmichael went their separate ways because the chef’s behaviour was difficult, and she suspected that perhaps drugs or alcohol were factors.
Gosselin says that while Carmichael was E18hteen’s executive chef from 2006 to 2012, and held the same position at Social from 2008 to 2012, there were no reported incidents of sexual harassment.
Gosselin said that she was surprised when Carmichael came forward Wednesday, but added that she and others on Ottawa’s restaurant scene had heard whispers of turmoil at Riviera months ago.
In light of the news, Grayson McDiarmid, a sommelier and restaurant manager, and his wife, Anne-Marie McDiarmid, an event planner, have reached out to Ottawa restaurants to create a “safe restaurant list” for employers who are committed to a harassment-free workplace.
“There are a lot of great restaurants out there. I’m worried that our industry will be tainted today,” said Grayson, who has worked in close to a dozen Ottawa restaurants, including, briefly, Riviera.
“It might make it easier for people to come out. We don’t want to know what happened to people. And if something happened to a guy, they can come to our site, too. We’re hoping to make some good come out of this. We know there’s a lot of good people out there. We know there’s a lot of places to work out there.”
When things like this happen, you feel isolated. When you find out it’s other women, there can be change. There’s an open dialogue now.