Nuclear safety boss fires back after complaint about yoga garb

Anonymous letter singled out women at CNSC for looking like ‘prostitutes’

When an anonymous troll complained last month about what the employees at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission were wearing to lunchtime yoga sessions — even singling out women he or she railed looked like “prostitutes” — the agency’s president fired back.

Leaders at the nuclear watchdog “reject the shaming of women in the name of propriety, which is what the letter sought to do, and we find that comments on attire such as were in the letter to be disparaging and harmful,” Michael Binder wrote in an email to all staff after receiving the unsigned letter.

“There is no room in a respectful workplace for the intolerant objectification of women.”

Further, “it would be absurd to assume that there is a single standard of modesty that must apply to all, and we do not accept assertions that there is, or should be, such a standard,” Binder wrote.

The president said he had to tone down his first draft of a response to the “outrageous” letter, which was purportedly addressed to recipients including the prime minister, the secretary of the Treasury Board and this newspaper.

An investigation was unable to identify the letter writer but as a precaution security has been added outside the lunchtime yoga sessions organized by staff volunteers in a hearing room.

The writer dons the cloak of anonymity to complain that “prostitutions (sic)” are happening at the CNSC “disguised under yoga sessions.” Both men and women “parade” around “almost naked” but it’s women who are singled out for displaying their “products” defined as “lingerie, breasts.”

And it’s several women who singled out by name as looking and behaving like “sluts” while Canadian taxpayers would purportedly be “outraged” and the recipients are called on to “stop this madness.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was named as a recipient in the complaint, has smilingly posed — in “tree” — with participants at Parliament Hill yoga. The PM, then opposition leader, was wearing a suit in the photo.

Binder took pains to stress to staff that the lunchtime yoga initiative “makes me proud” because

it’s part of what makes CNSC “an employer of choice” for staff, about 650 of whom work in Ottawa.

“The message was that there is zero tolerance for this behaviour in our workplace and it’s very unfortunate that they target individuals,” Binder said.

“It’s a very popular initiative and we’ll continue to support it.”

Some of the women named in the letter said that “it is incredibly disappointing that we have someone in our organization who thinks this way about women and believes they can intimidate their colleagues in this way.”

On the positive side, “the CNSC and senior management of CNSC have been incredibly supportive right from the beginning. Dr. Binder’s message clearly shows how seriously the organization has taken this incident and that they have our back — this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated at the CNSC.”

Meanwhile, “participation has been up (in the yoga sessions) since the letter. We’ve had great support from all of our colleagues.”