Is feds’ harassment policy working? We don’t know
Guidelines for MPs, staff adopted in 2014 but promised report is still months away
More than 16 months after a parliamentary committee enacted a new sexual harassment policy for MPs and their staff, information about how it’s being used has yet to be made public.
The much-discussed guidelines were adopted on Dec. 9, 2014 by the multiparty Board of Internal Economy following disturbing allegations about sexual misconduct by elected officials. It set out formal and informal procedures for dealing with complaints between MPs and political staffers.
Written into the House of Commons Policy on Preventing and Addressing Harassment was a provision stating the chief human resources officer would monitor its implementation, and provide the board with “an annual statistical report” on “the number, nature, and outcome of harassment complaints,” as well as the number of people who attended training sessions on the policy.
A spokeswoman for the office of the Speaker of the House of Commons confirmed to the Star on Wednesday that the yearly report has not yet been published.
“It will be reported on the first full cycle (2015-16) to the Board of Internal Economy in the coming months,” Heather Bradley wrote in an email.
She did not directly answer a followup question about whether reporting in “the coming months” would conform to the timeframe of annual reports outlined by the policy.
Concerns about gender bias were the talk of Parliament Hill again this week, when Conservative MP Michelle Rempel (Calgary Nose Hill) wrote an op-ed cataloguing the “everyday sexism” she has experienced as a female politician. In the column published by the National Post on Monday, Rempel said sexist behaviour that male MPs have subjected her to included telling her not to discuss issues until she was “less emotional,” and advising her to “be more cheerful.”
She wrote that one MP told her, “It turns me on when you’re direct.”
Julie Lalonde, program manger of the Draw-the-Line Campaign, said it’s vital to track the number and nature of sexual harassment complaints in order to determine whether the new policy is working.
“It’s great that they’re enacting a policy, but I’m not willing to celebrate if it’s not actually being enacted, and if it’s not actually doing something other than sitting on a piece of paper,” she said.
“I’m not willing to celebrate if it’s not actually being enacted, and if it’s not actually doing something other than sitting on a piece of paper.” JULIE LALONDE DRAW-THE-LINE CAMPAIGN
Publishing numbers about sexual harassment complaints would “show you whether or not people felt comfortable using the (complaint) mechanism,” she said.
Lalonde added that it is important that the tracking figures are made available to the Canadian public. The policy states that the statistical report should go to the Board of Internal Economy, a secretive body that publishes only vague minutes of its meetings, sometimes months after they take place. “I would support the Canadian public knowing those numbers, absolutely. Because those are our elected officials; we pay those people’s salaries,” she said.
In response to questions about Rempel’s column Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said sexism is a problem in workplaces across the country. “We’ve improved here but there’s still an enormous amount of work to do,” he said in French.
Trudeau has made combating gender bias in government a priority, and has won widespread praise for appointing Canada’s first genderbalanced cabinet upon his election last October. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s Office declined to answer questions about the lack of a report on the new sexual harassment policy, and referred the Star to government House leader Dominic Leblanc. Attempts to reach Leblanc on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Legislators in Ottawa agreed it was necessary to create policies to address sexual harassment complaints in 2014, after two female NDP MPs came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Liberal MPs Scott Andrews and Massimo Pacetti. Both men denied any wrongdoing. Justin Trudeau removed them from the Liberal caucus in November 2014. Two separate but similar policies were drafted; one governs allegations of harassment between MPs; the other, which mandated annual reporting, covers the conduct of members of parliament, including house officers, in their role as employers, and also applies to their staff.
The former was adopted by the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs in June 2015, and came into effect at the start of the current session of Parliament. Larry Bagnell, Liberal representative for the riding of Yukon and chair of the standing committee, told the Star Wednesday that the complaint process between MPs “as far as I know had no activity at all yet.” With files from Joanna Smith