Canadian Google employees walk out over allegations

TORONTO — Google employees in Canada streamed out of the tech giant’s offices in Toronto, Montreal and Waterloo as part of an international act of defiance meant to protest the company’s treatment of women and alleged mishandling of sexual misconduct.

About two dozen workers, some wearing company T-shirts beneath their jackets, left the tech giant’s Montreal office and at least one hundred exited the company’s Toronto office just after 11 a.m. local time.

In the middle of a rainstorm, those in Toronto walked to a nearby green space outside a courthouse, where they spent about 15 minutes reading pages of stories from anonymous Google employees alleging rampant sexism and mishandling of misbehaviour at Google.

“Time’s up on sexual harassment, time’s up on abusive power and time’s up on systemic racism. We are here to say enough is enough,” said a Google employee in Toronto, who refused to give her name or say which offices the handful of stories she read came from.

“I have had to hear about and watch so many people leave the company after experiencing mistreatment and harassment and have seen women unable to get a promotion until they whither and leave.”

The Canadian employees joined thousands of Google workers across the globe who staged walkouts everywhere from Dublin to Tokyo, Singapore and London.