Status of Women Committee on Jan. 31st, 2013

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

Do the new hires go through that training?

[Ann Therese MacEachern]

All the new hires go through the training.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

Okay.

Finally, would you recommend any additional measures that would prevent and resolve sexual harassment in the workplace for Canada Post employees? Is there anything else you think you could improve on?

[Ann Therese MacEachern]

That question might take longer than a minute to answer.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

And you're probably down to 40 seconds.

[Ann Therese MacEachern]

If I can give a 30-second answer I will say that the piece around leadership is probably critical, and it permeates a number of areas in a business. That's an area we have focused on and will continue to focus on.

[Susan Truppe, Conservative, London North Centre, ON]

Great. Thank you.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Thank you, Ms. Truppe.

We will now give the floor to a member of the official opposition, Mrs. Day.

Mrs. Day, you have seven minutes.

[Anne-Marie Day, NDP, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Welcome and thank you for joining us. It's not always easy to get witnesses to come testify. I commend and thank you.

I would like to ask you a few questions about the data you have gathered. You may have already provided those figures during your presentation, but I may have missed that, since I have no copy with me.

Did you collect data on harassment complaints at Canada Post in general, and in particular on sexual harassment? As I said, you have possibly already talked about that during your testimony.

[Amanda Maltby]

We gather complaints related to general harassment, and those are further broken down into those defined by sex. We don't have a category per se for sexual harassment, but we do have categories in our data gathering that capture harassment complaints and then we can further define them based on whether or not there is discriminatory practice as defined under the Canadian Human Rights Act.

[Anne-Marie Day, NDP, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Can you tell me how the sexual harassment complaints you receive are processed in particular?

[Amanda Maltby]

Absolutely. When we receive a complaint, at the first level we ask the employee to engage with the other individual who has brought forward the unwelcome behaviour or gesture, and we see if they can resolve that between themselves. If that's not sufficient or if they're not comfortable doing so, then they have recourse to the other avenues.

As Ann Therese mentioned, across the country we have human rights representatives who are specialists in conducting investigations in this area. They'll look at the incident and after speaking to the individual affected will make a determination. They'll also do an investigation and speak to any witnesses, if there were any. They'll speak to the parties involved, and then they will issue a determination, a finding, to the complainant.

[Anne-Marie Day, NDP, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Unless I'm mistaken, the victim files a complaint, and the person against whom the complaint is made is also informed. Do you think that can have a deterrent effect?

[Amanda Maltby]

Just so I can understand the premise of your question, we do have the ability for individuals, if they feel uncomfortable coming forward with an allegation of sexual harassment in particular, to do so in confidence. I think the comfort level, if I'm understanding the point of your question, is there for individuals who feel they have been harassed, to be able to do so in a safe and respectful environment. We certainly build that into the process and through the investigation we do to determine whether a complaint is founded or unfounded.

[Anne-Marie Day, NDP, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

When a complaint is made, the person against whom it is made will not be informed if the victim of sexual harassment has requested confidentiality. So that person will not be told about the complaint against them while the allegation is being substantiated. Is that correct?

[Amanda Maltby]

I think it really depends on the situation case by case. If there are allegations brought forward about an individual over the course of the investigation, they may have to be brought in to the investigation obviously to address the allegations. It's case by case depending on the situation. Oftentimes what we find in some of our workplaces, if it's in a plant setting, for instance, where there are numerous people around, there may have been people who witnessed some gesture, comments or unwelcomed behaviour.

It really would depend on the nature of the incident whether or not the individual who had been accused of the harassment would be brought into the picture. I would say that probably more likely than not that would have to be the case in order to do a thorough investigation.

[Anne-Marie Day, NDP, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

In their line of work, your employees are faced with both internal and external interactions, since their job involves two separate aspects. As we know, they also work with the public. How do you ensure protection when it comes to sexual harassment they may potentially suffer in their interactions with the public? What kind of measures are in place?

[Amanda Maltby]

One of the things we've done recently as a result of the workplace violence requirements under the occupational health and safety code is we've brought in brand new training for our employees, and our front-line employees specifically, to address situations they may encounter external to the workplace. We see this. Customers may be making unwanted advances towards our employees. We have women delivery agents who have been followed on their routes.

First of all, we make them aware that these situations are going occur. At the local level there are conversations with the individuals about taking precautions to protect themselves. That's very much in the training. It's being done in phases. We started the first phase last fall and it will go out more fulsome to all of the employees in 2013. It's very much about understanding the risks that exist in the workplace as they relate to sexual harassment and workplace violence, but also the means they can undertake to protect themselves.

The other thing we do when these incidents occur is we bring the police into the situation as well.

[Anne-Marie Day, NDP, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I have one last question for you.

Do you have programs for equity access to help women reach management positions?

[Ann Therese MacEachern]

I'm not certain if I understand the question, but I can tell you that we're certainly subject to the Employment Equity Act. As part of our hiring practices we certainly look at encouraging not just women but other diversity in our workplace. In the case of women per se—

[Anne-Marie Day, NDP, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Pardon me, but could you tell me how many people are members of the management? What percentage of Canada Post management do women account for?

[Ann Therese MacEachern]

Twenty-eight per cent.

[Anne-Marie Day, NDP, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Okay, thanks.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

I have to stop you there, unfortunately. Thank you.

We'll now go to the other side. Ms. O'Neill Gordon, you have seven minutes.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and welcome to the witnesses. We're happy that you are here today.

Of course, we all come in contact with postal workers, and you're much appreciated for the job that you do. That's for sure. It's nice to hear of another department like yours which is striving for a safe and productive workplace with no harassment, even though in your situation the jobs are in different areas. They can be in a building or they can be on the street. This would definitely make it much more difficult to control.

You mentioned that you often speak to other groups on many of your best practices. You spoke about whistle-blowing and the home mailer, both of which are really good practices.

Do you have any other practices on which you would like to elaborate that you consider to be best practices, and which other people are always happy to learn about?