Status of Women Committee on March 26th, 2013

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

I have one quick question with regard to something you mentioned earlier about advising clients to respect the internal processes. For example, if their union has a process, would you give that same client the advice if it were a non-unionized environment? Would you say, for example, that first you have to respect the processes that are in place at your company?

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Madam Viau, I am sorry—

[Madam Cindy Viau]

That's our first step, before we resort to external measures.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Thank you.

This concludes the first part of our meeting.

Thank you, Madam Viau. It has been very interesting. If I may, since I am very familiar with the community environment, I will explain to my colleagues what makes Quebec different from the rest of Canada in this area. My explanation will be informal.

I will suspend the meeting for a few minutes, so that we can move on to the second videoconference and get something to eat.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Good afternoon.

In the second part of the meeting, we are welcoming Michael Federico, Deputy Chief of the Toronto Police Service.

Welcome, Mr. Federico. We apologize for the minor technical problems.

You will have 10 minutes to make your presentation. We will then have a question and answer period. I will let you know when you have one minute left.

Without further ado, I yield the floor to you, Mr. Federico.

[Deputy Chief Michael Federico, Deputy Chief, Toronto Police Service]

Bonjour. Thank you very much for the opportunity to share some insight from the Toronto Police Service.

The Toronto Police Service is committed to the protection of its members from inappropriate conduct such as sexual harassment. We have rules in place that prohibit members from engaging in harassment of any sort in the workplace.

In June 2010 we created additional procedures as required by Bill 168, a provincial bill that amended the Occupational Health and Safety Act of Ontario. It was specifically designed to address harassment and violence in the workplace.

We recognize that a victim of any sort of harassment may for many reasons feel uncomfortable reporting or confronting her harasser so the service has created a whistle-blower telephone line whereby a member can anonymously report the misconduct of another member. We also have rules in place protecting a reporting member from reprisal of any sort.

The service has developed support options for members who need assistance or advice, including those who may have been harassed in the workplace. We have an employee and family assistance program that offers our members a range of family and individual support. It is a cost-free assistance program for any person working for the service.

In 2006 we created our diversity management unit whose mandate is to coordinate human rights issues and activities across the service, and address barriers and gaps to create a more inclusive workplace.

In 2007 we partnered with our Toronto Police Services Board and the Ontario Human Rights Commission in what is now known as the project charter to develop strategies that help the service address human rights concerns that would include sexual harassment.

In 2008 we approved the formation of internal support networks. These are peer support networks designed to assist our members and ensure that we have an inclusive and welcoming workplace. These networks can be based on gender, sexual orientation, race, culture, and faith, and allow a member to seek advice and support from other members with whom they feel comfortable.

The Toronto Police Service has also developed psychological services dedicated to the well-being of our members in maintaining a healthy workplace as these contribute to a satisfied and professional employee. These efforts have been recognized by the Ontario and the American psychological associations.

As an employer we are dedicated to developing diverse and inclusive training for our members, and we continue to develop training regarding sexual harassment in the workplace. This training provides supervisors with effective tools addressing sexual harassment in the workplace and provides our front-line members with an increased awareness of the issues.

We have also partnered with a law firm to provide specialized training to our complaint investigators so that human rights concerns are identified early in conduct reviews.

These steps have the potential of reducing risks and costs to the service through the reduction of human rights complaints, civil actions, and grievances. Awareness of workplace harassment prohibitions can also reduce Police Services Act charges, which is our internal discipline process, and other service-imposed discipline. Depending on the circumstances, it may also preclude possible criminal charges.

A workplace free of harassment can also help reduce staff turnover and lower rates of absenteeism.

All these steps are in place to help ensure our members work in an environment where they feel appreciated and safe, both of which contribute to job satisfaction, morale, and productivity.

Those conclude my comments. I would be happy to answer any questions.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Thank you, Mr. Federico.

I will now yield the floor to Ms. Crockatt, for seven minutes.

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Thank you very much for coming.

That's fascinating. We're certainly building a good view here of some of the successful things that have been done to deal with sexual harassment, which we take very seriously, of course. So thanks for coming.

I'm really interested in your last comments about how dealing appropriately with sexual harassment can actually save costs. I think one of the things we've heard is that it's great for employers to be proactive, and this may help us build a moral case for this with employers. I wonder if you could elaborate on that a little more.

I realize this isn't a primary objective in putting these forward; it's more of a happy consequence, but how can you save costs? Can you let us know the reason employers might want to look at doing this, other than just for its moral correctness?

[D/Chief Michael Federico]

Well, it can help avoid the costs that are associated with complaints that get filed against the employer, costs that may involve settlements as a result of a grievance registered against the employer. So there are those direct costs.

There are also direct costs in the form of productivity. Workers are absent from work because they're feeling stressed or uncomfortable being in the workplace because of either harassment or discrimination, so we lose that worker's productivity. It can also have a radiating effect. It can affect other workers who aren't directly involved because of their association with what we call a poisoned work environment, so we're not getting the job done through the people we have available. That has a direct cost implication. It certainly does for agencies that are dependent upon public support, taxpayer support.

The costs associated with settling some of the claims that employers have faced, claims that have resulted in awards to the complainant, represent a cost right off your bottom line.

When we talk about the cost of maintaining a healthy and safe work environment, I'd classify those two costs. Employee morale and job satisfaction have a big impact on productivity, and of course, there are those direct payouts if an award goes against the employer.

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Litigation, then, would be probably one of the expensive ones. The staff turnover you mentioned, when we have a skills shortage right now, may be something that employers want to take quite seriously.

[D/Chief Michael Federico]

Yes, especially when you consider the investment that an employer will make in training people, in recruiting, selecting, training them. When that person leaves because the workplace is not a healthy one, you have to start all over again. For the period of time that you're without that employee, it can have a dramatic impact on your productivity again.

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Do you have an actual number of cases that you've dealt with in the Toronto Police Service?

[D/Chief Michael Federico]

I don't have numbers, but the Toronto police report annually on the number of investigations that we conduct internally. That's available online. We report to our police services boards. The efforts, I'm happy to say, mean that we have few instances of complaints of harassment in the workplace, but even one case can represent a big impact in the workplace. Even if it's located in a particular unit, there's a radiating effect, the reputation and the rumour surrounding people. The rumours of the event can affect morale right across the service.

I don't have a specific number to share with you at this point, but I would caution that one complaint can represent a very serious drain on the employer's resources.

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

This is what we've been hearing from many witnesses, that they may have no cases, or one, two, or three cases across large organizations. That doesn't mean we want to minimize the problem.

Is there a bit of a concern that if we acknowledge that there may only be one, two, or three cases people will stop putting the correct emphasis on it, and then we will lose the training and awareness that seems to have helped us to control the problem?

[D/Chief Michael Federico]

That's a good question. The number of instances ought not to be considered the test or the determinant for whether an employer should have good processes and policies in place, because as I said, the impact on the workplace radiates far beyond the individuals involved. Plus, all of us want to be employers of choice, excellent employers, so a safe work environment can be the product of these declarations of principles, even if we don't have to evoke them as frequently.

I think most employers are proud of their reputation for having a safe and inclusive work environment. The Toronto police certainly is. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be investing the time and the effort to continue to maintain that safety and security.

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Okay.

Now, Deputy Chief, since 2006 and probably earlier, you've been sort of moving ahead in areas like this. Have you noticed a decrease in the numbers of cases, inquiries, questions, and actual files that you've had to open since then, as the police service has become more attuned to these issues?

[D/Chief Michael Federico]

Yes, we have. Again, without having at my hand the specific numbers, we did report recently to our police services board that we have experienced a decline in grievances filed by our members—

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

One minute.

[D/Chief Michael Federico]

—and a decline in human rights complaints against the employer by employees.

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

So we're right in concluding now that they are very low, sort of in that one to three range of the actual cases, but have a large spinoff impact?

[D/Chief Michael Federico]

Very low numbers, that's right.

A properly handled case can have a positive radiating impact, but it does require the employer to invest in the processes and the practices and the training so that even if you do get a complaint, the ability to respond appropriately and maintain the good reputation of your employer is important, even if the numbers are low.

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Excellent.

Just quickly, are you dealing with other minority groups besides women in your look at sexual harassment?

[D/Chief Michael Federico]

Well, of course, sexual harassment isn't gender specific. It could be male or female; it could be somebody who has declared a certain sexual orientation, and it could be on gender. It runs the spectrum, as long as there's the component of sexuality as part of that—

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

I have to stop you there, Mr. Federico, as Ms. Crockatt's time is up.

We will continue with Ms. Day, for seven minutes.

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

Good afternoon, Mr. Federico. Thank you for participating in our committee meeting.