Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank the committee for inviting us to testify.
I understand that you’re interested in knowing about, and in improving, the regimes currently in place for preventing and addressing situations of harassment and violence in the workplace—where members of Parliament, their staff, House administration employees, and members of the public and of other parliamentary institutions work together.
The study of the committee is aimed at ensuring that members of Parliament, employees of members or of the House administration, as well as members of the public who participate in the day-to-day activities of the institution are protected from violence and harassment. This is certainly an objective that we all share as senior House officials, and we trust that our testimony today will assist the committee in its important deliberations.
We will begin by providing a jurisdictional overview of the harassment and violence policies currently in place for employees of the House of Commons administration and of members, along with governing legislation and regulations. We will also overview the code of conduct for members of the House of Commons on sexual harassment. We will outline the roles that the Board of Internal Economy and the the procedure and House affairs committee have played in their development. Thereafter, we will present the members of the House of Commons harassment and violence prevention policy in its current form, as well as the Code of Conduct for Members of the House of Commons: Sexual Harassment.
We will then provide the committee with recent developments and address any questions that members may have.
I will now invite our law clerk to provide a jurisdictional overview.