Honourable members of Parliament, we would like to thank the members of this committee for inviting us to appear so that we might voice our opinion with respect to Bill C-65.
My name is Greg Phillips. I'm the president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, CAPE. CAPE represents some 14,000 public service employees. The vast majority of our members are economists and social science workers who advise the government on public policy. We also represent the translators and interpreters who work every day to preserve and promote Canada's linguistic duality. Last but not least, we also have the great honour of representing the 90 analysts and research assistants employed by the Library of Parliament.
Accompanying me today is Colleen Bauman, a partner at Goldblatt Partners LLP's Ottawa office. She has a great deal of experience dealing with harassment issues and concerns in many different workplace settings, including the federal public service. I am also accompanied by Claude Vézina, CAPE's executive director, who manages the employees responsible for helping members who are experiencing workplace harassment issues.
As you are no doubt aware, the problem of harassment and violence in Canadian workplaces, including the federal public service, is an ever-present problem. Harassment not only harms the individual victims, but it also has a negative impact on workplace morale and productivity. CAPE is very pleased that the government is taking steps with Bill C-65 to help prevent and address this problem. In particular, CAPE is relieved to see that the legislation extends protection to parliamentary employees, including CAPE's members at the Library of Parliament.
CAPE has been fighting for many years for parliamentary employees to have the same protections as other federal employees. Historically, employees of Parliament did not even have the protection of the Canadian Human Rights Act. In 2005, CAPE intervened in support of them in Canada v. Vaid, a case in which the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that the Canadian Human Rights Act applies to all employees of the federal government, including those working for Parliament. While it is a positive development to see that Bill C-65 extends the protections of the Canada Labour Code to parliamentary employees, it is unfortunate that it has taken until 2018 for this to happen.
While CAPE fully supports the introduction of comprehensive legislation to address the problem of harassment in both parliamentary and other federal workplaces, we are concerned that as drafted, Bill C-65 does not go far enough and leaves too many important details to be determined by regulations. Today I'd like to speak briefly about three areas of concern that CAPE has with Bill C-65: the failure of the legislation to include a definition of harassment, the failure of the legislation to guarantee that employees will have access to independent and impartial investigations for harassment complaints, and the failure of the legislation to provide for redress for victims of harassment.
The government has stated that Bill C-65 is part of its commitment to eliminating harassment and violence in federal workplaces, yet surprisingly, the bill fails to define the very thing it seeks to eliminate, leaving it instead to be determined at a later date by regulation. CAPE submits that the definition of “harassment” is too important a matter to leave to regulation. Employees and their representatives need to know now whether the legislation will take a narrow and restrictive approach to harassment, excluding some victims from accessing its protection, or if it will be defined broadly and include all forms of personal harassment, such as conduct and/or behaviours that create an intimidating, demeaning, or hostile work environment.
CAPE submits that the legislation should be amended now to add a broad and purposive definition of “harassment” that will offer the widest-possible protection to employees. In CAPE's view, a definition similar to the one that is currently found in the Treasury Board's Policy on Harassment Prevention and Resolution, which includes both personal and grounds-based harassment, would be a good starting plan.
Our second area of concern with Bill C-65 is that the legislation fails to guarantee that employees will have access to independent and impartial investigations for harassment complaints. Having an independent and impartial investigator is the hallmark of a procedurally fair investigation. An independent investigation ensures that all parties—complainants, respondents, and witnesses—feel that they can speak freely and participate fully in the investigation without fear of retaliation or negative consequences. Indeed, one of the most common concerns we've heard from our members about the current process is that the investigation of their complaint was neither fair nor impartial.
Bill C-65 provides that these employees can complain about their workplace harassment, and where the employee and employer fail to resolve the complaint between themselves, that complaint can be referred directly to the minister for investigation, bypassing the workplace health and safety committee. However, it fails to guarantee that the harassment investigation will be independent and impartial. CAPE submits that the bill should be amended to add this type of requirement.
The final area of concern that I want to speak about today is the failure of Bill C-65 to provide for redress for victims of harassment. It is commonly said that there will be no right without remedy. In other words, a right is meaningless if you have no remedy for its violation.
Meaningful remedies ensure the victims are put back in the place they would have been but for the violation of their rights. Currently, if a complaint under the Canadian Human Rights Act involving harassment on protected grounds is founded, the victim may be awarded remedies including making available to the victim the rights, opportunities, or privileges that were denied, compensating the victim for any lost wages, compensating the victim for any pain and suffering that the victim would have experienced, or compensating the victim for discriminatory treatment that was willful or reckless.
In contrast, at present, the harassment investigations under the Treasury Board policy may end with a finding of harassment but without any corresponding remedy for the victim. An anti-harassment regime that provides no power to award remedies, or one that caps them at $20,000 for pain and suffering like the current CHRA provisions, will discourage victims from coming forward. CAPE submits that the anti-harassment regime under Bill C-65 should provide for real remedies and redress for victims of harassment.
In conclusion, CAPE sees Bill C-65 as a very positive step towards addressing the problem of harassment in federal workplaces. CAPE is hopeful that the reluctance that many employees currently feel in reporting workplace harassment and violence will be addressed and alleviated to at least some extent by the legislation you are currently working on. However, we ask that you consider improving its effectiveness by including a definition of harassment, a guarantee of independent and impartial investigation, and provision for redress for victims. All three of these additions will encourage more victims to come forward and make legislation more effective at eradicating harassment and providing meaningful remedies to its victims.
Thank you.