Thank you for your question.
The answer is yes.
I'm going to come back to your question more specifically, but what's unfortunate is that I've had a lot of trouble compiling information because employers currently don't have to document the cases of former employees who benefit from the three‑month deadline, for example. Obviously, some former employees haven't had any problems. I'm talking about employees who did have issues.
In the regulations that set out what is expected of employers, it does not say that they must compile any information. I had trouble getting answers, for example, about the number of people who had not been able to lodge a complaint because they had missed the three‑month deadline. No one keeps statistics on that. No statistics are forwarded to the government, because companies are not required to provide them. Again, if we wanted to do something useful, this bill could recommend that the government force companies to document cases.
If I may, I would like to quote Cindy Viau, executive director of the Groupe d'aide et d'information sur le harcèlement de la province de Québec. She said:
In addition, at the provincial level, we note from our experience that very few people who contact us find it difficult to initiate the complaint process within the two years set out in the Act respecting labour standards. Since the time limit was changed in 2018, we have only on very rare occasions had to explain to a victim that they had missed their deadline to file a complaint.
I can provide no better evidence than the testimony of an organization that works with victims and says that the two‑year time frame I set is fair. It ticks a lot of boxes, as the expression goes, because it is reasonable and provides enough time for employees to file complaints.
Ms. Viau is much more critical towards the current three‑month period, however. She tells us that a lot of employees do indeed have trouble filing complaints within that time frame, and it is almost always because of the trauma they have experienced.