Good afternoon. My name is Yvonne Séguin and I am the executive director and founder of the Groupe d'aide et d'information sur le harcèlement au travail.
I wanted to provide you with a brief presentation to explain why we think that our comments may be of interest to your committee.
Our support group was established 32 years ago with the primary objective of breaking the isolation and wall of silence surrounding people who have experienced or are experiencing sexual or psychological harassment in the workplace, and to raise public awareness of this problem.
The organization pursues various objectives, as set out in its charter: to raise awareness of the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace; to counsel women on the steps to follow; to help women overcome the problem they were or are facing; to prepare, publish and distribute documents, manuals, periodicals and, more specifically, any literature on sexual harassment in the workplace; to raise funds through donations and organize cultural activities.
The organization was founded in 1980. From 1980 to 1984, we were merely a committee affiliated with the organization Au bas de l'échelle, in Montreal. We were known as the Comité d'action contre le harcèlement sexuel au travail du groupe Au bas de l'échelle. However, given the magnitude of the problem of sexual harassment, we found that it was necessary to develop a specific approach. It therefore became apparent that we had to become an independent group.
In 1984, we incorporated under the name Groupe d'aide et d'information sur le harcèlement sexuel au travail de la région de Montréal.
In 1993, the support group received provincial status and its name changed to Groupe d'aide et d'information sur le harcèlement sexuel au travail de la province de Québec inc.
Since 2002, the GAIHST is also known as the Groupe d'aide et d'information sur le harcèlement au travail. Our group's name refers to both psychological and sexual harassment.
We serve Montreal and the surrounding area. The support group currently has no point of service, but we are trying to open another office in Saint-Jérôme. We should point out that, in many cases, the clients who turn to our group are in so much distress that they cannot travel to Montreal. It is too stressful for these people.
Since the support group provides a range of services, the clientele is quite varied. In terms of victims of sexual and psychological harassment, our clients are primarily women, although the number of men contacting the centre is growing. We have clients of all ages, from all walks of life and from all ethnic backgrounds. In order to benefit from our services, clients must be between the ages of 16 and 65.
I'm now going to talk about the clientele of these awareness and training sessions. Our training sessions are available to all companies, including SMEs, private and para-public organizations. Providing awareness sessions was not the primary objective of the support group, but over the years, more and more companies have contacted our organization in order to obtain information.
Our services include listening to clients over the phone, individual, group and legal interventions, information and references, and an in-house newspaper.
To effectively fulfil its mandate, the GAIHST offers four types of services: the complaints department, the support and information department, coffee meetings and the education department, which works with companies.
The client's first contact with us is through the support and information department, which provides moral support and guidance to victims of workplace harassment as well as information on the options available and on the coffee meetings service.
Coffee meetings allow our members to meet with anyone who has experienced or is experiencing harassment in the workplace. They can come here to meet with one another, validate what they have experienced and share this with other people. Often the topics are selected by the clientele who comes to the support group. Such topics may include, for example, post-traumatic stress disorder, employment insurance, art therapy, common law spouses or movie evenings. The clientele chooses the topic based on requirements. We also offer a coffee meeting that focuses on legal matters, such as issues involving hearsay. We should point out that, when clients decide to take legal action, they often hear a great deal of hearsay. We try to show them that this is not something that is acceptable to the courts.
The complaints department provides short, medium and long-term file follow-up. The department employs one lawyer and four articling law students. These lawyers come from McGill University and the Université de Montréal. This service enables us to conduct research and advocate for our clientele.
As for our education services, information sessions are provided to people who have experienced harassment or who have had knowledge of such a situation. The purpose of these sessions is to demystify the problem. We often hold these awareness sessions in schools and community centres.
Training sessions are offered to individuals who work in the area of sexual harassment prevention. These sessions are often given in small companies. We can help these individuals draft an in-house policy and develop investigative procedures.
We also have a small in-house newspaper, called Info-GAIHST, which is produced by the support group. We send out information to members and ensure that harassment files are updated.
Individuals who call our support group can quickly speak to an advocate. Although our workload is growing, the wait time is never more than 24 hours. The support group has been instructed to call people back in less than 24 hours. Do we have a wait list? No, that is impossible. Everyone who calls is provided with quick service. There are no charges for providing services to victims. Everything is free.
I would like to provide you with some statistics on the types of calls received last year. We received approximately 6,000 calls. Of these calls, 73.3% were made by clients and were for the complaints and support and information departments, 1.7% were calls about awareness sessions, 0.4% were calls about the coffee meetings and 24% were about other matters. These calls could have been requests for information, enquiries about the cards, etc.
Who provides our services? We have two employees working in the complaints department and one in the support and information department. Each year, we take on at least six interns in law, criminology and sexology. We also have a receptionist who works with the entire team and a policy advisor who works on special projects. Lastly, we have a director general who oversees the smooth operation of the centre. In all, we have a staff of six permanent employees who work with six to eight interns each year.
The support group relies on the support and dedication of a number of honorary members. These are women from various professional backgrounds who are dedicated to fighting sexual harassment in the workplace.