Evidence of meeting #44 for Status of Women in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was harassment.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Do you know if the public service has ever done a survey, or have you ever done a survey, of the people who have left the public service, and why?
Acting Chief Commissioner, Chief Commissioner's Office, Canadian Human Rights Commission
I know we have never done it, and I'm not aware of whether the public service has.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
It may be time for that kind of a survey to be done to find out exactly how many are leaving because of intimidation, sexual harassment, or harassment in general. Many people just leave because it's not worth the battle and it's not worth the embarrassment and the stigma, as you so clearly point out, as we move forward on a lot of this.
With regard to the internal monitoring of some of these cases that I was referring to earlier—and we're getting the numbers so that we can get a better handle on just how large the number is, specifically with the issue of sexual harassment—and how those issues were resolved, I'd be very interested in knowing the success rate. I think it would be encouraging for many people out there if they knew that there was a really good chance that a tribunal would go to bat for them. There would probably be more. You clearly probably have lots of work on your plate now.
How long does it generally take from the time a complaint is brought to you to the time that it is resolved?
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Okay. Could we just have a fast answer? Is it three years, six years, or...?
Acting Chief Commissioner, Chief Commissioner's Office, Canadian Human Rights Commission
Our average age of cases is one year.
NDP
The Chair NDP Marie-Claude Morin
Thank you.
I would now like to consult the committee. We have here Mr. Gupta's speaking notes. He has allowed us to distribute them, given that members had asked for them. However, since the notes are only in English, I need the committee's unanimous consent.
NDP
The Chair NDP Marie-Claude Morin
We therefore cannot distribute the notes. We will have them translated and you will have them at a later date. Thank you.
We will continue with questions.
Ms. Bateman, you have five minutes.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you all so very much for your presentations today.
I first want to get clarification. You are in charge of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, which is governed by the rules from Treasury Board. It is a federal government arm, is it not?
Acting Chief Commissioner, Chief Commissioner's Office, Canadian Human Rights Commission
We are independent of government, because, of course, we receive complaints against the federal government, including complaints against Treasury Board.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
But when you hire an employee, the values and ethics of the federal Government of Canada apply to your employees, right?
Acting Chief Commissioner, Chief Commissioner's Office, Canadian Human Rights Commission
That is correct. Yes.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
In fact, you participate across Canada with federal councils. You're in Ottawa, so you probably don't know what those are—
Acting Chief Commissioner, Chief Commissioner's Office, Canadian Human Rights Commission
But I live in Winnipeg.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Exactly. I knew you were a good guy.
I think it's a very important point that your employees are governed in the same way as every federal government employee. We had a little bit of lack of clarity at the start of this meeting about who actually governs the policies and procedures regarding this very important issue, but is Treasury Board, and you must comply. Is that clear?
Acting Chief Commissioner, Chief Commissioner's Office, Canadian Human Rights Commission
Yes.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Okay.
Do your employees get the training, as the gentleman from Treasury Board indicated all federal government employees receive, in terms of what the expectations are for the respectful workplace and how we expect people to respect differences, etc.?
Acting Chief Commissioner, Chief Commissioner's Office, Canadian Human Rights Commission
We provide training to employees almost on a continual basis. It can be on specific or general areas. As well, all new employees are mentored one-on-one, and of course, as you say, all employees are covered by all those policies, values, and ethics. They all sign.
To digress for just a moment, I can say we were very pleased with the results of the last public service employee survey that was done. Obviously there is always room for improvement, but we fared considerably better than the average of the public service in most of the categories. We are responsible for the Employment Equity Act as well, in terms of the auditing of employment equity.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
You are responsible for the Employment Equity Act of the Government of Canada.
Acting Chief Commissioner, Chief Commissioner's Office, Canadian Human Rights Commission
That's correct, yes.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
That's really good that you are governed by the Treasury Board. From what I understand and from what we heard this morning, this is responsible, respectful policy. The fact that all federal government agencies are governed by it is good.
In your comments just now, you referred to the public service employee survey.
There has been a lot of discussion about surveys. People have randomly said we need another survey. You mentioned you performed well under the last public service employee survey, and those are very expensive to conduct. They are also very important to do. We value that analysis. Could that become an integral part of your testimony?
The fact that you are remarking on your performance is wonderful. I understand the public service itself also generally demonstrated some improvement. If not, we should see those numbers. Is that possible?
Acting Chief Commissioner, Chief Commissioner's Office, Canadian Human Rights Commission
Yes, certainly we can provide our results, which also include the benchmarks of the whole public service.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
That would be fantastic.
On the leadership piece, we heard about what is being done for the employee. There is no employee in the Government of Canada who is unaware of the values and ethics. You are indicating they are required to sign something. It is very clear that they are part of this philosophy. Are we doing the same thing—
Unfortunately, I only have 30 seconds left.
