Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here today to speak to you on this critical issue on behalf of our department and our values and ethics program.
I am the director of values and ethics, and in that capacity I hold the delegated authority from the deputy minister of Foreign Affairs to administer the departmental harassment prevention and resolution policy. I am joined by Yves Vaillancourt, DFAIT’s inspector general, to whom my division reports.
As an employer of the public service, DFAIT is committed to providing a work environment free of harassment, where all persons in the workplace are treated with respect and dignity. We believe the message is clear, that harassment in any form is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
Our work environment is enormously diverse by virtue of our network of missions abroad, and our employee complement is correspondingly diverse, as it is made up made up of 2,133 rotational staff serving in Canada and abroad, 3,000 non-rotational staff serving in Canada and 5,157 locally-engaged staff abroad.
Harassment is a difficult and complex issue and our challenge is to address it effectively in our demanding and culturally-diverse international environment.
In one respect, our global operational reality with its associated need to capture respect for cultural diversity in our training, has also provided an advantage of sorts. In the context of building a harassment-free environment, the same values and behaviours that promote cultural sensitivity are applicable to the promotion of a respectful workplace. Further, the Code of Conduct for Canadian Representatives Abroad, which has been in place since January 2006, clearly delineates the behaviours that respect cultural diversity, promote operational cohesion and reward excellence. We believe that together, these are important contributing factors in explaining our relatively low incidence of sexual harassment complaints.
Underpinning culture is leadership and the influence it exerts on affecting positive change. In the context of values and ethics, this means leading by example and actively fostering a respectful, harassment-free workplace. The deputy minister of Foreign Affairs is the departmental champion for values and ethics, and from the outset his leadership on this file has been active and visible. Also, our former inspector general, a senior female manager, is the departmental champion for women.
We believe this sends a clear signal of DFAIT's commitment to harassment prevention, including sexual harassment, and on resolution across the organization. A central achievement in tackling harassment has been the recent launch of the DFAIT values and ethics code. The development of our code involved extensive soundings from across the department, including a series of video conference consultations with missions and regional offices. More than 800 employees provided input into this consultation phase. The code is tailored for DFAIT and is an important addition to our existing values and ethics resources. It contains five core values, one of which, respect for people, is clearly tied to harassment prevention and its effective resolution. It provides the blueprint for developing excellence in our organization and is the compass that guides managers to promote and maintain a healthy and respectful workplace. It also empowers employees to expect the best of their organization.
There are two internal mechanisms for making a formal harassment, including sexual harassment, complaint or grievance: a complaint to the values and ethics division or a grievance to the labour relations division. DFAIT has nine collective agreements, seven of which cover sexual harassment specifically. Related statistics for the last five years as expressed as a total are as follows. We received 47 complaints of harassment. We received four complaints of sexual harassment. There were 12 grievances of harassment, and zero grievances for sexual harassment.
Going forward, and in support of the implementation of the code, we are developing a comprehensive online training course on values and ethics. It is currently in the pilot phase and once completed and based on the feedback received, we expect to make a recommendation that the course be mandatory for all DFAIT employees.
In addition, a training deck on harassment prevention, including sexual harassment, has been developed for delivery by directors general at headquarters, by senior trade commissioners in our regional offices across Canada and by heads of mission or their delegates across our network of missions abroad.
Further, the values and ethics intranet page is easily accessible from the departmental home page. It contains specific information on harassment, including definitions, prevention and resolution instruments, mechanisms available for lodging complaints, as well as information on the classroom training available. It also includes hyperlinks to relevant Treasury Board sites.
It's generally recognized that the impact and costs resulting from any form of harassment is significant. Productivity is affected not only for the parties involved but also for the colleagues within the work group. Further, absenteeism rates increase and outputs often decrease. These can have an adverse effect on the morale of the unit.
In conclusion, we'd like to thank you again for inviting us to appear before you today to reiterate DFAIT's ongoing commitment to a respectful, harassment-free workplace to the best extent possible.
We are pleased to take any questions you might have.
Thank you.