Status of Women Committee on Feb. 28th, 2013

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Okay.

When we're talking about the people who do come forward, as we know there is a real disincentive, or many women have felt they couldn't come forward, one of the issues is protection for whistle-blowers.

I wonder what kind of protection exists now.

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

Within our policies there is protection for those who come forward.

The issue we faced was a belief among some, expressed or otherwise, or a perception that should they come forward there would be reprisal or retribution. That's why we've developed these various mechanisms, including the confidential reporting system outside the chain of command, to relieve that kind of concern.

Upon the complaint being made, the key is that we comply with our policies in terms of the way the complainant and the respondent are dealt with during the course of any investigation. Simply put, that falls squarely with me and my senior officers. I have a system in place whereby those types of cases are raised with me personally every week. Every seven days thereafter I am personally briefed on those cases to ensure that those who have suffered that kind of workplace experience are not subjected to the type of retribution that some have feared might occur.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

There is an interest, of course, in privacy, but part of the issue is that in the past, women have felt that justice was not served. Obviously we know of cases in the past where RCMP officers stayed on the force and even in the same community in some instances.

Is this approach you're now taking known to members? Is it known that these cases end up in your office, as a way of sending the message that people are brought together at the highest level?

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

You have one minute.

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

It has been broadcasted widely, internally. It has been subject to much public discussion, and I have clarified that publicly in the community. It has been discussed and presented with our labour relations program. It has been discussed at town hall meetings that have been held across our province.

As I indicated, I also present at the supervisor and management development programs, in which I make that perfectly clear. Every week one of my assistant commissioners is out at the Pacific Region Training Centre presenting on ethical leadership to all of our members who attend each week, on a rotational basis, to participate in operational skills maintenance. It's during the course of that dialogue with those members that this message is conveyed yet again.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Mr. Callens, I am going to have to interrupt you there. Thank you.

Mrs. O'Neill Gordon, you have seven minutes.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I want to thank you, witnesses, as well, for making yourselves available so we could hear you today.

I like the plan you have outlined. You are to be congratulated for taking the initiative to do such a report.

When you look at the report, “Gender and Respect: The RCMP Action Plan”, it notes that this national picture of historical and ongoing complaints did not exist a year ago. It is a first from the RCMP. It stems directly from a December 2011 decision by the commissioner to centralize the oversight in administration of complaints in national headquarters.

I was wondering how this study has allowed you to better assess the impact of harassment on individual employees.

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

Thank you.

One of the key points that was raised in our localized gender-based harassment consultations and in the broader national gender-based assessment directed by the commissioner is that we have made harassment, sexual harassment, and gender-based harassment a topic of conversation and dialogue during the course of virtually everything we do in terms of the necessity to address and eliminate this type of behaviour in our organization.

The tracking of these cases nationally for the purposes of ensuring accountability with commanding officers across the country, ensuring that commanding officers develop divisional and localized respectful workplace action plans and that we are communicating to our employees about the importance of the respectful workplace has changed the landscape. It is more in step with the type of modern human resources management expectations that the commissioner has of each of his commanding officers.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

There is no doubt that going in that direction would make the employees more aware of this and better able to follow in these footsteps.

What do you know now that you didn't know before you undertook this summary report? What is one of the most important things you learned?

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

The fact of the matter is, and I've said this many times to our employees, I am at a low risk of being harassed and I am at a low risk of being sexually harassed, as are many of my senior officers in this division. What's important is that we ask the questions and pay attention to the answers from our members and employees. It was only through engaging in that kind of consultative process and by engaging in that division survey, the workplace survey that had numerous questions specific to whether or not employees and members were enjoying the kind of workplace they deserve, that you properly begin to understand what's occurring out in the field.

What has become plain to me is that while harassment and sexual harassment are not rampant and are not systemic in our organization or in this division, there continues to be pockets and work environments where rude, dismissive, and disrespectful behaviour exists. My intention, through the initiatives that are attached to our respectful workplace plan and program, is to eliminate those pockets and to respond appropriately to the information I've received from our members and employees.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Thank you.

It's very obvious that you have obtained some very important information, and this information will be well used and put into practice.

I'm wondering how you are using this information to feed into ongoing development of existing practices, policies, and training.

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

Many of the initiatives that are attached to our respectful workplace action plan are the direct result of the ideas and recommendations we received through the course of the consultations. Added to that was the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police research project that made a number of recommendations, the majority of which we've already implemented in our division.

Finally, during the course of our division-wide workplace survey, we received over 5,000 ideas and recommendations from our members and employees, and those have been considered, analyzed, and grouped into themes. The various initiatives in our plan all speak to those recommendations that we have received from our members and employees.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Thank you.

As you mentioned, in B.C. there are already a number of officers who are being trained to investigate harassment or are being trained as harassment advisers. When Commissioner Paulson was here earlier this week, he spoke a bit about these roles.

I wonder if you could say how many have been trained so far, and what the timeline is for their integration into the workplace.

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

The 100 harassment awareness and harassment investigators are already trained. They were trained and deployed late last year, in the summer and fall of 2012. We have already trained approximately 25 respectful workplace advisers. They are deployed and have been utilized, as I indicated earlier, on approximately 48 cases already.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

You have one minute.

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

There is another three-day session to train another 25 respectful workplace advisers, which is going on this week. In fact, it's going on today.

Upon completion of that, we will then have 100 harassment awareness and harassment investigators deployed, and we will have 50 respectful workplace advisers deployed as early as next week.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

Could I ask one extra question?

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

You have 30 seconds.

[Tilly O'Neill-Gordon, Conservative, Miramichi, NB]

What is being done to ensure that employees are aware of harassment advisers?

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

I have broadcast that widely, through internal messages and within our internal website. We have identified, by picture and contact information, each one of our respectful workplace advisers, to all of the members and employees in this division.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Thank you.

Ms. Sgro, you have seven minutes.

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Deputy Commissioner Callens and Inspector Bradley, thank you so very much for being here. Most importantly, thank you for the outstanding work you've done and the swift action you have taken.

With all of the things you are putting into place, you clearly are an example to all the other divisions in Canada. I expect that Commissioner Paulson is taking advantage of the work you've already done.

Are you taking any action right now to deal with any outstanding complaints? Policies sound good, and certainly the intention is there and all the right things are being put in place, but actions speak louder than words. Donald Ray would have been a great example to show that kind of swift action, but evidently it wasn't possible at that time.

Given these policies and the outstanding complaints that are not necessarily before the courts and you still have on the books, some action on some of those harassment complaints might help immensely to reinforce what you are both trying to do.

Do you have any comments on that?

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

Yes.

I think one of the keys in moving forward and dealing with pre-existing complaints is the development of service standards and timelines that ensure the timely investigation and completion of the necessary follow-up that needs to be done in cases where allegations have been substantiated. The service standards have been developed and are being communicated. They're being followed.

The capacity within our division to conduct the investigations has been increased considerably. As I indicated, we now have 100 investigators, which is 10 times what we had previously when I assumed the position as commanding officer.

As I mentioned, I've attached the highest priority to the completion of these investigations. I am briefed on them personally every week, not only in terms of whether or not new cases have arisen, but the progress that has been made over the past seven days.

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Is any progress being made with trying to resolve some of the outstanding complaints prior to your taking over command?

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

Yes. We have had some success in clearing what I reference as the backlog. I would not suggest that it has been completely dealt with. Indeed, some of them are now in the civil court process. But in terms of the sorts of delays that were experienced historically in response to complaints being made, those sorts of delays have been eliminated.