Status of Women committee  Yes, because a lot of— Oh, are we done?

Status of Women committee  Yes, I think that's true because people are more reluctant to go through formal reporting policies. It doesn't mean that some won't, but it discourages many people.

Status of Women committee  I haven't heard that directly but it wouldn't surprise me. What I have heard is that sometimes when people report, it is not taken seriously and nothing is done about it. That then sends a negative message to other people who might want to report.

Status of Women committee  Yes, that is true. There are a lot of negative psychological and even physical elements that occur when someone is sexually harassed. There is avoidance of the perpetrator. The person who is being harassed tries to avoid that person and if the person is someone they need to interact with to do their job effectively, it can affect their job performance as well.

Status of Women committee  Yes.

Status of Women committee  I don't have much to expand upon, other than the fact that often there are policies in place that, for whatever reason, are not followed or acted upon, and I don't know why. I don't know if it's reluctance on the part of the people who are handling the complaints, because maybe it involves one of their friends.

Status of Women committee  I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean that because sometimes it's the citizens that are harassing them? Is that what you're saying? I'm not clear on that.

Status of Women committee  That is part of it. A lot of times it is passed off as just goofing around. What happens typically is that when a person is first harassed, they say, "What was that? Did that person just say something to me like that?" It doesn't really register with them. They have a large sense-making process around it.

Status of Women committee  That's a really good question, and there's not an easy answer to that question. One thing is, when you focus on training, to make sure that they understand that it's not a personal issue. They need to understand that it's a social issue or a workplace issue. If you can make them think of it in ethical terms, that someone is being harmed or hurt, then that's even better.

Status of Women committee  That's a good question. I think that if anonymity is possible, the person who's reporting feels better because there are no repercussions for them, no possible backlash. I think anonymity is important. I know that in the United States, a lot of times they cannot maintain anonymity.

Status of Women committee  Actually, that study that I referenced talked about men working in organizations with sexual harassment awareness training being more likely to label sex-related behaviour as sexual harassment. That study did not focus on whether they're more likely to report it, but simply that they see a behaviour and they say, "yes, that's sexual harassment”.

Status of Women committee  Thank you for inviting me to contribute to your study of sexual harassment in Canada's federally regulated workplaces. I would like to start my testimony by echoing a point raised by a former witness, Mr. David Langtry of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, “You will never get a complete picture of the problem from the number of complaints that come forward.”