Finance committee  No, every department is not an employer. The departments are part of what we call a “core public administration”, which is all of the departments for which Treasury Board is the employer. There are also separate agencies, and they would be separate employers and have to develop a plan on their own, but for the core public administration, there would be one plan developed.

Finance committee  It would be the Treasury Board.

Finance committee  I can't answer that question, but we can endeavour to get you an answer.

Human Resources committee  I believe one of the requirements of the bill was going to be that employers would have to come up with a prevention of harassment and violence policy. That policy is going to have to be developed in collaboration with workplace health and safety committees, usually dealing with the union.

Human Resources committee  Maybe I could add just one thing. I think that one of the other things is that we often find ourselves behind the curve with things that change in society. I think we have to be able to anticipate as best we can how things are going to change and take measures in a timely way, such that we can do that.

Human Resources committee  They obviously come with a different perspective from us. They are there to represent their members and to look after their interests. That's what they are there to advocate and work for. We just have to make it work.

Human Resources committee  It would only be to say that in your deliberations, I think you are looking for whatever is going to be the best and what will wind up with our being able to eradicate or eliminate, or reduce down considerably, these types of situations in the workplace. If you think that's the best way to do it....

Human Resources committee  I think the plan as it's been presented, or as I understand the legislation, is that definitions would be dealt with through the regulatory process. Personally, I think that's not a bad idea, because I think the definitions will be difficult to sort out. As we mentioned before, there will be a lot of different perceptions about what things are.

Human Resources committee  I think one thing that has been done in Bill C-65 is its whole confidentiality aspect. It should encourage people to come forward as long as they have the confidence that it will be kept confidential. That in itself, though, may pose a bit of a difficulty if there is action that possibly needs to take place, and I'm thinking in the form of discipline or something like that.

Human Resources committee  That's a challenge. It's a challenge to get people to come forward. I think the thrust of this legislation, for the most part, is about preventing harassment and violence in the workplace. To some degree it is different from what we've had as an existing harassment policy, which has been more targeted to individual situations, but it would demand, obviously....

Human Resources committee  I'm sorry. I don't have that with me. We can provide it to you. I'm pretty sure the question was, “Have you been a victim of harassment in the workplace in the last two years?”

Human Resources committee  I think it was that straightforward.

Human Resources committee  If I could add, it does does come down to the question that a perception of one individual is not necessarily the same as another's perception.

Human Resources committee  I think the reason this was in there was to ensure there would be some sort of consistency in the route that people would take to resolve their issue, rather than having everything inundate the Canadian Human Rights Commission, for instance. I believe that's why it was there. In the new legislation, as I understand it, we're looking at something that's going to create a single route to deal with violence and harassment, so it again will provide a common route for everyone to use.

Human Resources committee  Just as additional information, roughly a quarter of the people who report in the public service employee survey say that they take no action. We have about a quarter who, while they report that they have been victims of harassment in the last two years on the job, also clarify through the survey that they take no action.