62 LEXPERT MAGAZINE
|
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
It was in October that e New York
Times and e New Yorker first published
reports by more than a dozen women that
Hollywood film executive Harvey Wein-
stein had sexually harassed or sexually as-
saulted them. Since then, a shamefully long
parade of women in the US have stepped
forward detailing similar stories of perverse
behaviour by privileged men. e more fa-
miliar names include television host Char-
lie Rose, Senator Al Franken, actor Kevin
Spacey and a growing list that includes cor-
porate bigwigs as well. In Canada, Albert
Schultz, Founding Artistic Director of the
Soulpepper theatre company, is being sued
by four women alleging sexual harassment
in the workplace. More than 250 members
of the theatre community have signed a pe-
tition in support of the four complainants,
and Schultz has been compelled to resign.
You might think this rising tide of
#MeToo Twitter revelations would prompt
a high degree of anxious corporate navel-
gazing about the need for better harassment
policies and remedies in US workplaces.
e so-called "Weinstein Effect" — where
droves of women have been emboldened to
tell their stories of sexual harassment — has
certainly prompted a conversation. But the
evidence suggests that, so far, conversation
hasn't resulted in corporate change.
In Canada, the story is different, because
we've been down this bumpy road before,
says Jodi Gallagher Healy, a labour and em-
ployment lawyer with Hicks Morley Hamil-
ton Stewart Storie LLP in London, Ontario.
"I think the greater impact in Canada has
been from the Jian Ghomeshi situation. e
CBC was such a well-known employer and
Mr. Ghomeshi such a well-known figure on
CBC, I think it really rang through the halls
of employers in Canada."
Also helping to ring Canada's sexual
harassment alarm bell was the Dalhou-
sie University scandal in January 2015.
irteen male dentistry students were
suspended for posting violent sexual com-
ments aimed at female classmates on their
Facebook group page. Together the two
incidents sparked greater awareness about
the need for Canadian corporations and
institutions to create or revamp their poli-
cies regarding sexual harassment.
Host Culture
e Ghomeshi case was one of those ex-
tremely rare instances where an investiga-
tion report into workplace sexual harass-
ment was made public. e report was pre-
pared by Janice Rubin and Parisa Nikfar-
jam of Rubin omlinson LLP, a Toronto-
based employment law firm specializing
in workplace training and investigations
concerning harassment and violence.
KATHERINE POLLOCK
>
FASKEN MARTINEAU DUMOULIN LLP
I think there's a lot of
training going on at Canadian
companies … [but] I believe
that companies could do a
better job in ensuring top
managers … are trained and
understand that it is part of
their role to effect cultural
change when necessary.
ILLUSTRATION
BY
SÉBASTIEN
THIBAULT
| IN-HOUSE ADVISOR: HARASSMENT IN THE WORKPLACE |
