News Releases

News Release - Manitoba

June 12, 2018

Province Reports on Harassment and Incidents of Misconduct

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Providing Accountability, Protecting the Privacy of Complainants: Pallister

The Manitoba government has followed through on its commitment to report publicly on statistics related to instances of harassment that occurred within government in 2017-18, while protecting the privacy of complainants, Premier Brian Pallister announced today.  

“We made a promise to provide accountability to employees and members of the public, and we are following through on that commitment,” said Pallister.  “We’ve been actively driving a number of initiatives to ensure there is a strong culture of inclusion, diversity and respect across government.”
 
On Feb. 22, the premier announced new measures to ensure Manitoba government employees work in an environment that is respectful and free of all forms of harassment.  These include significant internal changes to tracking and public reporting requirements related to sexual harassment disclosures as part of the new No Wrong Door approach.

Annual public reporting on the number and type of allegation raised by employees will provide:

  • the number of respondents to allegations,
  • the number of investigations conducted,
  • the number of substantiated and unsubstantiated allegations, and
  • information related to the outcomes of investigations including disciplinary measures.

The premier noted it is now mandatory for managers to report to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) any instance of sexual harassment that is reported to them, regardless of whether it requires followup from the CSC or leads to an investigation.  The previous process was voluntary and determined on a case-by-case basis.

Managers must also now document sexual harassment concerns raised and provide their plans, actions taken and timelines to resolve those concerns.  This new approach will reduce reliance on management discretion to determine if a reported instance of sexual harassment is serious enough to take further action, the premier noted.

“I want every mother and father in Manitoba to know their child will be safe, respected and heard if they choose to work in the provincial government,” said Pallister.  “I’m pleased to confirm over 10,000 public servants and all government political staff have taken respectful workplace training.  This training will continue to be mandatory for all new staff.

“Our efforts to increase awareness and better educate staff will be strengthened by the feedback received from employee consultations and the results of the external review.”     

MLT Aikins was engaged as the external expert to lead the review and provide recommendations for improvement, and is expected to submit its final report to the province in summer 2018, the premier noted.

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION ATTACHED 




Backgrounder
Background Information - https://www.gov.mb.ca/asset_library/en/newslinks/2018/06/BG-Public_Reporting-PR-CSC.doc