November 1, 2020
Province Takes Steps to Prevent and Address Sexual Harassment, Harassment and Bullying on Municipal Councils
The Manitoba government continues to work with municipal councils and has rolled out a new legislative framework that will help ensure all elected officials understand the requirement to have a respectful work environment on councils and other governing bodies across the province, Municipal Relations Minister Rochelle Squires announced today.
“We all deserve to work in a place that respects our opinions and our differences, and municipal councils are no different,” said Squires. “This framework will help council members understand both the expectations of them as well as situations or behaviour that can be considered as inappropriate and unacceptable.”
The Municipal Amendment Act and Council Members’ Codes of Conduct regulation, which takes effect Nov. 1, strengthens council codes of conduct. The act and regulation require all municipal councils to pass a Code of Conduct bylaw, and all council members to complete online code of conduct training by May 1, 2021, and within six months of election or re-election. Together, the act and regulation reflect Manitoba’s continued commitment to preventing and addressing issues of sexual harassment, harassment and bullying in all contexts, and respond to stakeholder requests for more comprehensive processes and stronger supports and expectations.
Manitoba is leading the way on this important issue, becoming one of the first jurisdictions in Canada to define standardized procedures for the intake and review of municipal code of conduct complaints in legislation, to establish a formal appeals procedure for council code of conduct violations and to require council members to take mandatory online code of conduct training.
The province is also releasing a suite of supporting tools and resources to help municipal council members recognize offensive or unacceptable conduct and take steps to prevent and address inappropriate conduct on council.
Learning to create and maintain respectful environments is an ongoing process, requiring consistent dedication and effort, and these changes have been guided by input from the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, the Manitoba Municipal Administrators’ Association, the Association of Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities and other key stakeholders.
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