Indigenous People and Parliament P. 24 Moving Forward Together

Canadian eview V olume 39, No. 2 Moving Forward Together: Indigenous People and Parliament p. 24 The Mace currently in use in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan was made in 1906 and used for the first time in March of that year at the opening of the First Session of the First Legislative Assembly. Purchased from Ryrie Bros. Ltd. of Toronto at a cost of $340.00, it is made of heavy gold-plated brass and is about four feet long. The head consists of a Royal Crown with the arches surmounted by a Maltese cross and bears the Royal Coat-of-Arms on the top indicating the Royal Authority. Each side is decorated with a sheaf of wheat, representing the province’s agricultural wealth, a beaver representing Canada and the monogram E.R. VII, representing the sovereign at the time, Edward VII. The shaft and base are ornamented with a shamrock, thistle and rose intertwined. A Latin inscription around the Royal Coat of Arms reads in English, “Edward the Seventh, by the Grace of God of British Isles and Lands beyond the sea which are under British rule, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India”. Monique Lovett Manager of Interparliamentary Relations and Protocol Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan Courtesy of British Columbia Legislative Library Stick Talking BC Legislature, The Canadian Parliamentary Review was founded in 1978 to inform Canadian legislators about activities of the federal, provincial and territorial branches of the Canadian Region of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and to promote the study of and interest in Canadian parliamentary institutions. Contributions from legislators, former members, staff and all other persons interested in the objectives of the Review are welcome. The Review is published for the Canadian Region, CPA. Any opinions expressed are those of individual contributors and should not be attributed to any Branch of the Canadian Region. Editor Will Stos Layout Frank Piekielko Production Team Julie Anderson Kim Dean Kimberley Judd Albert Besteman Yasuko Enosawa Joanne McNair Cheryl Caballero Claudette Henry Wendy Reynolds Susanne Hynes Editorial Intern Liam MacDonald Editorial Board Patricia Chaychuk (Chair) Charles Robert (Deputy Chair) Blair Armitage Deborah Deller Patrice Martin Francois Arsenault Kim Hammond Kate Ryan-Lloyd Workplace Harassment Policy in a Parliamentary Marc Bosc Sonia L’Heureux Doug Schauerte Context Charles MacKay Maryse Gaudreault, MNA ...................................................2 Subscriptions Organizing the Halls of Power: Federal Parliamentary Four (4) issues in English or French Staffers and Members of Parliament’s Offices Canada International $40.00 - $75.00 Daniel Dickin .......................................................................8 Four (4) issues in English and French Canada $75.00 - International $125.00 The Crown and Prime Ministerial Power Cheques should be made payable to: Philippe Lagassé ...............................................................17 Canadian Parliamentary Review Indigenizing Parliament: Contact Time to Re-Start a Conversation Canadian Parliamentary Review Michael Morden ...............................................................24 c/o Ontario Legislative Library Queen’s Park Canadian Study of Parliament Group Seminar: Toronto, ON M7A 1A9 Political Staff in Parliamentary Government E-Mail: [email protected] Will Stos ............................................................................34 Web: http://www.RevParl.ca CPA Activities: The Canadian Scene ...........................38 Editor: (416) 325-0231 Fax: (416) 325-3505 New and Notable Titles ................................................41 E-Mail: [email protected] Legislative Reports ........................................................44 Legal Deposit: National Library of Canada Sketches of Parliament and Parliamentarians Past: ISSN 0229-2548 The Wood Paneling in Québec’s Parliament Building Cette revue est aussi disponible en français Christian Blais....................................................................68 CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW/SUMMER 2016 1 Feature Workplace Harassment Policy in a Parliamentary Context Creating and implementing guidelines that directly affect working relationships in a context where there are many separate employers, like Quebec’s National Assembly, presents some unique challenges. In this article, the author outlines how a multi-party Working Group examined best practices for preventing and managing situations involving workplace harassment and adapted them to suit the parliamentary context. In-depth, methodical deliberations by the Working Group resulted in a consensus policy that was proactively communicated to stakeholders. Maryse Gaudreault, MNA n November 2014, the President of the National Assembly, Jacques Chagnon, mandated me to Idraw up recommendations on how best to prevent and manage harassment in our organization. As a result, a Working Group, composed of nine elected officials,1 including both men and women from all parties represented in the House, developed a policy reflecting the political and administrative authorities’ will to ensure that the National Assembly constitute a healthy, harmonious, harassment-free work environment for Members of the National Assembly (MNAs), their staff and all of its administrative employees. While the Assembly had already adopted a harassment policy several years earlier, it was restricted to administrative staff. And, although Québec’s legal framework offers victims of harassment (employees and others) various recourses,2 no specific tools or mechanisms existed to prevent or manage situations involving harassment which MNAs and political staff might face in the course of their duties. When the Office of the National Assembly adopted its Policy on Preventing and Managing Situations Involving Harassment in the Workplace3 on June 4, 2015, for the first time in its history, our institution sent the clear, unequivocal message that no form of harassment is tolerated at the National Assembly, regardless of the perpetrator. This message was reiterated in the House in a motion hailing the Policy’s coming into Maryse Gaudreault force. Based on Best Practices and Adapted to the Parliamentary Context Maryse Gaudreault is the MNA for Hull. She was a member of a multi-party Working Group that developed a policy to prevent and manage situations involving harassment in the workplace for The Working Group met several times. After MNAs, their staff and all administrative staff at Quebec’s National analyzing the National Assembly’s existing policy Assembly. 2 CANADIAN PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW/SUMMER 2016 covering administrative employees as well as policies three groups in the course of their duties, regardless developed by other similar institutions, we consulted of the location or the perpetrator. The desire for various legal and community professionals to better uniformity, consistency and fairness marked our grasp the current legal status of situations involving work throughout the Policy’s development. Indeed, psychological harassment and the case law governing this is one of its greatest strengths. them. Our goal was to identify the main elements of an effective policy and to better understand what the Québec’s Legal Framework Governing Psychological individuals involved in such situations experience. Harassment in the Workplace Throughout the information sessions, we agreed that, first and foremost, a policy tailored to the Definition of psychological harassment National Assembly context should serve as a tool for prevention and providing information, not just as a The Act respecting labour standards applies to all means of resolving situations involving harassment. employers falling under provincial jurisdiction. When the Act was reformed, in 2004, Québec legislators From the outset, the Working Group had to keep adopted a unique definition of psychological certain realities in mind to guide us throughout the harassment to which the courts refer to ensure uniform policy development process. Our starting point was application in all harassment cases. Psychological the principle that the parliamentarians themselves harassment means: entrenched in Québec legislation in 2004, namely that “Every employee has a right to a work environment free Any vexatious behaviour in the form of repeated from psychological harassment”.4 This underscores and hostile or unwanted conduct, verbal employers’ responsibility to “take reasonable action comments, actions or gestures, that undermines to prevent psychological harassment and, whenever a person’s dignity or psychological or physical they become aware of such behaviour, to put a stop integrity and that results in a harmful work to it.”5 Our Policy adopted in June 2015 is based on environment for the person. the will of all MNAs and the National Assembly administration, as employers in their own right, to A single serious incidence of such behaviour ensure that the National Assembly remains a healthy, that has a lasting harmful effect on a person may harmonious work environment free from harassment. also constitute psychological harassment. Moreover, we could not ignore the reality of The definition of psychological harassment in a Parliament. The Policy is also adapted to the the Act respecting labour standards includes sexual unique features of the National Assembly as a work harassment in the workplace and harassment based environment. For example, not everyone in the on any of the grounds listed in the Québec Charter of Assembly

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