A new platform aims to inform employees of their legal protections
Canada’s federal government is funding the development of an online tool designed to empower employees who encounter violence and harassment in the workplace.
Employment and Social Development Canada will allocate $2.7m to the project dubbed Roadmap to Future Workplaces. The digital platform aims to inform employees of their legal protections against harassment and guide through the process of filing a complaint.
Apart from providing industry-specific resources and digital and face-to-face training sessions, the platform also enables organizations and labour unions to come together to plan their course of action.
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“There’s a concrete process for organizations to take steps to tackle the issue of workplace harassment and violence,” Employment Minister Patty Hajdu said in a statement to the media.
Hajdu believes having the opportunity to “create the space to have those conversations and develop those tools” will help organizations and workers “move forward together.”
For Mia Kirshner, one of the co-founders of AfterMeToo, the project serves to raise people’s awareness of anti-harassment laws and hold employers accountable for their failure to uphold workers’ rights. It also helps leaders re-assess their handling of harassment complaints.
“Our goal is to work with leadership to see that there’s a lot more transparency, and to lead to independent adjudication and investigation and to arm workers with their rights and choice,” Kirshner said.
