Minutes of the 63^rd meeting of the Service-Wide Committee on Occupational Health and Safety held on July 16, 2020

1. Adoption of the agenda
   
   

   The agenda was adopted.

2. Presentation: Bill C-65 and the new Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations
   
   

   Duncan Shaw, Senior Director, and Ana-Maria Iliescu Stieghelbauer, Policy Officer, Occupational Health and Safety, Labour Program provided an overview of Bill C-65 by indicating the key amendments to the Canada Labour Code (“the Code”), to the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act (PESRA), and the new Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations. Under the Code, there had been separate regimes to address workplace violence and sexual harassment, creating an imbalance with respect to the treatment of these issues. With Bill C-65, there is one regime under Part II of the Code to address a range of reprehensible behaviors. It also provides strong privacy protections to ensure complaints about harassment and violence are treated confidentially. It was explained that the new regime applies, apart from the federal public service, to federally-regulated private sector industries, consisting of about 1.2 million employees and 19,000 employers. Additionally, Bill C-65 also applies to Parliament Hill and Ministerial Exempt Staff.

   It was explained that the significant amendments to the Code are the stronger definition of harassment and violence and that the purpose of Part II specifically includes the prevention of harassment and violence and physical and psychological injuries and illnesses.
   
   Shaw noted that an amendment made to the PESRA is that Part II of the Code applies to the Parliamentary Precinct. Given that Parliamentary privilege must be respected, any appeal by the Minister of Labour must be brought to the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB) and a Labour Program officer must notify the Speaker of the Senate or the House of Commons and provide any direction to the Speaker for tabling in the House in some circumstances. Due to the political conflict of interest, the Deputy Minister of Labour is granted Ministerial powers in these cases.
   
   A. Iliescu Stieghelbauer provided an overview of the new Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations which will replace Part XX of the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (COHSR). These were published on the Canada Gazette on June 24, 2020, and are coming into force January 1, 2021. Employers will be required to follow specific steps in the resolution process within the prescribed timelines when responding to all notifications of harassment and violence. In the Regulations, a key obligation of employers is to work jointly with their workplace’s policy committee, workplace committee and health and safety representative to develop a workplace harassment and violence prevention policy, conduct assessments, develop and implement training as well as implementing recommendations from investigations and assessments. The Regulations were developed through a tripartite consultation process, consisting of 9 roundtables across Canada, 6 WebExs, and the Labour Program’s 19 additional consultation events.
   
   Last year, the Labour Program started a Work Place Harassment and Violence Prevention Fund to support the implementation of the new Regulations and help guide cultural change for harassment and violence in the workplace. It was noted that a variety of project sponsors are developing tools, training, and resources to contribute to this initiative. In addition, the Labour Program developed a working group with employers and unions to develop the Interpretation, Policies and Guidelines (IPG) guidance document to help implementation. It was also noted that the Labour Program did a call-out for candidates to develop a roster of pre-approved investigators. The stakeholder working group is reviewing these applications and will develop the roster this fall.

   The Committee was pleased to receive this presentation and had several questions and comments for the presenters. Given that the federal public service relies on many contractors, A. Peart sought clarification with regards to the employer’s obligations towards non-public service employees working in the various workplaces of the Government of Canada.  A. Iliescu Stieghelbauer noted that the Labour Program is currently awaiting a clarification from their legal team with respect to this issue and that they will inform the Committee once they are in a position to do so.

   Following a question, A. Iliescu Stieghelbauer confirmed that as of January 1, 2021, the current Part XX of the COHSR will be repealed, however, a complaint that is submitted before this date will be addressed as if Part XX was still in place.

   One member asked if the Labour Program would share the qualifications that were examined when developing the roster of investigators for workplace harassment and violence prevention investigations. By doing so, it would be possible to ensure that the various internal rosters are aligned with the roster from the Labour Program. D. Shaw noted that they would be happy to share the criteria with the Committee. With respect to the roster of investigators, it was also asked what the number of applications was and how many were screened in. A. Iliescu Stieghelbauer confirmed that there are close to 300 applicants and it is expected that there will be 200 qualified investigators. It was noted that the application deadline closes this month and recommended that the Committee encourage any potential candidates in their networks to apply.

   One member asked what the procurement procedures will be for accessing the list once it is developed, to which the presenters indicated that they are not currently in a position to provide an answer to this question, but that they will provide a response at a later date. It was also questioned as to whether the Labour Program is tracking any overlap with individuals who are also screened into the National Master Standing Offer (NMSO) through PSPC. While this is not being examined at this time, the presenters noted that this could be looked into.

   It was questioned what will be done to address structural racism for the assessment under the new Regulations and it was mentioned that these Regulations should mention race and religion. D. Shaw noted that the IPG and other documents will explicitly use race and religion as examples. It was also mentioned that it is the employer and the workplace committee or the health and safety representative who will complete the joint review and update once a complaint is submitted. The Regulations require that the circumstances of the occurrence are taken into account when completing the review.

   One member mentioned that under the new Regulations, the employer must conduct an initial review of every notice of an occurrence and noted the lack of parameters with respect to what this would involve. A. Iliescu Stieghelbauer noted that the idea for the initial review is to ascertain whether the principle party could be identified and the details of the occurrence would fall under the Negotiated Resolution section to compare the definition of harassment and violence with the notice of occurrence.

   Following a question about monitoring and compliance with the new Regulations, A. Iliescu Stieghelbauer noted that the TBS submission has given additional funding for further resources that could be used for monitoring purposes. D. Shaw added that there is a harassment and violence hub where complaints for harassment and violence get initially reviewed by Early Intervention Officers. Once the new Regulations come into effect, the Labour Program will have additional Officers.

3. Update from the Sub-Committees:

   1. Competent Persons
      
      A. Peart indicated that the Competent Persons Assessment Tool and the Statement of Work documents are ready to be sent out; however, they pertain to the current Part XX of the Regulations which will be repealed in January 2021. It was mentioned that distributing these tools before reviewing and aligning them with the new Regulations would likely create confusion. As such, A. Peart and C. Seeton sought the opinion of the Committee as to whether these documents should still be sent out as soon as possible or if the Competent Persons sub-committee should align these tools with the new Regulations before sending it to departments.
      
      It was agreed to ask the Competent Persons sub-committee to update the Assessment Tool and the Statement of Work based on the new Regulations and to distribute these tools only once they are reviewed. It was further decided that the sub-committee will aim to send to Departments the new version of these documents by mid-September following the updates.
      
      
   2. OHS Training/Learning Sub-Committee
      
      

      Further to the presentation from the Labour Program and the initiative of the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) to develop training materials related to the Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations, the Committee discussed the importance that the OHS Training/Learning sub-committee participates in this initiative from the CSPS. C. Zovatto noted that the CSPS reached out to Departments on what training packages they might have with respect to harassment and violence. It was mentioned that the CSPS is ready to meet at the beginning of next week.

      The Committee agreed to mandate the sub-committee to review the drafts that the CSPS has made and to provide input.

   3. Legalization of Cannabis
      
      The Committee advisor mentioned that, given the COVID-19 pandemic, the sub-committee has not met since the last SWOHS meeting. The next step would be to schedule a sub-committee meeting for mid-September, once the sub-committee members are available.

4. Standing Items
   1. Asbestos
      
      Nil report.
      
      
   2. Legionella
      
      

      Nil report.

5. Round table
   
   C. Zovatto noted that the draft Directive on the Prevention and Resolution of Workplace Harassment and Violence as well as the draft Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Policy Template should be reviewed by the Committee as these were adjusted to reflect the new Regulations. These documents could be sent secretarially by the end of next week and members would have two weeks to review and provide comments. It was suggested that an ad-hoc meeting be scheduled for August to discuss the documents.
   
6. Next Meeting
   
   The next meeting is scheduled on September 17, 2020.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 a.m.