Confronting Violence and Harassment in Westminster Parliamentary Workplaces: Lessons for Canada
Once heralded as a leader in tackling gender-based violence and harassment in a parliamentary workplace, Canada’s House of Commons (and, to a lesser degree, its Senate) have fallen behind other large Westminster parliaments when it comes to implementing strong guidelines, reporting mechanisms, and penalties for misconduct. Parliaments in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand have all taken steps to establish public-facing independent workplace reviews and to employ a broader recognition that institutional cultural change is required throughout parliament to address gender-based violence and harassment. In this article, the author traces Canada’s internationally lauded pathbreaking initiatives to target harassment within parliamentary workspaces, explains why other Westminster parliaments have surpassed our federal parliament’s current practices and offers suggestions for how Canada can learn from the experience of others in order to strengthen the systems in place on Parliament Hill and in parliamentary spaces beyond.