Honourable senators, I rise to speak to Senator Dyck’s inquiry calling the attention of the Senate to the deficiencies or gaps in the policies of the Senate of Canada, compared to other parliamentary bodies, on behaviours of individual senators that constitute bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct that occur during parliamentary proceedings.

I will make the case that, despite progress, action is needed to make our Parliament and Senate a gender-equal place and that Senator Dyck’s inquiry must receive unanimous support to be urgently addressed.

Colleagues, I feel bewildered. I am proud to be working for the progress and well-being of all Canadians, but I couldn’t have imagined myself standing to talk about harassment perpetrated by senators against senators in this chamber, which has been called the house of sober second thought, a council of elders, an advisory body, protection against the tyranny of the majority.

I know a vast number of us believe, speak and act following the highest ethics and respect moral principles that include honesty, fairness, equality and dignity. Sadly, for reasons I don’t completely understand, many subtle but also explicit forms of violence take place within this chamber during committee work or through the media.

I thank Senator Dyck for her courage in bringing this problem to light and for publicly standing up to inappropriate behaviour from some fellow senators. I was shocked by her testimony. I can’t remain indifferent nor allow silence to be taken as my implicit approval of non-parliamentary language or behaviour.

In preparation for this speech, I watched the video of the committee. I read, I consulted professionals and discussed with many colleagues, female and male, from all groups and caucuses. One word kept coming back: disgusting.

Honourable senators, I want to share some statistics that illustrate the increase in violence against women in politics. Subtle attacks include sexual jokes, sexist comments, the wage gap, the glass ceiling effect, barriers to leadership, intimidation tactics and threats, physical and emotional abuse, and physical and sexual violence. These attacks are commonplace in Canadian politics and have recently been experienced by Shannon Philipps, Rachel Notley and Catherine McKenna, to name just a few.

I also encourage you to read the 2019 report from the Standing Committee on Status of Women in the other place to learn about how sexist media coverage and violence and harassment are factors that deter women from pursuing a career in politics.

An Inter-Parliamentary Union survey of women in 39 countries in five regions of the world found that 82% of women parliamentarians had experienced psychological violence, 65% had suffered sexist remarks, 44% had received serious threats, 25% had experienced physical violence and 20% had experienced sexual harassment.

If we allow for subtle aggressions to happen, escalation will definitely occur. Zero tolerance must become the norm. The same study mentions that only 21% of national parliaments have a policy on harassment against MPs, and 48% has such a policy for parliamentary staff. Furthermore, only 28% have a procedure for complaints from MPs, and 53% for complaints from parliamentary staff.

Women are increasingly seeking political positions. It’s just normal. They constitute 51% of the population, so it’s fair that they are equally represented and take part in decision making. Further, studies show that women’s presence in politics has improved legislation and increased confidence in democratic institutions. The same House of Commons 2019 report concluded:

It is undeniable that women’s increased political participation as elected officials leads to better social, economic and political outcomes for everyone. From increased attention on issues that impact women’s lives to an often more collaborative working environment, increasing meaningful representation of women in politics is a crucial factor in strengthening Canada’s democracy.

Studies mention a critical mass that constitutes the tipping point for a socio-political change to happen; this mass is around 30%. As women have approached and crossed this threshold, as we have in this chamber, their increased presence has been received by a majority of men with joy and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, studies also warn of a backlash in the form of resistance from patriarchal ideology that doesn’t accept the influx, presence or leadership brought by women to Parliament.

In 2009, the Senate of Canada became one of the national institutions that equipped itself with a policy on the prevention and resolution of harassment in the workplace. The Senate might have lauded itself for creating such a needed policy if its enforcement hadn’t been proven to be extremely weak. Indeed, a series of scandals have allowed some senators to verbally abuse other senators, intimidate each other in parliamentary proceedings and online, and sexually assault Senate staff. During past and ongoing crises, we have seen a reluctant and sometimes dismissive attempt to shuffle through harassment complaints relating to disgraced former Senator Don Meredith. Some have tried to minimize the impacts of complaints by proposing secretive procedures and barely consulting the victims; administrators have had their hands tied or assist little in bringing timely justice to victims.

The implementation of the 2009 policy to prevent harassment could be unfortunately considered a disaster. I said “could” because we have not been officially informed about the extent of the harassment problem. Yet, we all know the Senate’s reputation is tarnished. During the course of her speech, Senator Dyck said:

. . . there is no way for a senator to bring forth a complaint of harassment during Senate proceedings by another senator. . . .

This issue remains unsettled, as this chamber has neither discussed nor ruled on that. I am deeply troubled to hear that claims were rejected on the basis of parliamentary privilege without the issue of its interaction with the policy ever being discussed among us in this chamber.

Maybe it is worth reminding that harassment could lead to a criminal offence and is punishable by law. Are we encouraging senators to take their complaints to the Canadian Human Rights Commission because they cannot proceed in the Senate? Are we suggesting that Bill C-65, which received Royal Assent in 2018 — An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (harassment and violence), the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act and the Budget Implementation Act — does not apply to senators?

It is clear that several issues need to be discussed, particularly with respect to the definition and extent of parliamentary privilege. One point is clear: No senator’s harassing behaviour should be shielded by parliamentary privilege. The decision on the extent of parliamentary privilege cannot be made by administrators, one single senator or even one committee. This must be made by the Senate with the assistance of neutral, external expert advice.

The House of Commons procedure describes parliamentary privilege as the rights and immunities that are deemed necessary for parliamentarians to fulfill their functions. It also refers to the powers possessed by Parliament “to protect itself, its members and its procedures from undue interference so that they can carry out effectively their principal functions which are to legislate, deliberate and hold the government to account.”

Senators, the 2009 policy was adopted with full understanding of the century-old existence of parliamentary privilege, and yet it does not mention it. How can this silence be interpreted as clearly saying that parliamentary privilege applies to harassment complaints and shield senators? Rather, this silence could have equally been interpreted as an acknowledgement that the confidential process provided by the policy is an adequate way to protect victims, as well as parliamentary privilege, as no information is publicly disclosed.

As it happens, the Senate, through the CIBA Committee, established an interim process that would clarify how the resolution process for any future harassment complaint would be handled until a new, updated policy would take effect. A 2019 email from Senator Marwah was sent to every senator and Senate staff member, providing a seven-step procedure for any harassment policy complaint. My office could not find any proceeding or speech on the introduction of this policy by CIBA, as it was most likely done in camera. We are therefore unaware of the deliberations on the policy addressing parliamentary privilege. Speaking exactly to this issue, the Inter-Parliamentary Union developed guidelines in 2019 that state that lifting privilege to address bullying or harassment by parliamentarians would not adversely impact freedom of speech or the core functions of Parliament. What it may well do, says the Inter-Parliamentary Union, is inhibit further misconduct of that kind and hopefully eradicate it all together.

Since there is nothing in the language of the policy that supports an intention that parliamentary privilege supersedes our self-imposed harassment policy, the policy should apply in parliamentary proceedings. The important decision — to assume that parliamentary privilege can be used as a shield against scrutiny into bullying behaviour — cannot be unilaterally taken by any administrator, whip or committee chair. It must be debated among us parliamentarians, and we should debate, fully cognizant of the context of increasing violence against women in politics.

We have learned in this chamber that complaints had been lodged under this policy with human resources. I would like to request that CIBA and human resources publicly disclose the number of formal complaints they received during the last Parliament, and how many of those have been rejected and on what basis.

The Senate is an old institution. I believe the issue of parliamentary privilege in the context of harassment and/or conflict of interest is not new, and legal advice and opinions must have been requested from outside experts by CIBA or the Ethics Committee. It will accelerate the debate if such expertise and opinions were shared with all of us. In its absence, I would request a legal opinion on this matter by the Office of the Law Clerk, to be shared with all senators in order to enlighten our deliberations.

The House of Commons categorizes the rights and immunities with parliamentary privilege as: freedom of speech; freedom from arrest and civil actions; exemption from jury duty; exemption from being subpoenaed to attend court as a witness; and freedom from obstruction, interference, intimidation and molestation.

Nowhere in any description of parliamentary privilege is there any mention of a right to harass others with impunity. On the contrary, a senator who is the victim of harassment is clearly being deprived of his or her protection from all obstruction, interference, intimidation and molestation. Action definitely needs to be taken to respond to such violations. In fact, the House of Commons found that intimidating or attempting to intimidate a Speaker during parliamentary proceedings constitutes a violation of parliamentary privilege. Such a violation occurs when an individual criticizes the Speaker’s impartiality or tries to influence a Speaker’s ruling by insinuating that the Speaker should be removed from his or her position.

Yes, two minutes.

That’s okay. I understand why.