QUESTION PERIOD — Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration
Business of Committee
February 20, 2020
Honourable senators, my question is for the Chair of Internal Economy, Senator Marwah, and relates to the harassment policy.
As a former Speaker and former chair of Rules, which completed two separate studies on privilege in recent years, I understand the delicacies around parliamentary privilege, whether it be the Senate’s privilege as a whole or the privilege of individual senators. While I will defend privilege at all costs — certainly it is related to our ability to run our offices and to the protection of privileged documents, among other things — I also share the concern of many colleagues who have expressed their concern regarding individuals in terms of privilege being a shield to impede proper investigation of harassment complaints.
We know that Senator Saint-Germain and her Subcommittee on Human Resources recently deposited an interim report on the harassment policy, and of course that is the policy that the Senate has been following recently.
My question to you, Senator Marwah, is this: Have there been any complaints under the interim policy and process that have, as a result of privilege, impeded in any way investigations of harassment from going forward?
Thank you for the question. At the outset, I would say that parliamentary privilege does not imply complete impunity to do whatever you want with whomever you want. The idea of referring to rules is to define the boundaries under which parliamentary privilege applies in terms of how we treat staff and senators.
In terms of whether the case is before Internal Economy, I’m afraid that is confidential and I cannot comment.
Honourable senators, that in itself is a problem. I’m not asking the Chair of Internal Economy to comment on any specific case. What I’ve simply asked — and I think all senators have a right to know — is whether any complaints of harassment have been filed to HR that have been turned down because of privilege. This has nothing to do with breaching confidentiality of a claim, of a harassment complaint. We’re not asking you to share details. That, of course, is privileged information that Internal Economy has to deal with. But have we had any recent complaints of harassment, under your leadership, that have not proceeded to an investigation because of privilege? I think we have the right to know that.
I think in one particular case a senator brought an issue to my attention where the matter was turned down and has since been brought to my attention. She advised me that it is no longer confidential. I would say that, yes, it had been turned down because of privilege. I cannot comment on the other cases.
