My question is to Senator Gold, please. It relates to the follow-up to Bill C-65.

In 2008, Canada committed to addressing the pervasive problem of workplace violence and harassment by enacting Bill C-65 with new reporting requirements in the Canada Labour Code, such as tracking occurrences of sexual violence, discrimination and harassment in federally regulated workplaces, including in this place for the first time.

Given the dearth of Canadian data on workplace harassment and violence and the severe effects on the affected workers, who are disproportionately women, members of visible minorities, persons with disabilities and gender-diverse people, this new law promised to shine a light on the nature and prevalence by requiring federal employers to submit annual reports to the minister and by committing the Minister of Labour to table annual reports in both houses of Parliament, summarizing the information submitted by employers. However, annual employer monitoring and reporting was delayed nearly three years after Bill C-65 became law.

As the five-year anniversary approaches since the bill came into force, and two employer reporting cycles have now come and gone, Canadians have yet to see the publication of any report by the Minister of Labour on the results of monitoring efforts so essential for strengthening harassment and violence prevention efforts and holding perpetrators accountable.

Senator Gold, why has the government delayed addressing the prevalence of federal workplace harassment and violence, in particular, sexual misconduct? When can Canadians expect to see the Minister of Labour’s overdue reports? Will the minister’s reports note if non-disclosure agreements have been secretly used to settle sexual misconduct complaints?