Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The questions will be directed to the Minister responsible for Finance and human resources. The first question I have for the Minister is: how many harassment complaints does this government receive annually? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member for Hay River South. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We receive an average of 27 complaints per year.
A follow-up is: what is the most common workplace harassment complaint?
The most common workplace complaint cites either personal harassment or abuse of authority.
I would like to ask the Minister: on a percentage basis, what is the outcome in favour of the complainant?
On some occasions, certainly, alternative remedies would be recommended or utilized, which take an approach that is not necessarily ending with a win/loss per se, but, to the extent that there is a tracking of those that do have a formal finding, it is 68 percent that come out in favour of the complainant.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to also ask the Minister: what, if anything, is the Minister's department doing to ensure government employees are provided due process and fairness? Thank you.
We certainly do have a policy on harassment-free and respectful workplace. That is a stated policy of the Department of Finance and human resources. Indeed, there is to be an updated policy with new accompanying guidelines expected to come out this fiscal year. With that, of course, there needs to be significant training done to ensure that not only managers but employees and managers are aware of those policies. To date, I can say we have had over 550 employees and over 630 managers participate in the existing harassment-free and respectful workplace training, with much more to come. Some of that slowed down during COVID, although we have shifted to online models of training over the last year.
I say all this, and yet I want to say that there is always more that needs to get done. We also have a strong partnership with the union. Employees can always go to their union. They should be employing their workplace policy, and I really encourage them to do that. I will say one last thing. Interestingly, when people have their training and become aware of their policies, sometimes complaints actually go up. That is not a bad thing. That means people are aware of their rights, aware of the tools that they have in their workplace to solve these issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister. Oral questions. Member for Monfwi.
