IQALUIT
A group of Nunavummiut who meet in Iqaluit are reviewing the sexual harassment policies of some of Nunavut's biggest employers. However, members of the group, who get together on a regular basis, don't want their identities known.

"They fear reprisals ... they don't want their names or identities revealed. There's clearly an environment of fear and intimidation that is very prevalent," said Iqaluit Mayor Madeleine Redfern. "People who are trying to come to the meeting or exchanging e-mails or private messages simply are not feeling safe."

Redfern has been organizing the meetings, which started in early August. They include people from across professional occupations, including government, Inuit organizations and the private sector. "They are very, very passionate and engaged about working on doing something that brings about real change," she said. "We must get beyond simply talking about the issue or ignoring the issue."

But the fact that they don't want to be named, she says, is telling.

According to a 2014 poll by the Angus Reid Institute, three in 10 Canadians, or 28 per cent, say they have been on the receiving end of requests for sexual favours, sexually-charged talk while on the job or unwelcome sexual advances.

One in seven adults, or 14 per cent, have experienced sexual touching or serious unwanted sexual contact in their careers. The poll found that women are around four times more likely to be harassed than men.

The poll also concluded that four out of five people who had been harassed do not report the behaviour to their employers. Women in isolated, Nunavut communities - particularly indigenous women - may find themselves even more vulnerable and reluctant to report.

"The person that's been subjected to harassment can find themselves also being now harassed by spouses or family members or friends, especially if a formal complaint has been issued," said Redfern. "And because we live in such small communities, especially when that happens, we're now finding someone who has been subjected to inappropriate incidents in the workplace now finds it extremely difficult to be able to live in the community."

Pauktuutit, the national representative organization of Inuit women in Canada, recently released a study, conducted in partnership with the School of Social Work at the University of British Columbia.

It found that 49.2 per cent of female respondents employed or formerly employed at the Meadowbank gold mine reported that sexual harassment at the mine was a problem. An additional 28.8 percent also reported increased harassment in their home community.

Pauktuutit president Rebecca Kudloo believes the issue extends across Nunavut.

"The results of our research were upsetting, but definitely not shocking. Harassment in the workplace is a widespread issue affecting women in a variety of job sectors and workplaces. This issue represents the need to deal with the existing gender and power imbalances," she stated in a news release. "Harassment and abuse in the workplace cannot be tolerated."

Redfern says the goal of the working group is to create a unified policy that could be applied and enforced territory wide.

"Just having a policy that is in a manual is often insufficient," said Redfern. "And what many women and victims of abuse have said is that often the person who engaged in inappropriate behaviour didn't even realize that they were violating the policy."

All of this, Redfern says, can lead to a woman leaving a job to escape harassment or retribution for reporting the harassment.

"There's been quite a number of people who've told me that even when they've laid an official formal complaint, nothing of real consequence happened as a result of the investigation," she said. "And more often than not what ends up happening is that the victim of sexual harassment ends up leaving their employment."

This is a problem when one considers a person's need to find employment. Pauktuutit's study on the Meadowbank mine found that 50 per cent of respondents cited the need for funds as the reason they took the job, while another 29.2 per cent indicated it was the only job available.

Federal Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdu said workplace harassment is part of country-wide consultations on gender-based violence that brought her to Yellowknife on Sept. 1.

"We know that when a woman is feeling harassed in the workplace, whether it's from someone outside of the workplace or someone in the workplace, that it affects her ability to do her job well, her mental health and in some cases her physical rights," said Hajdu. "In order to reach gender equality, women have to feel safe in the spaces that they occupy."

The current policy for employee of the Government of Nunavut includes a reference to sexual harassment in the general anti-harassment policy. It defines sexual harassment as any action that degrades, humiliates or embarrasses a person, including touching or eyeing, inquiring about a person's sex life, persistently asking someone out for a date after they've refused, sending sexually suggestive letters or messages, unwelcome comments and jokes and telling a person they are not suited for a particular job because of their sex.

But Redfern says it's not enough.

"Clearly the policy is inadequate. The policy doesn't deal with issues where there's a person in power or in a position of power over a staff member who feels unable to either reject harassment or sexual harassment or is unable to complain because of that behaviour or that it is effectively even witnessed and condoned by others, including in some cases, supervisors," she said.

"It would be good ... to see the leaders commit to ensuring ... that people who have been subjected to such feel safe to be able to make a complaint and it does get treated seriously and these types of behaviour, you know, stops."

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