Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members.

Thank you for inviting me to speak today and for taking the time to discuss a topic as important as workplace harassment.

My name is Yann Morin. I work for the Groupe d'aide et d'information sur le harcèlement sexuel au travail de la province de Québec, as known as GAIHST. I hold a master's degree in criminology. I've been working for GAIHST as a criminologist for almost 10 years now.

GAIHST was founded in 1980 to raise awareness about sexual harassment in the workplace. In 2024, GAIHST's mission is to help people who are experiencing or who have experienced sexual, psychological or discriminatory harassment in the workplace. We try to give power back to the people who contact us by providing information and support throughout their personal or legal processes.

We operate mainly in and around Montreal, but our services are available to anyone in Quebec. Our expertise lies primarily in non‑unionized environments within small and medium‑sized businesses in Quebec. However, we also support unionized workers in large companies.

Our services basically consist of providing assistance, a listening ear, legal information and technical support to people experiencing workplace harassment. In some cases, we also provide support and representation during legal proceedings. Lastly, we continue to provide public education and awareness services.

Today, I hope to pass on our expertise based on our first‑hand experience with these people.

In 2018, we had the opportunity to share our opinion on a similar issue, at the request of the Quebec government. At that time, GAIHST proposed to extend the deadline for filing a complaint for psychological harassment from 90 days to at least six months.

Since then, in light of the two‑year extension of the deadline for filing a complaint, we've reconsidered our point of view. This change clearly showed that victims need a longer time frame to take action. In our experience over the past few years, a two‑year time frame seems to align much more closely with victims' needs.

This need stems from the far‑reaching impact of these acts for individuals. We continue to find that most of our clients are on sick leave as a result of the incidents reported and that the end of employment will occur close to or during the sick leave. Given the impact on their health, these people need more time to feel ready to start the process of filing a complaint or any other process.

The people who come to our organization will generally receive a diagnosis of post‑traumatic stress disorder, major depression or adjustment disorder. For example, the National Institute of Mental Health provides a good summary of the reality of people who develop post‑traumatic stress disorder. The symptoms generally appear within three months of the incidents. While some people may recover within six months of the onset of symptoms, a number of people may need a year or more to recover. Regardless of the medical diagnosis, these people can rarely take action in such short time frames.

In terms of our experience with the two‑year deadline for filing a complaint, we find that not many people who contact us have trouble starting the complaint process within this time frame. In recent years, we've only rarely needed to explain to a victim that their deadline for filing a complaint had passed. A number of people who contact us manage to file their complaint within a year or two of the harassment.

However, the deadline for filing a work‑related injury claim is six months from the onset of the illness in cases of non‑sexual violence. We continue to maintain that it should also be two years. We regularly need to inform people that their six‑month deadline has passed when they contact us for the first time. This also ties in with a recent study conducted by Rachel Cox. She had access to statistics from the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail du Québec, or CNESST, concerning claims involving sexual violence. Ms. Cox also discovered that the most common reason for rejection was a late claim.

As a result, we support this proposal to extend the deadline for taking steps to address workplace harassment to at least two years. The goal is to improve access to recourse for these individuals, who suffer enormous consequences for their health, their professional lives and their personal lives.

I remain open to discussing issues concerning complaints, as my colleague said. Quebec has legal proceedings that aren't available in Canada. I also believe that this could be quite beneficial for victims.

Thank you.

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