Baxter Arts Centre is committed to ensuring a workplace free of harassment, bullying, and discrimination. In pursuit of this, Baxter Arts Centre will not tolerate any harassment, bullying, or discrimination. Baxter Arts Centre is further committed to investigating any complaints regarding workplace harassment, bullying, and/or discrimination, using the method of progressive discipline, up to and including the point of termination of work for the perpetrator(s).

Canada’s Criminal Code specifically lays out matters such as violent acts, sexual assault, threats, and behaviours such as stalking. In the event of any of the above, Baxter Arts Centre will immediately contact the police.

Scope

For the purpose of this policy, ‘workers’ includes employees, independent contractors, temporary workers, students, board members, and volunteers, unless otherwise specified.

This anti-harassment policy is applicable to all workers at Baxter Arts Centre and covers occurrences of workplace harassment from all sources, such as customers, clients, the employer, supervisors, workers and members of the public.

Definitions

Harassment is defined by the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act as “engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace, including virtually through the use of information and communications technology, that is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome.” This definition includes sexual harassment, personal harassment, psychological harassment, and bullying.

Workplace harassment does not include reasonable actions taken by an employer or supervisor relating to the management or direction of workers in the workplace.

Sexual Harassment under the Occupational Health and Safety Act is defined as: “Engaging in a course of vexatious comment or conduct against a worker in a workplace, including virtually through the use of information and communications technology, because of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, where the course of comment or conduct is known or ought reasonably to be known to be unwelcome, or making a sexual solicitation or advance where the person making the solicitation or advance is in a position to confer, grant or deny a benefit or advancement to the worker and the person knows or ought reasonably to know that the solicitation or advance is unwelcome.”

Note that this Anti-Harassment Policy is administered in conjunction with Baxter Arts Centre’s Human Rights Policy and includes freedom from discrimination under any of the grounds established by the Ontario Human Rights Code, including race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed (religion), sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age (18 and over), marital status (including same sex partners), family status, disability, and record of offences.

Common harassing behaviours can include (but are not limited to):

  • Rumour spreading;
  • Jokes about sex;
  • Email chains with jokes about specific individuals;
  • Excluding individuals from work-related activities;
  • Reviewing work unfairly or trivial fault-finding; and
  • Belittling behaviour or comments.

Harassment can either occur over a period, or in a specific instance, depending on the specific situation.

Policy

Baxter Arts Centre encourages all of its workers who witness or who are victim to harassment, bullying, or discrimination to bring forward the information as soon as possible so that an investigation may immediately commence.

In pursuit of a harassment-free environment, Baxter Arts Centre is committed to fully preventing and/or addressing any instances of harassment, including sexual harassment, by:

  • Providing education and training to ensure that all workers understand their rights and responsibilities regarding harassment;
  • Ensuring that supervisors understand how to respond to incidents of harassment, including how to collect information, how to act, how to deal with confidentiality, how to document, and how to keep records;
  • Methodically monitoring or adjusting Baxter Arts Centre’s systems for any barriers, including any barriers regarding any protected grounds laid out in the Ontario Human Rights Code and Baxter Arts Centre’s Human Rights Policy;
  • Reviewing their Anti-Harassment program with the Health and Safety Committee
  • Providing a procedure for complaints (outlined below) that is fair, timely, and effective;
  • Ensuring to promote appropriate standards of conduct

This policy also prohibits any person at Baxter Arts Centre who is able to grant or deny a benefit to another worker from sexually soliciting or making advances on that person. This could include co- worker to co-worker, or supervisors and managers to employees. Further, any reprisals for the rejection of these advances are not permitted.

Baxter Arts Centre will also not permit the creation of a poisoned work environment, as created by comments or any forms of conduct that are known to be unwelcome. Baxter Arts Centre will investigate all complaints to prevent this poisoned environment. In addition, any workers who experience harassment while in the course of work for Baxter Arts Centre have the right to file a complaint without any fear of reprisal. Baxter Arts Centre will ensure that an investigation is conducted into any incidents or complaints of workplace harassment, as appropriate.

Employee and Supervisor Responsibilities

All Baxter Arts Centre workers have the responsibility to adhere to the contents of this policy and refrain from enacting or condoning any form(s) of harassment. Further, all workers have the responsibility of fully cooperating in any investigations into complaints of harassment.

All Baxter Arts Centre supervisors and board members have an additional responsibility of acting immediately upon either receiving a complaint of harassment or witnessing it themselves. Supervisors and board members are responsible for the creation and maintenance of a harassment-free workplace and must immediately investigate as soon as any forms of harassment become known in the workplace.

Complaint Procedure

At Baxter Arts Centre, complaints regarding harassment, bullying, or discrimination may be brought forward to:

  • Carolyn Sinclair, Baxter Arts Centre President + Board Chair or Mary Warner, Treasurer and Board Director
  • An alternate report may be made to Bailey Austin-Macmillan, Secretary and Board Director if either of the above are the alleged harasser(s).
  • Immediately upon receipt of a complaint, an investigation will be started in a fair and timely manner (2-5 business days) and additional information and context will be sought. The investigation may include:
    • A review of the details of the incident;
    • Separate interview(s) with the parties involved and any witnesses;
    • Examination of any relevant documents, emails, notes, photographs, or video;
    • A decision about whether the complaint constitutes workplace harassment,
    • The preparation of a report which summarizes:
      • the incident,
      • the steps of the investigation,
      • the evidence collected,
      • and any findings
  • Baxter Arts Centre will ensure that harassment investigations are prioritized and concluded in a timely and appropriate manner (30-60 days).
    • Note that this timeline may be extended in cases where the investigation involves more than 2 people, has suitable complexity, and/or there are persons who are away on leave or unavailable for interviews.
  • Baxter Arts Centre will take appropriate measures to ensure that workers and/or witnesses involved in filing the complaint are protected, as necessary. Baxter Arts Centre will ensure that these changes do not penalize any worker who brought forward a complaint or any witness to the complaint. Workers will not be penalized for reporting an incident or participating in a workplace harassment investigation.
  • The worker who disclosed the complaint, as well as the alleged harasser (provided they are both workers at Baxter Arts Centre), will be kept up to date on the investigation and will be promptly notified of the results of the investigation and any progressive disciplines to be taken.

Confidentiality

Baxter Arts Centre will not disclose any information regarding a complaint of harassment (including any identifying personal information of any of the individuals involved), unless the disclosure is necessary. The disclosure may become necessary for the purposes of investigating the complaint, taking disciplinary action, or as required by law.

All parties involved in a workplace harassment complaint, including complainants, respondents, witnesses, managers, and support persons, are expected to treat the matter and any information they become aware of as confidential. No party shall discuss the matter or associated details with other workers or witnesses. A worker may face disciplinary action if it is determined that they have failed to adhere to these confidentiality expectations.

All investigation notes and full reports will be retained in a separate file and are not to be saved in worker personnel files. Investigation outcome letters and disciplinary action will be saved in applicable worker files only when the complaint has been verified and is found to be in breach of this policy.

Any reports resulting from an investigation into complaints of harassment, discrimination, or bullying are not considered to be Occupational Health and Safety reports and will not be shared with the safety committee.

Please Note: This policy is available online (this page) and in the policy binder at Baxter Arts Centre. It will be reviewed as often as necessary, but at least annually.

Approved by Board: February 26, 2026

To Be Reviewed by: February 26, 2027