Please i need help... is this article biased or not biased and why? thank you very much:)i am very confused..
OTTAWA — Nearly 15 years after a senior Mountie warned the RCMP it needed to tackle pervasive workplace harassment, the national police force must show it takes the problem seriously by taking swift action, says a new independent report.
The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP says that without a proper tracking system and a common understanding of what is and isn’t appropriate workplace behaviour, it’s impossible for the RCMP to know the “magnitude” of its harassment problem.
In a report released Thursday, the RCMP watchdog agency revealed the results of an in-depth review of more than six years’ worth of harassment files that covered all kinds of bullying, not just sexual harassment.
Its findings were supposed to provide Canadians assurance that the RCMP does not sweep allegations under the carpet.
Instead, it could only provide a partial conclusion: that “for the most part” the Mounties appeared to deal with 718 complaints filed from 2005 to 2011 in accordance with the harassment policy set out on Feb. 1, 2005. The commission said it did not find a systemic problem with sexual harassment in the force. Sexual harassment made up just 4 per cent of complaints.
But the commission discovered the RCMP’s harassment policy is vague, open to widely varying interpretations and application across Canada, and its researchers found a glaring gap in documentation.
Most cases were diverted to an informal resolution process where few records are kept and so “it is impossible to say” whether they were properly handled or resolved, commission chair Ian McPhail said.
And, adds McPhail, “quite obviously there is no reporting on complaints that weren’t made because the victim was of the opinion it could harm his or her career or they were intimidated.”
The commission made 11 recommendations to chart a “roadmap” for change.
They focus on better tracking and monitoring of complaints, better data collection, better training for RCMP supervisors and harassment investigators, clearer definitions of “harassment” and “workplace conflict,” speedier timelines for resolution, regular and publicly-reported evaluations of progress, and an external review mechanism of harassment decisions.
“There’s a very real human cost to the people involved and there’s a very real cost to the RCMP itself, both in the loss of service, of trained people, and in terms of public confidence,” said McPhail. “So absolutely there’s a problem, and that won’t be solved until you have a systematic approach to this thing.”
Comm. Bob Paulson, in a separate report released Thursday on Gender and Respect in the RCMP, said he has already moved to create such a system. McPhail says that effort is “a work in progress.”
Paulson said Bill C-42, which will give RCMP managers more powers to deal quickly with disciplinary cases and provide more robust civilian review, will help. McPhail agreed, but added legislation alone won’t solve it.
Most of the files reviewed — 90 per cent — involved “bullying, psychological abuse, and belittling and demeaning behaviour.” Harassment targeting an individual’s ethnicity or disability made up 6 per cent of complaints, with the other 4 per cent classified as sexual harassment.
Most of those bullied were uniformed Mounties — 61 per cent — not civilian workers. Nearly half the time they were men, 49 per cent, compared to 44 per cent women filling complaints. In the rest, 7 per cent, gender was not clear.
Although the report says the RCMP is not the worst in Canada — it ranked 7th of 10 large but unnamed police services who provided data — McPhail said the results should comfort no one.
The watchdog agency did not interview many, such as Janet Merlo, a former Mountie and lead plaintiff in efforts to certify a class-action lawsuit against the RCMP on behalf of up to 200 women.
Merlo, advised not to participate because her case is now before a B.C. court, said the report could not reveal the true scope of harassment because so many women “suffered in silence for years.”
“We never complained because we had nobody to complain to. We had no faith in the process and we kept our mouths shut.” She despairs that anything will change “until I see some action. All I’ve seen so far is lip service.”
In 1999, Garry Loeppky, the RCMP’s chief human resources officer, issued a force-wide alert after an internal survey of uniformed Mounties found 60 per cent of female RCMP members reported being the victim of sexual harassment in the workplace, a much higher number than complaints filed — a disparity Loeppky said was a “great concern.”
“The cost of harassment goes far beyond the financial costs, such as extended leave, investigations, grievances etc., but more importantly, extends to the emotional cost on its victims,” wrote Loeppky.
Bias means it is one-sided, unfair and trying to make you agree with their opinion.
Unbiased means there is no slant to it and they just are reporting facts and you can't really tell the writers position.
is it biased or non biaseD?
The choice of some words makes this report biased. Can you find some of these loaded words?
harrasemnt, rcmp is the worst in canada ,?
what words do u feel make it baised?
it needed to tackle pervasive workplace harassment
tackle, pervasive