Canada: Discrimination, Disability & Sexual Harassment

Leading voices in survivor-centered reform examine systemic failures affecting sexual abuse survivors across Canada's child welfare, education, sport, and criminal justice systems. Expert speakers share trauma-informed approaches and practical paths toward meaningful reform for Indigenous survivors and others failed by broken institutions.

Ce chapitre fait partie de notre guide Faire des affaires au Canada, qui vise à aider les investisseurs internationaux à mieux comprendre les considérations juridiques, réglementaires et stratégiques qui influent sur les décisions d’investissement, l’exécution des transactions et le succès à long terme au Canada.

Workplace accommodation is rarely governed by a single set of rules. The company’s internal policies and agreements must be considered, along with any legislative obligations, including employment standards and human rights.

Hear me out for a second. In the 5-movie series of Toy Story, Forky is one of the best characters. If you haven’t met Forky, he is a plastic spork that Bonnie turns into a toy on her first day of kindergarten using a pipe cleaner, a popsicle stick and googly eyes. Forky is simple, but deeply inquisitive. He asks big questions about where and how he fits in, including “Why am I alive?” and “Am I trash?” Pixar even gave him his own short-film series, Forky Asks a Question, where he asks everything from “What is Cheese?” to “What is Money?” and “What is a Leader?”

Return to office rights for unionized employees in Ontario depend on the collective agreement, management rights, and accommodation duties. Can your employer mandate in-person attendance, or can the union challenge the policy? The answer turns on negotiated provisions, grievance procedures, and whether protected needs require remote work as an accommodation.

In Alyssa Gassi v. The Corporation of the County of Lambton, the Ontario Labour Relations Board ("OLRB") provided its first substantive interpretation of an employer's obligation under section 32.0.7(1)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act ("OHSA") to conduct a workplace harassment investigation that is "appropriate in the circumstances."

The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (the “Tribunal”) recently reaffirmed the central importance of the duty to investigate in the workplace. In Dabbagui v. AV Terrace Bay, 2026 HRTO 784, the Tribunal found that an employer’s failure to meaningfully investigate allegations of workplace discrimination before terminating a probationary employee resulted in a breach of the Human Rights Code (the “Code”).

Le Tribunal administratif du travail (le « TAT ») a rendu, en tout début d’année, une décision marquante à l’intersection du harcèlement psychologique, de la violence à caractère sexuel et de la réclamation pour lésion professionnelle. Elle rappelle que les obligations de prévention de l’employeur ne s’arrêtent pas nécessairement à la porte de l’établissement, ni même à la fin officielle d’une activité sociale.

Lawyer and workplace investigator Rachel Turnpenney discusses the critical shift from an advocate's mindset to a neutral investigator's approach when conducting workplace investigations. The conversation explores the unique challenges of sexual misconduct investigations, including managing heightened emotions, balancing urgency with trauma-informed processes, and identifying recurring patterns in workplace harassment cases.