OTTAWA – The federal government has pledged over $200,000 towards a new initiative designed to help Canada’s arts sector provide safe workplaces free from discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct.
On Wednesday, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly and the Canada Council for the Arts awarded close to $552,000 to the Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC), earmarked for a series of initiatives to equip the cultural sector with the tools, practices and training for building and maintaining respectful workplaces under the title ‘Respectful Workplaces in the Arts’.
The Department of Canadian Heritage is providing $252,000, and the Canada Council for the Arts will be contributing $300,000, and more than 1,750 arts organizations across Canada will have access to the new tools and resources.
In addition, Canadian Heritage said that it has reviewed its funding instruments to help ensure that recipient organizations provide safe and respectful workplaces. Specifically, changes will be made to the funding agreements, the application forms, the approval letter and the application guidelines to “remind recipients of their commitment to workplace integrity”.
"Our industry leaders and organizations took swift action to discuss how all cultural sectors can work together to provide harassment-free, respectful work environments. I am proud to support this initiative, which will benefit over 1,750 arts organizations across Canada”, said Minister Joly, in a statement. “This joint announcement demonstrates that, together, we can accomplish a lot to prevent harassment, abuse and discrimination of any kind in the cultural sector. Integrating these changes is definitely a step in the right direction."
"Our focus is now on supporting the arts sector as a whole in building capacity to deal with issues of discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct and provide respectful workplaces”, added Canada Council for the Arts director and CEO Simon Brault. “We want all arts organizations to have this capacity, starting with us, and we are currently reviewing our own human resources policies to ensure that they are exemplary."
Photo from Wednesday’s announcement via Mélanie Joly’s Twitter account
