The Ministry of Home Affairs, Crime Prevention and Persons with Disabilities in collaboration with the Ministry of National Security and the Canada CARICOM Expert Deployment Mechanism (CCEDM) has been engaged in several months of deliberations to create an anti-sexual harassment policy and procedures for the protective services.
Several months of deliberations to carve the initial policy framework have now progressed to hosting a series of focus group meetings and a Train the Trainer workshop in Gender Mainstreaming scheduled for February 4 to 7, 2024.
This phase of the policy creation process is being facilitated by Ginette Johnstone, from Catalyst Plus, Canada. Mrs Johnstone indicated that the entire process will be heavily stakeholder-centred, to ensure that the workplace is a safe and comfortable environment for all.
“We are going to look at developing a complaints policy so that people who have issues can actually have somewhere to go to and to be listened to and action taken. Following that we will probably do some training around gender sensitivity and helping people understand what the complaints procedure is about and how it works,” Johnstone said.
She explained that gender equality is a dominant consideration that should underpin the process.
“Gender inequality exists everywhere. Almost every country in the world has a certain degree of inequality; so we are working to make it fairer and more comfortable for everybody. I think this is the prime objective. In terms of sexual harassment, again it exists everywhere and most countries have good legislation but because it is such a sensitive issue; and sometimes people are not always forthcoming about it, and so it is not actioned very well.”
This three-week consultative phase of the project is sponsored by the Canada Caricom Expert Deployment Mechanism (CCEDM). This project aims to address priority needs identified by national government entities by providing Canadian technical assistance to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states over a period of four years.