January 30, 2023 Gatineau, Quebec Employment and Social Development Canada
The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring safe and healthy workplaces free from violence and harassment.
Today, Minister of Labour Seamus O'Regan Jr. ratified International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 190, the Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (C190) in Geneva, Switzerland. Minister O'Regan was accompanied by Mr. Gilbert Houngbo, Director-General of the ILO.
C190 is the first-ever global treaty on ending violence and harassment in the workplace. The treaty provides a clear framework to prohibit, prevent and address workplace violence and harassment. The treaty, supplemented by its accompanying Recommendation 206, which provides guidelines on how C190 should be applied, takes into account the different and complementary roles that governments, workers and employers, as well as their respective organizations, can play.
Canada played a strong leadership role in the development, adoption and advancement of C190. Canada chaired the International Labour Conference standard-setting committee that negotiated the Convention over 2018 and 2019, and actively participated in international negotiations that led to its adoption. The Government of Canada subsequently worked closely with provincial and territorial governments to deliver on its commitment to ratify C190, which will apply across all jurisdictions.
In the past, workplace violence and harassment were often dealt with in a fragmented manner, or treated as either an equality issue or an occupational health and safety issue. C190 brings these elements together in an integrated way, and calls for violence and harassment to be prohibited, prevented and addressed in relevant law and policies as well as through collective bargaining. C190 also acknowledges that women and other vulnerable groups of workers are disproportionately affected by violence and harassment at work and highlights the importance of ensuring the right to equality and non-discrimination in employment.
C190, along with other measures such as Bill C-65 and the Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Fund, is another way the Government of Canada is helping to make workplaces safer and more welcoming for everyone.
