What Is Sexual Harassment

It is not required to prove that the harasser in the case of sexual harassment that such harassment was sex based or that he or she is discriminatory towards women in general. As mentioned above, the Supreme Court has already equated sexual harassment to sex based discrimination. In other words, a sexual harassment is by definition a violation of the Human Rights Code.

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The Human Rights Code has an entire section that’s dedicated to Sexual harassment as it’s one of the most serious type of human rights violation that deserves the MOST serious and severe punishment. It’s a heinous crime by definition.

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Section 7 (2) of the Code states that every person who is an employee has a right to freedom from harassment in the workplace because of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression by his or her employer or agent of the employer or by another employee.  

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Section 7 (3) of the Code states that every person has a right to be free from:

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1. a sexual solicitation or advance made by a person in a position to confer, grant or deny a benefit or advancement to the person where the person making the solicitation or advance knows or ought reasonably to know that it is unwelcome; or

2. a reprisal or a threat of reprisal for the rejection of a sexual solicitation or advance where the reprisal is made or threatened by a person in a position to confer, grant or deny a benefit or advancement to the person. 

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Section 8 and 9 of the Code states that every person has a right to claim and enforce his or her rights, to institute and participate in proceedings and to refuse to infringe a right of another person, without reprisal or threat of reprisal for so doing, and that no person shall infringe or do, directly or indirectly, anything that infringes a right.