A report commissioned after former cabinet minister Melanie Mark had called the provincial legislature a “torture chamber” finds current and former members of body concerned about “instances” of inappropriate behaviour, including disrespect, bullying, harassment and discrimination.
About 10 per cent of current and former members surveyed as part of the report said they had experienced “regularly and from time to time” discrimination and unfair treatment based on family status and ethnicity. About 30 per cent said they experienced discrimination based on their gender, most prominently during Question Period. About 50 per cent of respondents said they had never experienced or witnessed discrimination.
The report used surveys of current and former members as well as a listening exercise done by external consultant ADR Education to make 17 recommendations. They include on-site child care, mandatory orientation and respectful workplace training for newly elected MLAs, an Indigenous ceremony to open each parliamentary session and more formal support to promote cross-party engagement through the creation of caucuses for specific groups.
Speaker Raj Chouhan established the Working Group on Parliamentary Culture after Mark’s comments and the group consisting of the NDP’s Mable Elmore (Vancouver-Kensington), BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau (Cowichan Valley) and Elenore Sturko (Surrey-South) presented their report Thursday (Feb. 29).
The trio’s report notes that the legislature has made “progress” in improving the legislature’s workplace culture, but acknowledges “there is much still to do.”
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Of note is the separate report from ADR Education, which conducted the listening exercise. While the legislature’s workplace culture “for the most part” supports and enables MLAs to fulfil their roles and responsibilities, the “hyper-partisan nature of the institution and the sometimes combative and adversarial interactions” have led to “consistent calls for improvements.”
The report specifically singles out the daily Question Period, when the government of the day faces questions from the opposition for about half an hour.
“There is general recognition that this behavioural forum is distinctly unique and is therefore not indicative of the institutions’ overarching cultural norms regarding respectful behaviour and interactions,” it reads. “However, there is a delicate balance to strike between allowing for impassioned, highly partisan, lively debate and its accompanying theatrics with the need to maintain an appropriate degree of respectful, productive and professional decorum.”
The report said much of this “difficult balancing act” falls to the Speaker and the report includes several anonymous quotes lamenting the decorum of Question Period.
“Question Period is extremely disrespectful,” it reads. “(Absolutely), there have been belittling comments made towards women.”
But the report also points to the importance of Question Period as an instrument of accountability. “A parliament without strenuous and vigorous debate for fear of offending Members, who don’t like political views of their opponents is not a real parliament.”
The legislature’s legislative Assembly and management committee received and considered the report Monday.