TORONTO – A former Parliament Hill staffer alleged during an interview on CBC he was sexually harassed and touched inappropriately by two former Members of Parliament.
In a television interview with CBC, Ian Capstick said sexual harassment was commonplace during his six year career on Parliament Hill.
Capstick did not reveal the names of his alleged attackers but said his experience left him feeling powerless – which is why did not report the alleged attack.
He told the broadcaster he chose to go public with his story because of the nation-wide conversation about harassment and abuse which has stemmed from the allegations against former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi.
Other men are also speaking out to let the country know that women aren’t the only ones who are harassed on the job.
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A man named Patrick, who did not want to reveal his full name, told Global News he was sexually harassed by female colleagues at two different jobs.
The first incident was allegedly perpetrated by his boss while working a temporary position at a factory.
“When she wanted me to do something that was sort of outside of my normal activities, she would come up to me and grab my arm and sort of rub it between her breasts as she was begging me to do whatever activity it was,” Patrick said.
He claims he was sexually harassed again when he worked as a teacher.
“My department head used to tell me she had erotic dreams about me,” he said.
He says he did not report the incidents because of the stigma attached to coming forward as well as the belief men are not supposed to complain.
“Complaining isn’t initially a manly thing to do,” said Patrick. “You know, suck it up, be a man and all of that crap…Oh if she’s showing you her underwear then just sit back and enjoy it kind of thing.”
The Canadian Centre for Men and Families in Toronto says male victims of harassment should not be afraid of criticism if they come forward. Especially since it is more common than many might think.
“We are seeing higher rates than people would have imagined,” said Justin Trottier, the centre’s director.
Trottier said that in the United States, the equal employment commission found the rates of men reporting victimization or sexual harassment has doubled in the last 20 years from eight to 16 per cent.
According to the Canada Labour Code, sexual harassment is defined as any “conduct, comment, gesture, contact of a sexual nature likely to cause offence or humiliation or that might, on reasonable grounds, be perceived as placing a condition of a sexual nature on employment or on any opportunity for training or promotion.”
The Canadian Labour Congress says there are no clear statistics on how many men or women are sexually harassed at work partly because not everyone comes forward and reports it.
But according to Statistics Canada, women are at least five times more likely to be victimized than men, and 97 per cent of people accused of sexual offences are male.
Maclean’s Magazine recently reported there’s nearly 700,000 sexual assaults in Canada each year, according to data provided by the YWCA: women are the victims in roughly 472,000 of them.
“I think it’s critical that employers recognize that fundamentally they need to have a process in place that is fair to the employee who is complaining and due process for the individual who has been accused of harassment in the workplace,” said Hassan Yussuff, President of the Canadian Labour Congress.
In the wake of the allegations of former CBC radio host Jian Gomeshi, many victims of sexual harassment and abuse have been empowered to come forward. For Patrick, looking back he says he should have reported what happened to him on the job. He hopes other men with similar experiences will be comfortable enough to speak up.
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