Montreal employee's death sparks call for city to do more about workplace harassment
CBC
Marie-Hélène Henry loved animals and was always in their company.
She was a city of Montreal employee, working at the Botanical Garden. She was also on the autism spectrum and that's why she was regularly bullied at work, according to her best friend.
"We were consoling her almost daily because she found it so hard to go to work," said Marie-Claude Piguet.
Henry took her own life on Aug. 12. She was 47.
Her death comes just a few months after the blue-collar workers' union filed a complaint with the city over the alleged abuse she was suffering at work.
Jean-Pierre Lauzon, president of the Syndicat des cols bleus regroupés de Montréal (SCFP 301), said in a statement that the union is devastated by the turn of events.
"We supported her," said Lauzon, citing the union's effort to file psychological harassment complaints with the city's Division du respect de la personne respect — a department that handles such complaints.
"The procedures are always very long in the city of Montreal."
Lauzon said the union will conduct a thorough investigation to prevent such a situation from happening again and will co-operate with Quebec's workplace safety board (CNESST) as it launches its own investigation.
Henry's father died of cancer last October. And Piguet said the bullying had become worse in recent months.
"There's about seven pages worth of complaints that she gave to her union representative in order to get help. But help did not come," she said.
On Friday, the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) hosted a news conference about the ongoing harassment issues among city workers.
"We have a lot of Black and Arab blue-collar workers complaining about being harassed. Not only are they being harassed, but some are exposed to physical violence and intimidation," said executive director Fo Niemi.
When these victims file complaints with their immediate supervisors, there is usually no response, he said. Then when they go through human resources, still nothing happens, he said.
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WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
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