Comments for The Brutal Truth

Comment on The Government as the Bully Archetype by shelly, ottawa

shelly, ottawa — Mon, 30 May 2011 23:05:05 +0000

FAIR is correct: the federal and TBS policies and laws on harassment, safety, violence and accommodation are clear and best among jurisdictions in Canada.

3 years ago when the Zabia Chamberlain asked the responsible ADMs to help her, they should have immediately moved the her to an equivalent position in any one of the several buildings and branches that existed all over Ottawa Hull. This was required by safety, accommodation and harassment policies and guidelines.

Instead senior Execs produced a TBS Harassment finding, ignoring TBS published procedure, which confirmed aggressive, profane, sexually-improper physical and verbal harassment by JA, but still offered no policy-based help to the victim.

In their “report”, they wrote they were satisfied with their corrective measures with JA, and blamed the victim for refusing to follow his order to hire more staff, for asking asked him too much to curb his physical behaviour. It was at this point that the reckless mobbing began by Senior Executives.

Federal HRDC and TBS officials started threatening her compensation and benefits — from early 2009 until now — if she does not sign a form falsely stating the harasser is a ‘third-party’ (thus absolving them of responsibility).

And throughout 2009 to 2010 various others continued to threaten her, insult her, frighten her, phone her house repeatedly. The department also clawed back all her salary, apply a debt to the crown (with her needing to give back her pay and holiday credits) and issued her a Record Of Employment in Spring 2010 as if she had been fired — but without telling her so. And throughout the first half of 2010, TBS and HRDC continued to write insisting she sign the false ‘third party’ declaration.

Unbelievably, TBS also wrote in 2010 that “indeed Mrs Chamberlain was the victim of harassment, that she raised discrimination and unfair treatment under the TBS harassment and accommodation policies”, that “the Employer is satisfied with the corrective measures, that “there was no misconduct on the part of the victim and that she was not disciplined in any way.”

All of this misconduct was carried blatantly in plain view: the evidence is a matter of public record, on file with the PSLRB and the Federal Court. It is shocking that such mobbing and the flagrant breaches of federal policies should be orchestrated by senior HRDC executives and federal TBS.

Comment on The Government as the Bully Archetype by admin

admin — Tue, 17 May 2011 14:59:04 +0000

Thank you for commenting and sharing your strength of passion and knowledge on this subject. You have voiced many important aspects of the problem. I like that you focused on the pretense within the bodies of government that lull victims into a false sense of security. It is a good part of how the victim is revictimized. Thank you for mentioning others who are also working on this. There are many. There is a shift happening! There is hope! Stay strong!

Comment on The Brutal Truth for Jane and Janet Doe by admin

admin — Tue, 17 May 2011 14:49:41 +0000

Thank you for your comments and taking the time to share them here. When you do this, it strengthens that which I have done (and others doing similar work for that matter) and brings the power of synergy forward. It is with this that we can bring about the much needed changes. We must be brave…and yet still enjoy the day. Please have a great day and again, thank you.

Comment on The Government as the Bully Archetype by Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 17 May 2011 02:45:17 +0000

Thank you to you Marilyn and to others who are taking an interest and a stance in this serious matter. By banding together with others who have survived bullying and with others who just have the good conscience and integrity to see how evil it is, there is hope that abuse of authority for personal gain or for personal gratification or for whatever factor it may be that motivates bullying in the workplace, we can make it as unacceptable as the lip-service laws, policies and mental-health-week workshop events promoted by the perpetrators, make pretense that it is. The danger of these laws and policies and workshops is that they lull potential targets into a false sense of security. Until it actually happens to you, you think it can’t happen believing that the laws and policies are in place to genuinely protect workers. When a target takes the initiative to engage in a fromal complaint process to address the problems, all too often it seems the result is intensified bullying and mobbing of the target with the objective of wearing them down and impairing their performance so that they either abandon the complaint or succumb to the pressures and become too emotionally and physically drained to carry on — to the point of irreparable harm to career and work ethic, or even more tragic ends. Before it’s too late for somebody who matters, let’s band together for strength and integrity to ensure that truth and justice and fair treatment for everyone will prevail. Thanks to the courage of Marilyn Garshowitz, Zabia Chamberlain, and others who have spoken up through Julie Ireton’s recent CBC radio series on abuse in Government, now is the time to band together and speak up against bullying in the workplace. Take care.

Comment on The Brutal Truth for Jane and Janet Doe by Mischa Ahonkova

Mischa Ahonkova — Tue, 17 May 2011 02:06:50 +0000

Marilyn, this world needs more people like you. You give the true meaning of what it is to be a genuine advocate and voice for the people. The Jane and Janet Doe story is very powerful. You have stood in the gap for this family when others who have claimed to be Advocates turned their backs on a human life. What is the most uncomprehensible factor to understand is another human being turning away from anyone who asks for HELP, let alone a child.