Public Legal Education and Information (PLEI) – Workplace Sexual Harassment

1. Overview

Funding will be available through the Justice Partnership and Innovation Program (JPIP) for the development and dissemination of public legal education and information (PLEI) outreach campaigns to better inform workers within specific employment sectors about their rights and how they can access help if they have been harassed in the workplace.

The JPIP is a discretionary grants and contributions (G&C) program that funds initiatives for the purpose of assisting the Department of Justice Canada (Justice) in a number of its priority areas and supporting its goal of an accessible, efficient, and fair system of justice.

2. Objectives of the Funding

The objective of this call for proposals is to fund targeted projects that help to increase public awareness and knowledge around sexual harassment in hospitality and service industry workplaces and male dominated industries and occupations and provide complainants with PLEI materials when dealing with sexual harassment at work.

To support this objective JPIP would support projects to:

• Develop, adapt, update and disseminate PLEI resources on the laws surrounding sexual harassment in the workplace and ways to access avenues of resolution when dealing with a case;
• Create PLEI and training materials for employees and employers on addressing workplace sexual harassment;
• Develop and deliver training on workplace sexual harassment for a wide range of audiences including employers, human resources professionals, sector specialists, unions, front line workers, etc. to ensure culturally relevant, trauma-informed and appropriate responses to complainants.

Selection Criteria: Stream 1 – Hospitality and Service Industries

Proposed projects must include the following elements:

• Identified planned partnerships with hospitality and/or service sector employer(s) (hotels, restaurants, retail, etc.);
• An outline of the specific needs of the group(s) identified and how the project will address those needs;
• An emphasis on leveraging partnerships to address sexual harassment in the hospitality and/or server sector workplaces.

Selection Criteria: Theme 2 – Male Dominated Industries and Occupations

Proposed projects must include the following elements:

• Identified planned partnerships with employers in male-dominated sectors (examples include: trades, STEM, law enforcement, transportation, etc.);
• An outline of the specific needs of the group(s) identified and how the project will address those needs, including a GBA+ analysis (preliminary in proposal, and included as a planned project activity);
• An emphasis on leveraging partnerships to address sexual harassment in the identified workplaces.

Projects proposing multi-sector approaches (with identified partnerships) will be prioritized. Multi-sector approaches are partnerships between private and public sectors and can include the private sector, the not-for-profit sector and other levels of government, working within and outside of the identified employment sector.

Proposals must contribute to the following planned outcomes:

• Immediate Outcome: PLEI and training materials on sexual harassment in the workplace are developed and disseminated.
• Intermediate Outcome: Employees and employers have enhanced awareness and knowledge of rights and responsibilities in relation to sexual harassment in the workplace.
• Ultimate Outcome: Improved access to legal supports and resources for victims of sexual harassment in Canadian workplaces.

How much funding is available for each project?

The level of funding will vary from project to project based on the nature and scope of the proposed activities.

Up to $375,000 is available per project for up to 3 years (April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2024) with a maximum of $125,000 per fiscal year. Funds are limited and there is a need to ensure a regional and distinctions-based distribution of the limited funds. Unfortunately, it may not be possible to fund all eligible projects.

Length of Project?

Multi-year projects (up to 3 years) are eligible but all funds must be spent by the end of fiscal year 2023/24.

Additional Information

If you have additional questions while completing the application, staff would be happy to help you and are available by email at: pb-dgp@justice.gc.ca.

Your completed application must be received by Justice no later than September 14, 2020, 12:00 PM PST. It should be sent by email to pb-dgp@justice.gc.ca.