Our Insights

For decades, many organizations have approached workplace sexual harassment and sexual violence primarily through the lens of policy and complaint management. Employers created respectful workplace policies, established reporting mechanisms and, when a complaint was made, initiated an investigation. 

Those processes remain critically important. But a significant shift is happening in how workplace sexual violence is being understood in Canada: increasingly, it is being treated not simply as misconduct that an organization must respond to, but as a workplace risk that employers are expected to actively identify, prevent and control.

That shift has important implications for how employers approach sexual harassment training, workplace policies and leadership development. Prevention is no longer simply about ensuring employees know which behaviours are prohibited. It requires organizations to understand their specific risks, build trusted reporting systems and equip managers and leaders to respond appropriately when concerns arise.

Quebec’s New Sexual Violence Requirements Signal a Shift in Workplace Prevention

Quebec’s newly adopted regulation on workplace sexual violence offers one of the clearest examples of that shift. 

In May 2026, the Quebec government adopted the Regulation respecting measures to prevent or put a stop to situations involving sexual violence. Beginning May 27, 2027, employers will be required to provide employees with written information about workplace-specific sexual violence risks, prevention measures and reporting procedures. Employers must also establish a complaint and reporting process and designate someone with the appropriate knowledge and skills to manage reports impartially. Beginning in May 2028, all workers must receive sexual-violence-prevention training, renewed every three years. 

These may appear, at first glance, to be new compliance obligations relevant primarily to Quebec employers. I think they point to something much larger. 

From Responding to Workplace Harassment to Preventing Risk

One of the most consequential elements of the Quebec regulation is its emphasis on risk identification. 

Employers will need to communicate not simply that sexual violence is prohibited, but what risks may actually exist within their particular workplace. That requires organizations to think much more critically about how work is structured, where vulnerabilities exist, and which workplace dynamics could create opportunities for inappropriate behaviour. 

A restaurant where alcohol is routinely served during late-night shifts will have different risks than an accounting firm. A manufacturing facility with isolated work areas and heavily gender-segregated roles will have different risks than a remote technology company. A healthcare environment where employees regularly interact privately with patients presents different circumstances again. 

The CNESST already identifies workplace factors that can increase the risk of violence, including working alone, providing services or healthcare, operating in mobile workplaces, working where alcohol is served and experiencing periods of intense organizational change. 

This is why generic policy templates can only take an organization so far. 

A policy can tell employees what behaviour is unacceptable. Prevention requires leaders to understand where, when and why that behaviour may be more likely to occur in their own organization. That is a much more sophisticated workplace-culture conversation. 

Sexual Harassment Risk Extends Beyond the Physical Workplace

The regulation also reflects another reality employers can no longer ignore: work happens in far more places than the traditional workplace. 

Quebec’s new rules specifically recognize that sexual violence can occur outside the physical workplace, including during work-related social activities and through technology. They also recognize that the individuals involved may not necessarily be two employees; risks can emerge through interactions with clients and others connected to work. 

This matters enormously in the modern workplace. Consider conferences, client dinners, holiday parties, team retreats, business travel, Slack messages, text messages, video calls and social-media interactions between colleagues. The boundaries between “work” and “not work” have become increasingly porous. 

Many of the most difficult situations organizations encounter happen precisely in those blurred spaces. A comment made over drinks after a conference may still involve two colleagues and a significant power imbalance. An inappropriate message may arrive through a personal phone but originate from a workplace relationship. A client may repeatedly behave inappropriately toward an employee even though the perpetrator does not work for the organization. 

The question for employers can no longer simply be: Did this happen inside our workplace? The more useful question is: Did the workplace create the relationship, circumstances or risk that allowed this behaviour to occur? 

Workplace Harassment Reporting Is Also a Measure of Trust

This conversation is particularly important because recent Canadian data shows that harassment and violence remain significant workplace issues. In federally regulated workplaces, employers reported 7,523 harassment and violence occurrences in 2024, up 5.7% from 2023. Of those, 797 were categorized as sexual harassment or violence. 

Importantly, increases in reporting should not automatically be interpreted as evidence that workplaces are becoming more dangerous. Greater awareness, stronger reporting obligations and increased confidence in reporting systems can all increase reported numbers. 

In fact, a 2026 federal evaluation found that reported harassment and violence occurrences increased substantially following implementation of the federal Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Regulations. Between 2021 and 2023, overall reported occurrences increased from 4,950 to 7,114, while reported sexual harassment and violence occurrences increased from 447 to 1,029. The federal government noted that increased reporting may reflect improved transparency and compliance as well as continued workplace challenges. 

But another finding should concern leaders even more. Among federally regulated employees who had experienced harassment or violence, more than one-third did not report their most serious incident. Fear of negative consequences was the most commonly cited reason. And among employees who did report an incident, nearly two-thirds expressed dissatisfaction with how their case was resolved. 

That is not simply a policy problem. It is a trust problem. Employees make sophisticated calculations before reporting misconduct. They ask themselves whether they will be believed. Whether confidentiality will be respected. Whether their manager will treat them differently afterward. Whether the person involved has more organizational power than they do. Whether reporting will affect their reputation, career opportunities, schedule, relationships or sense of belonging. 

Organizations can technically have a reporting mechanism while employees simultaneously believe that using it is dangerous. Those are two very different things. 

Preventing Sexual Harassment Requires Understanding Workplace Power

Sexual harassment and violence cannot be separated from workplace power. Power may come from hierarchy, but it can also come from seniority, employment status, professional reputation, control over shifts or assignments, access to leadership, immigration or employment precarity, or simply being part of the dominant group within a workplace. 

That is why effective prevention training needs to go much further than teaching employees a definition of harassment. 

People need to understand how power shapes consent, communication and reporting. Managers need to understand what to do when someone discloses an experience to them. Bystanders need practical tools for intervening safely. Leaders need to recognize retaliation not only when it is explicit, but when it shows up quietly through exclusion, changed opportunities, damaged relationships or subtle reputational consequences. 

And organizations need to examine whether some employees face greater risks than others because of the jobs they perform or the environments in which they perform them. The Quebec regulation specifically requires employers to consider the social interactions particular to their workplaces that could lead to sexual violence. This asks organizations to examine culture rather than relying exclusively on individual behaviour. 

Sexual Harassment Training Matters, But Training Alone Is Not Enough

Beginning in 2028, Quebec employers will also be required to provide workers with sexual violence prevention training every three years. Required content includes the definition and types of sexual violence, its impacts, employer and worker responsibilities, available resources and good practices when someone witnesses or becomes aware of sexual violence. 

Mandatory training can create an important baseline of knowledge. But anyone who works in organizational culture knows that completing a module does not automatically change a workplace. 

Employees learn what an organization truly values by watching what happens afterward. What happens when a high performer behaves badly? What happens when an employee raises a concern about a senior leader? What happens when the alleged behaviour comes from an important client? What happens when someone witnesses something uncomfortable but is unsure whether it is serious enough to report? And what happens to the person who speaks up? Those moments teach employees far more about organizational culture than any policy document. 

Prevention must operate as a system. Policies need to be clear and accessible. Employees need multiple avenues for raising concerns. Managers need the confidence and skill to respond appropriately to disclosures. Investigations need to be impartial and trauma-informed. Retaliation risks need to be actively considered. Leaders need visibility into patterns without compromising confidentiality. And organizations need to periodically examine whether their systems are actually trusted. 

Sexual Harassment Prevention Is a Leadership Responsibility

There is a tendency to place workplace harassment and sexual violence almost entirely within the HR function. HR may design policies, coordinate investigations and provide expertise, but culture is created collectively through leadership behaviour, organizational systems and everyday workplace decisions. Senior leaders determine whether prevention receives resources. Managers influence whether employees feel psychologically safe speaking up. Boards oversee organizational risk. Supervisors shape day-to-day norms. Employees decide whether inappropriate behaviour is challenged, ignored or normalized. 

Quebec’s new regulation formalizes some of these responsibilities, but the underlying principle applies much more broadly across Canada. A psychologically safe workplace is not one in which difficult situations never occur. It is one in which people trust that when something does occur, they can speak up without becoming the next problem the organization tries to manage. 

Strengthening Sexual Harassment Policies, Training and Leadership Now

Quebec employers have time before the new requirements take effect. That time should not simply be used to schedule training for 2028. Organizations can use it to examine their systems now. 

When was your harassment policy last meaningfully reviewed? Do employees actually know how to report a concern? Do they have options beyond reporting directly to their manager? Who receives complaints, and have those individuals been trained appropriately? Have you examined workplace-specific risks rather than simply adopting a standardized policy? What happens at conferences, social events or client sites? Do your managers know what to do when someone discloses an experience? Have you assessed whether employees trust your reporting and investigation processes? 

Perhaps the most important question is even simpler: If something happened in our workplace tomorrow, would our employees trust us enough to tell us? 

Legislation can require organizations to establish systems. Culture determines whether people believe those systems will protect them. 

And increasingly, Canadian employers are being reminded that preventing sexual violence is not simply a matter of legal compliance or human resources administration. It is part of the fundamental responsibility of creating a safe, healthy and trustworthy workplace.  

For organizations, this may require looking at prevention more holistically: reviewing sexual harassment and respectful workplace policies, assessing workplace-specific risks, strengthening reporting processes, providing practical sexual harassment prevention training, and ensuring managers and leaders know how to respond when concerns are raised.

These pieces are interconnected. A strong policy without effective training may not change behaviour. Training without trusted reporting processes may leave employees unsure where to turn. And neither can fully succeed if leaders and managers are not equipped to reinforce expectations through their everyday decisions and actions.

Stay Connected