Complaints by more than a dozen people have prompted Canadore College to bring in a third party investigator to look into numerous complaints about the treatment of present and former employees.
See: Demand grows louder for independent investigation into Canadore sex discrimination controversy
And: Canadore College notified of serious allegations of sex discrimination
In an email to college staff and local media, President George Burton says, "Over the course of the last few days there has been a focus on Canadore and some allegations, the vast majority of which are anonymous, directed at one of our staff members. These allegations were made in conjunction with a Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) complaint by a contract employee who did not have her fixed term contract renewed.
"The College is in the process of responding to the formal HRTO complaint and will file its legal response in due course.
"This leaves the anonymous complaints outstanding. It is important to note that the first the College had heard of these anonymous allegations was in a lawyer’s letter last week and that at no point were these complaints ever brought to the attention of the College through the College’s complaint mechanisms. We have repeatedly asked the lawyer for the complainant to provide us details that will help us determine any further action, but as of yet details have not been provided.
"In order to determine if the information requires further action we have decided to retain a third party investigator. This investigator, who has extensive experience in handling workplace accusations, will begin on March 5, and is expected to report back to the College in due course."
"Given this is a human resources matter we will not be commenting beyond the statement at this time," says HR spokeswoman Jodee Brown Yeo.
The college is obligated by law to investigate when it is informed of workplace discrimination or harassment, and earlier this week Board Chair Bob Nicholls told BayToday he was satisfied with an internal investigation.
However, Lawyer Gillian Hnatiw of the Toronto law firm Adair Goldblatt Bieber said in a letter to the college over a dozen people have already come forward and they didn't trust the college HR department to conduct a fair investigation.
"They do not trust Canadore's human resources department. They also lack confidence in the willingness and/or ability of Canadore's management to address these issues in a meaningful way," wrote Hnatiw in her initial letter.
In a followup, she wrote "As I advised in a previous letter, the individuals with whom we have spoken do not trust Canadore's human resources department to protect them from workplace or other retribution, or to impartially investigate their concerns. They see you as part of the systemic problem. This actively deters them from attempting to access the policies or processes in place."
Burton's letter does not address a complaint by Hnatiw that the subject of most of the allegations has not been put on paid leave but continues normal activities around the college.
She says this is colouring the current environment and "contributing to the reluctance of current employees to come forward."
