February 26, 2018
At the Canadian Red Cross, our commitment to a culture of respect for safe environments is rooted in our mission and fundamental principles.
Recent news coverage of the humanitarian sector is deeply concerning and serves to reinforce the need to ensure we are doing everything possible to prevent, report, and respond to incidents of misconduct involving our personnel. I want to assure you that there is no place for any form of discrimination, harassment or abuse in this organization.
We understand that no organization, including the Red Cross, is immune to inappropriate conduct. Our practices, policies and procedures, and our reporting and investigation processes to help prevent, bring forward and address any incidents are consistently being improved.
Every year, we ask Red Cross personnel to sign our prevention of violence and harassment in the workplace policies and confirm their understanding of our expectations and remind them of our reporting mechanisms should an incident occur. These policies can be found at any time
here on this website.
Please be assured, we take all reports of misconduct very seriously. All reported incidents are reviewed and investigated through a confidential and balanced process. We strive to ensure that our handling of all matters is timely, proactive, thorough and proportionate.
Several international organizations have disclosed the number of misconduct cases they have investigated in recent years. The Canadian Red Cross has also disclosed that we have reviewed and/or investigated two reported cases of sexual misconduct within our International Operations over the last five years. One case was an alleged violation of our code of conduct witnessed by a third party and was internally reviewed and addressed. The second incident was an alleged criminal assault and was referred to the police. The local staff member involved was terminated.
It is disheartening to see these or any cases. We are committed to doing all we can to address and prevent misconduct in our organization, and to provide safe environments for reporting concerns in Canada or internationally.
Sincerely,
Conrad Sauvé
President and CEO
Canadian Red Cross