A prosecutor intimidated and harassed, employees insulted, threatened, invited to fight, physically attacked… In Montreal and Quebec too, staff are attacked by citizens, these cities confirmed to The Press.
What there is to know
Municipal employees in the cities of Montreal and Quebec are the targets of insults, threats, road rage and sometimes even physical attacks while carrying out their duties.
At least four cases of municipal employees being attacked by citizens were serious enough to be submitted to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP).
In Montreal, one of these cases even led to criminal charges. A citizen is facing two counts of criminal harassment and intimidation of a person associated with the judicial system.
In December 2021, a 21-year-old young woman intimidated a lawyer from the City of Montreal and threatened her “to cause [sa] death or bodily harm.” Arrested a few weeks later, she was charged with criminal harassment and intimidation of a person associated with the justice system, then released on $200 bail. Having failed to appear in court last week, she is now the subject of an arrest warrant, indicates her file at the Montreal courthouse.
“There are one or two other files in which one of our prosecutors is the complainant and which is the subject of an investigation” by the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP), added a spokesperson for the City of Montreal, Gonzalo Nuñez, by email.
It’s also happening in Quebec. Since last summer, two files of employees targeted by citizens have been submitted to the DPCP “for analysis with a view to laying charges,” reports a spokesperson for the City, Jean-Pascal Lavoie.
Read our report “Cities strike back”
In Montreal as in other municipalities recently surveyed by The Press, we emphasize that “these are only exceptional cases”. However, these exceptions cannot be taken lightly. Cities, like all employers, are required to protect their employees from harassment and violence.
It happens that members of City staff are insulted, threatened and even physically attacked while carrying out their work.
Gonzalo Nuñez, spokesperson for the City of Montreal
In Montreal, the Procedure following a physical or verbal assault, which provides the procedure to follow when an employee is the victim of such an attack, has been in force since 2017.
Since then, “we have noted nearly 10 cases” where the Comptroller General of the City of Montreal “wrote to the citizen concerned to put them on notice to stop harassment or sending unacceptable messages.”
Managers whose employees report abuse can also send such formal notices, adds the City, without specifying the number of cases.
Montreal has also created a working group to find other possible solutions, “because we have been told that this type of event is happening again, despite the security measures already in place.”
The “shield” of Quebec
Quebec City employees “unfortunately suffer insults every day” and “there are even some who suffer physical threats, road rage behavior, aggressive gestures,” denounced Mayor Bruno Marchand in a shocking video broadcast last May. The City then announced a “shield project” to support employees.
SCREENSHOT
Mayor Bruno Marchand in a video broadcast by the City of Quebec
Watch the video “Incivility towards employees is enough!” » broadcast by the City of Quebec
During its first six months of activity, from 1er July to December 31, the “shield committee” received seven reports, including the two files which were submitted to the DPCP, shows the first report provided to The Press.
“It certainly does not mean” that only seven municipal employees were the target of citizen incivility, believes the city spokesperson, emphasizing that the presentations to department directors were only made at the end of June .
In one of the cases submitted to the DPCP, a citizen called 311 while driving to complain about excessive dust and made threats. The other case is that of a citizen who moved safety equipment near a construction site, then attacked the employee who filmed the scene, prompting immediate police intervention.
Other employees were attacked on public roads, incident summaries provided by the City show.
While inspecting a municipal pipeline valve, “a disgruntled citizen was uncivil,” gave a blue-collar worker the middle finger, and when the latter mentioned calling the police, he invited to fight.
“Later, he returned to the scene inviting the employee to fight again, but left [les lieux] quickly as the police approached. The latter visited the citizen. »
A motorist only “stopped his vehicle once it was “stuck” on the stop sign held by the flagger”.
In these two cases, the employees preferred not to file a complaint.
However, the City is considering creating a provision that would make it possible to issue tickets to citizens who move safety equipment near construction sites, mentions Mr. Lavoie. Such an appeal is still “under analysis” and “has not been submitted to the political authorities”, specifies the spokesperson for the City.
“For the year 2024, we would like to make the role and scope of the shield committee more widely known,” says Mr. Lavoie. I imagine that the more it is known, the more it is used, the more employees will have the reflex to report it to their manager, and managers to initiate the process. »
Not the same protection for elected officials
“Municipal elected officials are not categorized as municipal employees. Consequently, they are not subject to regulations on workplace harassment established by municipalities to protect their employees from citizens and maintain a respectful work environment,” underlines a report published by the Fédération québécoise des municipalities (FQM) on Friday. .
However, almost half (47%) of the elected officials who participated in the survey commissioned by the FQM have been victims of psychological harassment at least once in their career, shows the report prepared by a team of researchers from the University from Sherbrooke. Their survey, to which 615 elected officials responded between March 8 and May 3, 2023, was the second of its kind in six years.
“In 2023, psychological harassment is not only more present than before in the lives of elected officials, but it also remains the issue most often highlighted,” the researchers point out.
“The types of harassment most frequently reported by respondents in their testimonies are defamation and verbal violence. There is also talk of physical and sexual harassment, although to a lesser extent. »
Consult the report from the Fédération québécoise des municipalities