CRC board votes to ‘acknowledge shortcomings’ in wake of arbitration ruling
Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
editor@qctonline.com
The Champlain Regional College (CRC) network board has passed a resolution to “acknowledge [the institution’s] shortcomings,” commission a workplace climate report for CEGEP Champlain-St. Lawrence and explore alternative conflict resolution methods in the wake of a highly critical ruling by the province’s labour arbitration tribunal.
In a ruling issued May 1, arbitrator Julie Blouin found that the CEGEP Champlain–St. Lawrence administration had failed in its duty to provide a psychologically safe work environment to longtime professor and former teachers’ union executive Lisa Birch, and subjected Birch to an unnecessary and drawn-out harassment investigation. In the wake of the decision, the college’s teachers’ union passed a vote of no confidence in campus director Edward Berryman and CRC human resources director Line Larivière. Although the college has acknowledged the decision, it has issued little in the way of a public response – Yves Rainville, the interim general director of the CRC network (which includes CEGEP Champlain-St. Lawrence, CEGEP Champlain- Lennoxville in Sherbrooke and CEGEP Champlain-St. Lambert on Montreal’s South Shore), recently told the QCT in a statement that CRC “takes the decision of the arbitration tribunal very seriously and intends to take appropriate measures to ensure a healthy and fulfilling environment for all of its employees.”
At an evening board meeting on June 14 at CEGEP Champlain- St. Lambert, the CRC network board – which oversees governance at the three schools in the network in conjunction with establishment boards at each autonomous college – passed a resolution to create an action plan toward the development of a safer work environment, extend the mandate of the committee created to address the ruling, commission Alberta- based consulting firm MNP to conduct a workplace climate assessment, and work with the St. Lawrence administration to look into alternative dispute resolution methods, potentially including the creation of an ombuds office. Members also resolved to update the college harassment policy as a priority.
Board chair Jacob Burns said “the issue is not resolved” but board members were confident that the measures contained in the resolution would lead to a safer work environment.
“We’re taking all of the steps needed to make sure the recommendations [contained in the arbitrator’s report] are taken into account,” Rainville said. He noted that no staff members or administrators had been suspended or reassigned in connection with the ruling. He said the total cost to the school of the various consultants’ contracts and legal proceedings – including compensation owed to Birch – may not be known for some time. Berryman, whose work was criticized in Blouin’s report, attended the meeting but did not publicly comment on the matter. Birch was not available to comment at press time.
Berryman is not the only CRC director to face allegations of contributing to a toxic workplace. CEGEP Champlain-Lennoxville campus director Nancy Beattie has been on paid leave since January amid allegations of psychological harassment and a motion of non-confidence from that school’s teachers’ union. Board members noted that internal “political challenges” at CRC – along with demanding language requirements – added to the difficulty of recruiting a permanent successor for Rainville. CRC is the subject of an ongoing Ministry of Education inquiry centred around the Lennoxville situation.
In related news, a former member of the St. Lawrence establishment board who served alongside Birch told the QCT they were commencing legal proceedings against the college, having experienced “very similar things” to what Birch alleged.