VANCOUVER—On Friday, Mandalena Lewis returned to her former workplace at Vancouver International Airport, with the goal of raising awareness of sexual harassment toward flight attendants and other women working in the airline industry.

The former flight attendant initially set up shop at the airport to hand out pamphlets about her campaign, #youcrewmetoo — but was eventually asked by security to leave the property.

“What I’m doing here is showing up, I’m here to show solidarity because I don’t think anyone from the airline industry has stood up to what’s going on. I’m not afraid,” Lewis said. “I just feel like now is the right time to be doing this ... enough is enough.”

Lewis is currently involved in a proposed class action lawsuit against her former employer WestJet, which she said has failed to implement an anti-harassment programs after she told the company she was sexually assaulted by a pilot in 2010. WestJet’s appeal to strike the claim was denied in late 2017, with the next appeal set for 2019. WestJet spokesperson Lauren Stewart declined to comment on the issue due to it being a matter before the courts.

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But Lewis said that after coming out with her story publicly, many more women from different airlines have contacted her to share similar stories of sexual harassment and assault, including women who she said were raped by the same pilot who she said targeted her.

“It’s incredibly alarming, I have women coming forwarding from Qantas, Alaska Airlines, Skywest ... It can get overwhelming,” Lewis said.

In March, the Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees filed a human rights complaint against the airline, alleging ongoing discrimination and harassment of flight attendants.

Lewis said that a lot of the harassment was due to an industry that prioritizes the needs of pilots over flight attendants.

“The culture is incredibly toxic, the fear is rampant. Pilots are more expensive to train, to get rid of, and frankly it’s less expensive to hire a flight attendant ... we’re disposable, frankly speaking.”

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Maria Paredes, an anti-violence worker at Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter, was there to support Lewis and said that coming out about sexual harassment in a workplace setting can be especially challenging.

“Often women fear to speak to employers about sexual harassment because often there are repercussions, they are fired or not believed,” she said. “We are here to say we are not alone as women.”

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