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Helen Evans, managing editor for CBC-Montreal, said she is proud of the professional way CBC reporters have handled the harassment, and particularly of Birkbeck and Dunlop for speaking out.

She said she sought legal advice from CBC lawyers to find out if the company could take any legal action against the harassers.

“I just got off the phone with our lawyer who talked to the police and apparently, they said there has been no crime (committed),” Evans told the Montreal Gazette.

But Pearl Eliadis, a Montreal lawyer specializing in human rights, said she sees three avenues that would be interesting to pursue.

Section 319 of the Criminal Code says it is a crime to “communicate statements in any public place that incite hatred against any identifiable group where such incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace.”

Secondly, the Quebec Charter on Human Rights and Freedoms has provisions dealing with sexual harassment and sexual discrimination, and unlike in other Canadian provinces, the harassment or discrimination does not have to occur in a specific area of service (such as the workplace) to be actionable.

Thirdly, if offending individuals can be identified, the reporters could go to police to seek restraining orders against them under Criminal Code provisions on harassment.

“The hate speech (avenue) would be particularly difficult because you are dealing with a very big burden of proof and police might see this as a prank,” Eliadis said. “But I’ve seen cases move the law forward. Part of the challenge women and other targeted groups face in hateful situations is that those who are not targeted usually see it as not serious, that we have to let people speak … but when one is targeted, one tends to see it differently. … My feeling is that women shouldn’t be subjected to this and law enforcement and the legal community need to be sensitive to it.”