Some RMs have never introduced bullying policies

Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) encourages people being bullied or harassed to make a complaint. Inspections and audits are unlikely to happen otherwise.

The administrator who said she was asked to commit fraud said that if she contacted OHS she would have been identified.

“I was living in the community, the members of council were very prestigious members of the community,” she said.

“So if I would have said anything about that, I would have been blacklisted, I probably would have been run out of town.”

She said many people who experience bullying likely do not report it for the same reason.

OHS does not track stress leaves but said it has received 85 complaints about harassment and bullying at RMs since 2014. Of those, 35 were deemed to meet the requirements for a follow-up.

The administrator added that the province had not implemented whistleblower protections at the time.

“So as an administrator, where do you go? You have no place to go, these are the people who have hired you, these are the people who work for you, and these are the people who will fire you. So you have nowhere to go. And so ultimately as an administrator, you leave, because you don’t have an alternative.”

Although she said some RMs and councillors treat their employees — and each other — very well, a lack of protection means the workplace environment is a matter of luck.

OHS executive director Ray Anthony acknowledged that while the law that requires bullying policies was introduced more than 10 years ago, some RMs have never introduced them.

“We can’t enforce what we don’t know. If someone doesn’t phone in and say I’ve been robbed, you can hardly blame the police for not acting on it,” Anthony said.

He said it is the responsibility of the employer to know the laws that apply to their workplace and comply with them.

OHS has 63 staff to do field inspections of employers around the province. It has received around 1,800 complaints about employers in the past two years, with 90 per cent relating to psychological health and safety.

Anthony said callers can request confidentiality when they contact OHS. He said he would not consider the number of calls from RMs to be high.

Administrators and other workers who have experienced bullying or harassment, or seen it occur, seem to agree that mandatory training for new councillors could help.

The provincial government is implementing similar training for MLAs, who already receive one-on-one conflict-of-interest training when they are elected.

A map of the hundreds of rural municipalities in Saskatchewan. Post image on Pinterest: A map of the hundreds of rural municipalities in Saskatchewan.

A map of the hundreds of rural municipalities in Saskatchewan.

Wade Sira, Reeve of the RM of Rosedale, said he got exasperated by the behaviour he has seen on council and tried to garner support for a proposal that all new councillors must undergo “dos and don’ts” training.

“There is no consequences for when council does go beyond what they’re supposed be doing,” said Sira.

“There is no one to enforce it; council is accountable to themselves.”

He put forward a resolution at his division meeting of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities June.

He proposed that councillors be required to undergo training within three months of being elected or lose their seat. Those already on council would have six months to complete training, or relinquish their seats.

Sira’s proposal didn’t pass. Even if it had, it would still have needed to be approved by SARM delegates in other divisions across the province before the association would endorse it.

“It’s a small room. I could hear people saying ‘it’s a good idea but it’s never going to work,’ ” said Sira.

“Who really wants to hear what they have been doing is wrong, or what they shouldn’t be doing? A lot of people don’t want to hear that.”

Wendy Gowda, from the Rural Municipalities Administrators Association, said she was involved with previous efforts to promote education about bullying and harassment in the workplace. She is skeptical that such a move would ever get enough support to be voted in.

Gowda added that elected officials sometimes run for council because they want input on a specific issue. They may not want to approve a change that would increase oversight over their conduct.

“How we can emphasize more about the need to be cognizant of harassment? I’m sorry, we really try hard,” she said.

Gowda said she too has experienced bullying in her role as an administrator.

CBC has heard stories of bullying and harassment from workers and councillors at RMs across Saskatchewan. Photo: Alicia Bridges

CBC has heard stories of bullying and harassment from workers and councillors at RMs across Saskatchewan. Photo: Alicia Bridges

She said that in a former role she was brought in annually to negotiate her own salary without any hope of having influence on the outcome, a process she believes was carried out as a form of humiliation.



Gowda said she was also directed to do additional work that did not seem to have any value to members of council.

“Even if I felt I had support amongst the majority of the council, when there is a bully at the table sometimes it’s difficult for anybody to step up,” she said.

“Most individuals that are interested in becoming an elected official really are passionate and care about their municipality and they don’t come on board to dispute and argue and fight.”

Gowda said RMAA has worked with the Ministry of Government Relations to create a peer support network for administrators.

The program is a pilot based on something similar in Alberta. It’s meant to provide support and advice in situations where there is nobody local to turn to.

“Especially in remote areas where they don’t have anybody to talk to or maybe they don’t want to be talking to their council,” said Gowda.

“Just to have some more support and maybe lend an ear to listening and have some suggestions for how to get through some of these moments before they escalate.”

The Rural Municipal Administrators' Association is piloting a peer support program for administrators in isolated areas.