Public service could review Rideau Hall allegations if complaint filed, documents say

OTTAWA — Internal government documents show that public servants could have investigated allegations of a toxic work environment at Rideau Hall had an employee at the Governor General’s office filed a complaint under the federal labour code.

The Governor General herself is not subject to the code, but the secretariat and the employees who serve Julie Payette are fair game, as federal labour investigators outlined in a series of messages in late July.

The flurry of emails on the evening of July 21 was in response to a CBC story that outlined allegations of harassment and intimidation at Rideau Hall by Payette and her top official, Assunta Di Lorenzo.

The Privy Council Office launched a workplace review that Payette has supported, but an official complaint would have triggered an existing review process overseen by Employment and Social Development Canada.

At the time, the labour division wrote it had no “active complaints” against Rideau Hall for any “issues raised in media.”

ESDC says it currently does not have any active complaints against the Office of the Governor General.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2020.

The Canadian Press