A message from Pam Skinner, Senior Vice-President, College Operations:
Ahead of the July 1 deadline, Niagara College updated its Employee Code of Conduct policy to comply with Bill 26, the Strengthening Post-Secondary Institutions and Students Act. This legislation is designed to better protect students as a result of an increase in sexual violence on post-secondary campuses. The Bill requires postsecondary institutions in Ontario to set specific rules with respect to sexual misconduct toward students by employees. The training is mandatory for full-time faculty, Deans and Associate Deans, and strongly recommended for all people leaders and staff. The updated policy can be found on our website.
The College’s Conflict of Interest policy has also been updated to include additional information in section six to clearly define the College’s position on personal relationships between employees and students. The updated policy, and Conflict of Interest Procedure and Disclosure Form, can be found on our website.
Harassment & Discrimination Prevention training
Changes to our policies reflect our commitment to ensuring a respectful workplace culture at the College. While not a requirement of Bill 26, we have begun to roll-out Harassment and Discrimination Prevention training (which includes a component on sexual misconduct).
People managers received the training in May, with an additional session for leaders planned for October.
This training is mandatory for all full-time faculty. Time was allocated on spring/summer SWFs to attend this mandatory training. Faculty members teaching in July and August must register for a session if they have not already done so. An additional session (or two) will be offered in late August for faculty hired to start teaching in the fall term.
| Session Date 2023 | AM (10 a.m. to noon) | PM (1 to 3 p.m.) |
| July 25 | Register here | Register here |
| July 26 | Register here | Register here |
| Aug 9 | Register here | Register here |
| Aug 15 | Register here | Register here |
| Aug 22 (For faculty hired after Aug 15 only) |
Register here | Register here |
Human Resources and the Centre for Organizational Excellence (COE) will be working with the Centre for Academic Excellence (CAE) to offer similar training content for part-time, partial load and sessional instructors, and will create online reference materials and resources for leaders and faculty members to access for future use.
Beginning in the fall, virtual training will be offered to all employees and will be strongly encouraged.
A respectful workplace is our collective responsibility. Thank you for your support of this important training initiative.
Pam Skinner
Senior Vice-President, College Operations
