Street Culture Project releases final report on harassment

Last fall, allegations of sexual harassment surfaced on social media and launched the Regina non-profit Street Culture Project down a path of resignations and investigations.

It led to a final investigators report that was released Tuesday.

The whole report isn’t being released; the chair of the non-profit’s board said it contains private information. The group released a summary and a list of recommendations.

The third-party investigator engaged by Street Culture Project found there were indeed inappropriate actions, behaviours and practices being engaged in.

“SCP’s Board of Directors acknowledges there were issues within the organization in the past, including inappropriate actions, behaviours and practices. We apologize for the harms these issues caused. We are committed to resolving these issues and moving forward to better serve young people in our community,” the group’s board chair, Cassandra Klassen, wrote in an update posted to the Street Culture Project’s website.

Klassen wrote the process has been painful and difficult, but thanked those who came forward.

From the beginning, when the investigator was hired, there was a complaints process put in place. The investigator interviewed as many people as she could to find out what happened.

The first allegations which got the ball rolling were against Dustin Browne, the executive director at the time. He was suspended and then resigned from Street Culture Project and didn’t participate in the investigation.

The allegations were posted to the now-defunct Instagram account “victimsvoicesRegina.” It called the organization “toxic,” and talked about near-daily sexual harassment like explicit text messages, comments in the office about the poster’s sex life, and unwanted touching and groping at work.

Browne wasn’t named in the post but was named in the comments by others.

Soon after, Kim Sutherland was put on leave from his post as CEO of Street Culture Project, and about a month later he announced he would be retiring permanently. Sutherland initially participated in the investigation but then changed his mind.

Scott Cruikshank is continuing on as the interim CEO until another can be found.

The report from the investigator included a list of recommendations, which the group posted to its update. They include:

• Make confidential counselling available to all current and past employees;
• Get counselling for those at the organization working toward reconciliation and dealing with changes to management going forward;
• Conduct a comprehensive review of obligations, responsibilities and liabilities of the agency, ensuring all management and staff are compliant;
• Improve board governance and clearly define board roles and responsibilities;
• Review and update the policies in the manual;
• Better educate staff and management on policies and make the manual accessible to staff at all times;
• Set out more formalized policies and expectations in the code of conduct, have the code form a larger piece of the orientation and training to new staff, and communicate it to all existing staff;
• Have better and more consistent internal and external communication;
• Restructure human resources, including better staff and management training and professional development, improved processes for performance reviews and staff advancement, clarifying reporting structures, reviewing compensation policies and ensuring clear job descriptions;
• Ongoing respectful workplace training and review of policies;
• Look at policies to hire a more representative staff, reflecting the clients and participants at the organization;
• Get a full audit done of all financial issues; and,
• Conduct a risk assessment, including financial, reputational and legal risks, and identify plans to mitigate risks

The first recommendation is the only one finished. The others were all identified as either ongoing or partially finished.

The summary of the report didn’t include explanations as to why these recommendations were made, nor any more specific details as to what was happening between staff and management in the organization.

Klassen declined a request for an interview.