If you are a supervisor uncertain of your responsibilities ...

The Conflict Management and Human Rights Office is available to provide:

• support and advice to individuals dealing with conflict;
• conflict coaching to individuals; 
• mediation to teams and small groups; and
• investigative services when a formal complaint has been received.

We are available to:

• help you understand rights and responsibilities in the area of human rights and how they apply to specific situations within your area of supervision;
• provide you with information about what options are available to you when dealing with human rights issues in your area;
• guide you through the process of responding informally or formally to a human rights issue; and,
• work alongside you as you carry out a planned response.

The Conflict Management and Human Rights Office can design and deliver custom educational programming to your unit on topics related to Workplace Human Rights, Responding to Disrespectful Communication, Managing Difficult Conversations and more ...

To better understand you responsibilities related to human rights concerns, you can watch our online presentation on Supervisory Responsibilities. 

If you are experiencing behavior that is having a negative impact on you, that is a problem.  It is important that you get some help whether the behavior has been identified as harassment or not.  

• Where can you get help?

  • At your place of employment: talk your supervisor and determine whether there are other resources to help you (e.g. human resources).

  • From CECA: contact your co-op placement advisor and the CECA Harassment Advisors,

  • On the UWaterloo campus: contact the Conflict Management and Human Rights Office or Counselling Services.  

• If you are feeling unsafe or threatened, you can contact Campus Police or your local police, but it is important that you also advise CECA of your situation.

If you want to know more about harassment and what it is, you can also visit the Ontario Human Rights Commission’s website.  They have some great e-Learning modules that can help you learn more e.g. Human Rights 101.

The Conflict Management and Human Rights Office has also created a number of presentations that provide more details about harassment, discrimination, stereotypes and prejudice.  They describe what these are an how they can negatively impact our campus.

When you or your staff arrange to meet with someone from our office the first thing we will do is listen. After listening to your concerns, our staff will share information about policy and resources available at the University of Waterloo. They will also discuss what options are available to address the concerns either formally or informally.

Often people are afraid that when they come to us, they will lose control of the situation. It is important to understand that a person only needs to share with us the information that they feel comfortable sharing.  In fact, they don’t even need to tell us their name if they don’t want to.  We will explain what options and resources are available, but they get to decide what happens next.

At the end of the meeting we want to ensure that the person:

• Has been heard and understood;
• Is aware of the policy on campus that is applicable to their concern;
• Is aware of different options available, both formal and informal;
• Is aware of the different services available at the Conflict Management and Human Rights Office;
• Is aware of other applicable resources on campus;
• Understands that the Conflict Management and Human Rights Office can provided direction regarding who would be responsible for addressing their complaint (Department/Faculty); and
• Is aware that we are available to meet with them as many times as necessary to accomplish the above.

Contact CMAHRO as soon as you feel like something is not right in your workplace or learning environment.  An early response increases the chance of addressing the issue in a way that minimizes relationship damage. 

You can call or email us.