Policy Statement: Keeping Each Other Safe
The Arctic Youth Network (AYN) is an international organization led by Arctic youth. Based out
of Turtle Island, AYN is a registered Canadian not-for-profit headquartered in Wakefield,
Québec which is on the unceded, unsurrendered Territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation.
Gender-based violence (GBV) is a complex issue that infiltrates all spaces, perpetuating violence
and creating barriers for people to safely participate and create the needed change in their
communities. In the Arctic, rates of GBV are alarmingly higher. As a youth-led organization, AYN
is committed to ending the presence of GBV in all spaces.
AYN is committed to delivering harassment-free programs and fostering harassment-free
spaces where all who come into contact with AYN programs and activities are treated with
respect and dignity including, but not limited to, volunteers, employees, contractors,
participants, and stakeholders.
The Canadian Human Rights Act protects all employees from harassment based on race,
national or ethnic origin, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family
status, disability, or pardoned conviction. Harassment may take the form of words, gestures, or
actions which tend to annoy, alarm, abuse, demean, intimidate, belittle, humiliate, or
embarrass another or which create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.
Harassment, abuse, or exploitation in any form, including emotional, physical, and sexual
harassment, abuse, or exploitation, are not acceptable or tolerated at AYN or in association
with any of its affiliated projects.
All allegations of harassment, abuse, or exploitation will be taken seriously by the AYN
community and will be responded to immediately. Volunteers, employees, program
participants, or any other individual found to have harassed, abused, or exploited another
individual in the course of engagement with an AYN activity will be subject to disciplinary
action. This further includes anyone who interferes with the resolution of a harassment, abuse,
or exploitation complaint; retaliates against an individual for filing a related complaint; or files
an unfounded harassment complaint intended to cause harm.
AYN takes a no-tolerance approach to any form of harassment, abuse, or exploitation. AYN also
takes a victim-centered approach and survivor-centered approach AYN is committed to
supporting survivors and connecting them to support when needed.
Understanding that there are at times tensions between these two approaches, AYN will work
sensitively, seeking legal advice as necessary, to create a balance in support of victims of
harassment, abuse, or exploitation.