Community Conduct Guidelines

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Community Conduct Guidelines

Pacific Opera Victoria is committed to supporting the right of every individual to live, work and play in an environment that is equitable, respectful, and free from bullying, harassment, and discrimination. Pacific Opera’s Community Conduct Guidelines is intended: to promote respect for everyone engaging with our programs and spaces; to set out the types of behaviour that may be considered offensive; and to provide a process for addressing and resolving concerns about behaviour.

Who the policy covers: All persons engaging with Pacific Opera in any capacity including audiences, volunteers, artists, employees, patrons, and others who engage with our programs in any location, in person or online.

OUR STANDARDS

Everyone feels respected and feels welcome to be their own true selves when we treat others with dignity.

Dialogue is constructive when we recognize that someone else’s frame of reference is likely to be different from our own.

Showing sensitivity and using compassionate language fosters trust and frees our spaces of discrimination.

Watching out for others helps prevent and stop harassment.

OUR RESPONSIBILITIES

Support and assist any person subjected to bullying, harassment, or discrimination by anyone who participates with Pacific Opera’s programs and business.

Respect the rights of all parties to a fair and equitable process, maintaining confidentiality to the extent possible.

Confidentiality: Confidentiality at every stage of the process is important to protect everyone involved, including the complainant, the person allegedly responsible for the conduct, and anyone reporting incidents of harassment. Confidentiality will be maintained throughout the process to the extent permitted.

Bullying and harassment includes any inappropriate conduct and unwelcome actions by any person, whether verbal or physical, which humiliates, insults or degrades. This includes comments or conduct that the person knew or reasonably ought to have known would cause someone to be humiliated or intimidated.

Discrimination: The BC Human Rights Code prohibits discrimination because of the Indigenous identity, race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religion, marital status, family status, physical or mental disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or age of that person or class of persons.

Examples of bullying, harassment, and discrimination:

  • Verbal conduct, such as unwarranted criticism, ridicule, derogatory comments, offensive remarks, malicious complaints, gossip, threats, shouting;
  • Emotional or psychological harassment, such as isolation or exclusion, belittling or trivializing, discrediting, defamation or spreading rumours, gaslighting;
  • Microaggressions, such as repeating behaviours to intimidate, belittle, exclude or annoy another person resulting in a toxic environment;
  • Visual conduct, such as displaying or disseminating pornographic, sexist, racist or other offensive or derogatory material, leering, gestures, ostracism;
  • Physical conduct, such as interfering with a person’s normal movement, unwelcome physical contact, including touching and assault; direct threats of intent to inflict harm, threatening behaviour; destroying property;
  • Online harassment, such as sharing humiliating images or stories, spreading lies or gossip on social media, harassing emails or messages, creating memes or images with intention to mock or harm, posting non-consensual digital material, intentionally misquoting;
  • Sexual harassment, such as unwelcome attention of a sexual nature, sharing nude or sexual photos of oneself or others, sexual comments, jokes, questions, inappropriate touching, inappropriate sexual gestures;
  • Discrimination, such as verbal or written slurs, exclusion or denial of entry based on identity, cultural appropriation or mockery of sacred traditions, harmful stereotyping.

Examples of actions that are not bullying or harassment:

  • Reasonable action taken by a person
  • Mutually acceptable social interaction.
CONSEQUENCES OF A BREACH OF THE COMMUNITY CONDUCT GUIDELINES

Pacific Opera reserves the right to establish the following consequences for behaviour that does not adhere to this Community Conduct Guidelines, including issuing a verbal warning; a written warning; a temporary, partial or permanent ban from Pacific Opera events, spaces, and channels.

MAKING A COMPLAINT
  • Approach the person responsible If it is safe to do so, the complainant is encouraged but not required to bring the matter to the attention of the person responsible for the conduct (the “respondent”).
  • Discuss with Pacific Opera If the complainant is not comfortable bringing the matter directly to the attention of the respondent, or if an attempt to do so isn’t satisfactory, the complainant may approach a Pacific Opera representative, 250.382.1641.
  • Formal Complaint: If the complainant is not satisfied, or chooses not to utilize the above informal procedure, the complainant may make a formal written complaint to:

Ian Rye | CEO

Chair | Kristine Kosolofski

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Reconciliation Committee

[email protected]

250.382.1641