Woman's landmark harassment battle saluted

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Dianna Evangeline won in the Supreme Court. (COLE BREILAND / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

In 1982, Dianna Evangeline was a 21-year-old waitress who decided to prove she had the right to work without enduring sexual harassment.

She fought all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada to win her point. But the battle was costly both in the psychic scars that come when you're considered prey and in the enduring legacy of being a pioneer in a fight good girls didn't have. She broke off relations with her family, changed her last name and left the country.

Monday morning, Evangeline celebrated her 51st birthday by speaking publicly about her battle for the first time. She told attendees at a national human rights conference her decision to file a sexual harassment claim with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission led to harassing phone calls, estrangement from friends and the understanding things had spiralled beyond her control.

"I felt that I was 21 and washed up," she said Monday. "I had a good cry and then I decided to fight. It was never in my nature to walk away."

Evangeline was a university student living on her own, paying the bills and supporting herself. She took on a waitressing job at the now-defunct Pharos restaurant. It was an ideal fit because she could schedule work around her classes.

Soon after she started, the chef fondled her, looked her in the eyes and smiled. She went home, sickened. It happened again and she complained to her boss. She stopped wearing makeup at work, wondering if somehow the continuing abuse was her fault.

"By going back, shift and shift, I knew it wasn't my fault but I felt that way regardless."

After her complaint to the owner, the fondling stopped but the chef started deliberately ruining her orders. Her tips fell off. She complained again but was told she needed an attitude adjustment.

Evangeline quit. In 1983, she filed the complaint with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission against the company that owned Pharos. Her courage, and that of another waitress at the restaurant, eventually led to a 1989 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that sexual harassment in the workplace is a form of discrimination.

She said when she testified she had to use words she'd "never said out loud" to describe the physical and verbal abuse.

Evangeline was awarded damages but never collected. It wasn't about money, she said. It was the principle of changing something that was wrong and fighting for the women who couldn't quit.

She said she has finally stepped into the spotlight because she once vowed if she lived long enough, she'd do something more for the human rights battle. She was greeted like a rock star at the conference, something that confounds her.

It took a long time to get her life on track after the legal battles. She finished her degree but never got into a groove. She waitressed here and there.

"The confidence and the bright, shiny future just disappeared."

She now works as a financial analyst for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and just finished her certified management accountant designation. She also has two children, ages 18 and 20. When she disclosed what she calls her "footnote" role in history, they told her those battles continue.

"They've had their own experiences," she said.

And that's where the hard part comes in. Dianna Evangeline had the courage to step forward. So many women of that generation, my generation, put up with the same sort of abuse. We were young, we were female and we were powerless. But her courage, and the resulting change in human rights legislation, didn't end harassment. It simply clearly defined it as wrong.

We already knew that.

"So much has changed and some other things haven't changed at all," she said. "I live every day with the confidence we will get there."

Thirty years ago, she did her part. She's not sorry.

"You can't have regrets. You don't get do-overs in life."

lindor.reynolds@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 19, 2012 A5