The Public Legal Education Association (PLEA) of Saskatchewan has relaunched a program intended to help those experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace.

The SHIFT Project connects individuals with free legal advice about workplace harassment to help explore their options.

“It gives people access to justice. And so it pairs the information component with the legal advice component, and it allows people to understand options, whether what they’ve actually experienced is workplace sexual harassment, what the law says about that, [and] what the options are,” said Tanya Clarke, manager of administration and office operations for PLEA.

“Just to empower people.”

Those who access the service can receive up to four free hours of legal advice. While the services are open to anyone, the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace disproportionately affects women.

According to PLEA, nearly 50 per cent of women report having experienced harassment in the workplace.

“It gives them information and empowers them to understand their situation and to give them options about how to move forward and they don’t need to commit to moving forward to access the program. It’s just an opportunity to understand the laws and the different options open to them,” said Clarke.

The service is funded through the Legal Aid program, which stems from the federal Department of Justice.

Funding has been allocated to keep the program running for a minimum of two years, until March of 2027.