Canadian Google employees join world walkouts over sexual misconduct

Google employees left their offices in Kitchener, Ont., Toronto, Ont.andMontreal, Qcas part of an international walkout protesting thecompany's treatment of women and alleged handling of sexualmisconduct allegations.

At its Canadianengineering and development headquarters in Kitchener, employees reversed the protest and insteadstaged a "walk-in" from inside the company's lobby.

• Media asked to leave Google office in Kitchener, Ont. during "walk-in"
• Harassment, inequality triggers international Google employee walkouts

When media tried to enter the building, an unnamed employee met them at the door and confirmed that employees were gathering as part of the worldwide Walkout for Real Change.

But he said that Google was handling this walk-in as an internal affair and that no employee would be speaking to the media.

Reporters were then asked to remove themselves from the company's property.

Montreal, Toronto walkouts

About two dozen workers left the tech giant's Montreal office and at least one hundred exited the company's Toronto office just after11 a.m. local time.

Those in Toronto walked to a nearby park where they spent about15 minutes reading pages of stories from anonymous Google employeesalleging sexism.

Some who were part of the walkout said they would not bereturning to work that day, while others were seen headed back intoGoogle's offices shortly after.

The Canadian employees joined thousands of Google workers acrossthe globe who staged walkouts in the wake of a New York Times storythat detailed allegations of sexual misconduct against GoogleAndroid software creator Andy Rubin, who the publication saidreceived a $90 million severance package in 2014 after Googleconcluded the allegations against him were credible.

In a statement sent to The Canadian Press, Google chief executiveofficer Sundar Pichai said the company would support employees ifthey felt the need to walk out and said Google was planning to act on feedback from workers.