Halifax housing agency manager sexually harassed job applicant, report finds

A longtime senior manager with a Nova Scotia housing agency is no longer employed by the province after an independent investigationfound he sexually harassed a woman who applied for a job with an Indigenous housing group.

Frank Carroll had beenthedirector of the CobequidHousing Authority since 1999 and was on a six-month secondment at Tawaak Housing Association in Halifax earlier this year when the incidents leading to the allegations occurred.

Tina Kanesent in her resumin March for the job of property manager at Tawaak Housing, a non-profit organization that owns and operates rental housing forIndigenous people living in urban areas of Nova Scotia.

Kane, who is Black, said during the interview process, Carroll tried to kiss her, touchedher leg, hugged her, held her hand andmade inappropriate comments. Kane captured some of their interactions using a recording device hidden in her bra and surveillance set upin advance of one of their meetings.

"It has shaken my foundation," Kane said in an interview with CBC News."The person who I thought I always knew, who was strong and assertive and stoic, I'm broken. I don't feel like that person anymore.I feeldirty. I feel ashamed. I know I shouldn't, but I can't help it."

When Kane came forward with the allegations, Tawaak Housing and the provincial Department of Infrastructure and Housing hired alawyerwith Halifax firmNijhawan McMillan Petruniato investigate. Thatlawyer, Kelly McMillan, found Carroll did sexually harass Kane.

Accused denies allegations

During the investigation, Carroll deniedthe sexual harassment allegations, sayingKane gaveno indicationhis interactions with herwere inappropriate, and that shewas an enthusiastic participant in the incidents and "actively encouraged" conversations of a personal nature.

He suggested Kane could have been motivated to file the complaint because she realized she was "unlikely" to get the job at Tawaak, and because her friend who worked there could have benefited from Carroll'sremoval.

Carroll did not respond toquestions sent to him by CBC News through his lawyer. This story will be updated if he responds.

In a letter to Kane in late August, the Housing Department's executive director of housing authorities, Ed Lake, said the department accepts the investigator's findings and willbe "meaningfully addressing" the violations of the housing authority's policies.

The letter also apologizesfor Carroll's conduct.

The department offered Kane $10,000 as a settlement, saying that amount falls in line with decisions made by human rights tribunals. Kanerequested a settlement of $140,000, which represents two years' worth of salary for the position she had applied for.

Kane declined the settlement offer and has since begun the process of filing a complaint withthe Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission.

Housing Department spokespersonKrista Higdonconfirmed Carroll is no longer employed by the province.

The property manager for Tawaak, Leslay Harris, saidthe organization operates with "the highest standards of ethical accountability" and has zero tolerance for harassment.

Both organizations declined to comment further, saying there is an ongoing legal process.

First and second meetings

According to the investigator's report, Carroll interviewed Kane by himself at the Tawaakoffice on March 12, 2021 an interview both parties acknowledged went well and about a month later, the two agreed to have a second meeting at Tim Hortons. After they boughttheir drinks in the coffee shop, Carroll suggested they visit a nearby Tawaak property together in his car.

Kane said during the drive, Carroll held her hand and touched her leg, and when they stopped to sit on a park bench, Carroll commentedon her eyes. Kane said Carroll also hugged her and tried to kiss her on two occasions during the second meeting.

Carroll denied any touching of a sexual nature during the meeting, and said anytouching of hands was "accidental and purely friendly," according to the report.

He denied commenting on Kane's appearance and said while they exchanged a "friendly" and "mutual" hug at the end of the meeting in his car in the Tim Hortons parking lot, he did not try to kiss her, but rather she kissed him on the cheek when saying goodbye.

The investigator wrote that she was "satisfied on a balance of probabilities"that Carroll "most likely engaged in the behaviour" Kane alleged, noting thatKane called one of her daughters on the way home from the meeting and told her what happened, and she also consulted a lawyer, decided to file a complaint and made plans to meet with Carroll again to record their conversation.

Secret recording

Kane said she wanted to document the third meeting, which took place at the Parkside Pub in Dartmouth a few days later, because she was worried her harassment claimwould not otherwise be believed.

"I could not have handled being called a liar after that," she said.

Kane hid a recording device in her bra and asked one of her daughters and a friend to sit in the pub, and later in a car in the parking lot, to observe and record Kane and Carroll's interactions.

The recording documents Carroll commenting on the length of Kane's hair, telling her she looks nice, asking if their meeting is a date, telling her that it is a date and sayingthat she's good for his confidence.

Carroll said in his written response to the investigator that his references to a "date" were intended as a joke a joke he believed was mutual.

The investigator concludedthat Carroll tried to hold Kane's hand at the pub, and, when they left the pub to sit in Carroll's car, he held her hand again.

Toward the end of their third meeting,in the car, Kane consented to a kiss on the cheek in order to collect evidence in support of her complaint, she told the investigator and Carroll immediately asked her which position at Tawaak she would prefer.

"The timing of the respondent's question is suggestive of a quid pro quo or an exchange of sexual favours for employment benefits," the investigator's report concludes.

Carroll's lawyer told the investigator that the third meeting was a "complete set up to entice and encourage Mr. Carroll to say and do things that Ms. Kane could use to incriminate him," including bydressing ina nice leather jacket, a sweater that exposed her shoulders, wearing her hair down and wearing "more and/or different makeup."

Power dynamic

The investigator's report notes that Carroll "refused to acknowledge" that Kane may have seen him as being in a position of power. "He responded that he thought the complainant was professional enough that they could have a discussion without any power dynamic," the report said.

But Kane saysin addition to being a job applicant in a hiring process, she worries that her positionas a Black single mother was a factor in the interactions.

"We already know that women, African Nova Scotians and Indigenous people experience discrimination on a daily basis," she said. "I wonder constantly if this played a rolein Carroll's actions. Did he think I was more desperate because I was Black and more likely to submit?"

Kane's human rights complaint is in the early stages and has not yet been adjudicated.