Investigator found Champlain College director's 'inappropriate behaviour' contributed to toxic work environment

An external investigation into the head of Champlain College Lennoxville found three years ago she had engaged in inappropriate behaviour and lacked adequate management skills.

Nancy Beattie has been suspended with pay since Jan. 10, following a motion of non-confidence from the college's teachers' union and allegations of creating a toxic work environment.

At Quebec's labour tribunal last March, investigator Genevive Breton testified that she uncovered problematic behaviour from Beattieat the college in Quebec's Eastern Townships.

Beattie maintains that she had not created an environment of psychological harassment the allegation at the heart of the hearings and that the investigation supportsher case.

While that investigation found her actions did not necessarily add up to psychological harassment, the investigator's testimony and written conclusions paint a more complex picture.

"We retained certain allegations that there was inappropriate behaviouron the part of Ms. Beattie," Breton said during her testimony. Her conclusions had been the subject of a publication ban, but CBC News can now reveal them after successfully presenting legal arguments against the ban.

Not psychological harassment, says investigator

The college's dean of student services, Jennifer Coley-Gomez, launched the complaint that led to the hearings in 2021. She and three other managers have testified against Beattie.

But before the case went to the Tribunal administratif du travail, the college hired consulting firm Relais Expert Conseil to address a complaint Coley-Gomez had filed internally earlier that year.

The allegations that Breton substantiated "did not reveal the repetitive or serious nature of Ms. Beattie's behaviour," she wrote in a 2021 working document that was submitted to the tribunal. CBC News obtained the document through an access-to-information request.

Breton testified it was a "copy and paste" of the conclusions of the full report, which CBC News has not seen.

"Although [Beattie's] behaviour is considered to be inappropriate at times, it does not constitute workplace psychological harassment within the meaning of the [Champlain College] policy," the working document said.

During the hearings last March, administrative Judge Valrie Lizotte said that she is not bound by Breton's findings. The tribunal next convenes on May 28.

A need to 'exercise control'

At the same time, Breton's conclusions draw attention to problems with Beattie's behaviour in general and "inadequate management skills," regarding Coley-Gomez specifically.

Beattie showed "a constant will to demonstrate her authority and exercise control within the workplace," and particularly singled out Coley-Gomez, the document said.

It includeda list of Beattie's actions that it said had eroded the workplace environment, including failing to answer emails, reacting "strongly" in a meeting, rejecting or dismissing ideas from employees and imposing her authority.

She also targeted Coley-Gomez in particular, the document said, by excluding her from both text message exchanges and a selection committee, micromanaging, not respecting the dean's authority and generally adopting a negative attitude toward the manager.

Multiple people told the investigator that Beattie did not seem receptive to any of Coley-Gomez's suggestions.

Beattie's actions "have surely contributed to creating a toxic work environment," the document said.

Coley-Gomez has not responded to a request for comment on these findings.

Problems with Beattie's relationship

The fact that the campus head is also married to the CEGEP's finance manager, Daniel Poitras, also creates a "stressful working environment for many employees," the document said.

A number of the CEGEP's high-level managers testified last year that Beattie favoured her husband, or protected him when he displayed problematic behaviour.

The Relais-Expert document said college management should address the problems the relationship was causing.

It said actions will or have already been taken, but does not state what those were.

The administration at Champlain Regional College says it will not comment on Beattie's case or related matters until the tribunal judgment has been rendered and an investigation by Quebec's minister of higher education into the management and finances at Champlain College Lennoxville has produced its findings.

Neither Beattie nor Poitras have responded to a request for comment. However, in letters to the college's board of governors last January and February, Beattie wrote thatthe external investigation concluded there had been no harassment.

She repeatedly urged the college to give her a copy so that she could use it to restore her reputation.

The board is now seeking its third chair in less than six months.

Its most recent chair, Matthew Mazur, resigned in March after five months on the job in order to devote more time to his professional career, he told CBC News. The board was scheduled to elect a new chair during its most recent meeting on April 5, but the position remains vacant.