Pressure increases on UnderstandUs founder to address allegations of sexual harassment
Jim Demeray told CTV he was saddened by ‘anonymous accusers' in response to allegations
Warning: This story contains graphic language.
More women are calling on mental health advocate Jim Demeray to address numerous allegations of verbal sexual harassment against him — and so are some of his former business partners.
"We take the recent allegations of sexual harassment against a close business partner very seriously and we want to make it clear that we believe and stand with the survivors," Munz Media said in a statement posted online Wednesday.
The Regina-based company has spent years creating visual content for the Saskatchewan mental health advocacy organization UnderstandUs, which Demeray founded.
The Munz Media team encouraged Demeray "to undertake a public acknowledgement of the harm of his actions."
Demeray recently resigned from his position as executive director of UnderstandUs in the wake of a CBC News investigation.
Fifteen former employees CBC spoke with allege that Demeray verbally sexually harassed, objectified or acted inappropriately toward teens and young women while he was their boss at Earls restaurants between 2000 and 2016.
When asked for a response, Demeray told CBC all the allegations against him were "baseless and untrue."
Demeray has not responded to CBC's additional requests for comment since the investigation was published Sunday.
On Tuesday, he spoke to CTV News. "I am saddened that anonymous accusers from 10 years ago might undo the work of UnderstandUs, which has helped thousands of people," he said.
CBC has spoken with more than 20 former employees as of Thursday who shared their own experiences of alleged sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour, or offered witness accounts to corroborate allegations revealed in the investigation.
Some of the women told CBC that they struggled to reconcile Demeray's growing influence among Saskatchewan schoolchildren through his mental health advocacy organization with the past behaviour he's alleged to have displayed toward girls and young women in the restaurant industry.
The women say they were subjected to constant highly sexual and explicit comments by Demeray in the Earls workplace about their bodies and sexual acts, such as "Nice tits," "You have the best ass here," "I'd like to tap that," "I'm so f--king horny right now" and "Do you like it in the ass?"
A former Earls server and a woman who was a hostess at age 15 said sexualized comments happened as recently as 2015, four years after Demeray founded UnderstandUs.
The women want Demeray, who earned money promoting mental wellness, to address what they say is his legacy of mental harm. Many of them were teenagers at the time and some were underage.
Comments prompt women to speak out
More women say they felt compelled to share their own experiences after Demeray's comments to CTV.
CBC has agreed not to name them.
"This statement attempts to discredit victims by calling them 'accusers,'" said a woman who brought forward new allegations of verbal sexual harassment to CBC. She worked at Earls when Demeray was general manager and also later contributed to UnderstandUs.
"This statement attempts to place blame on victims for the damaged reputation of UnderstandUs rather than his own actions."
Another woman, who brought similar allegations forward, is troubled that Demeray spent years advocating for mental health, but now will not "acknowledge that women are experiencing mental health issues because of the trauma" that he's now accused of creating.
She believes women deserve accountability, but instead feels like Demeray has been publicly "gaslighting the survivors."
"I just don't think he has the realization or the accountability to own up to what he's done or how he made people feel," said another woman, who brought more allegations forward.
He had told me it was all in my head, and that it was my own insecurities about my looks.- Former employee
Demeray's claim that there was never a complaint or a suggestion that he acted inappropriately around female staff during his 16 years in the restaurant industry is "a joke," she said.
"You were in a position of power. How could anybody complain?"
She said she confronted Demeray about his behaviour, and also questioned why she started receiving poor shifts when she stopped engaging in sexual conversations.
"He had told me it was all in my head, and that it was my own insecurities about my looks," she said. She was no longer victimized after that, but the behaviour continued toward other women, she said.
The oversexualized and image-oriented nature of the workplace — led by Demeray — has left a lasting impact on her self-esteem, she said. She still struggles not to tie her self-worth to her appearance and often wonders, "am I good enough?"
Former collaborators focus on harassment
Munz Media said in its statement that it would be working to educate staff about systemic misogyny within businesses.
Regina marketing business Strategy Lab said it will also stop working with UnderstandUs and turn its focus to other non-profit organizations.
"We don't condone those actions," said Jeph Maystruck, who runs the company.
The company, which has seven employees, announced Wednesday it would implement a zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment.
He said the company has established "third-party incident reporting," meaning people with concerns can take them to someone outside the organization, and a policy will be put in place on how to handle complaints.
Strategy Lab will also implement "safe-space training" for all staff, and undertake a review of internal policies for "inappropriate client behaviour."
"Even if you're a small company, you still have to make your team feel safe."
With files from Bonnie Allen