Code of Conduct
This applies to the events and the spaces that Horizon Omega (“HΩ”) organizes, in person and online, including the Ω Labs space at 3813 Saint-Denis. It applies to everyone taking part: members, visitors, guests, speakers, attendees, volunteers, staff, contractors, and board members. If you host a visitor, you are responsible for their conduct while they are with you.
What we expect
- Treat others with respect, and respect their work and their time.
- Engage charitably and in good faith. Expect disagreement, and keep it about the ideas.
- Take boundaries and safety concerns seriously. If someone asks you to stop, that is the end of it.
- Keep conversation and conduct compatible with a professional and welcoming working environment.
- Ask before photographing or recording someone, including in group shots.
- Keep confidences. Unpublished work, organizational plans, and personal information shared with you stay between you and the person who shared them, unless they agree otherwise.
What is not allowed
- Sexual misconduct is prohibited. This includes unwelcome sexual advances, sexual comments, sexual touching, pressure to engage in sexual activity, sharing sexual images or messages without consent, and any other sexualised conduct that is unwanted or unwelcome. This applies whether the conduct is physical, verbal, written, online, or implied.
- Harassment is prohibited. This includes harassment on the basis of sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, disability, or other grounds protected under Québec law; intimidation, stalking, or sustained disruption; and threats of any kind.
- Discrimination is prohibited, including any form of discriminatory treatment, language, or exclusion.
- Retaliation is prohibited against anyone who raises a concern in good faith, or who takes part in handling one.
- Publishing someone’s private information without their consent is prohibited.
These are professional settings. Romantic or sexual advances toward people you meet through them are unwelcome wherever one person holds influence over the other’s work, funding, or access.
How to report a concern
If you experience or become aware of conduct that may violate this code, you can report it through any of the channels below. Use whichever you are most comfortable with. You do not need proof, and you do not need to be the person affected.
- Horizon Omega. Email team@horizonomega.org or call +1 438-476-8403. That inbox is read by HΩ board members as well as the Director, so it is the right route even when your concern is about the Director.
- Speak with Orpheus Lummis (Director) directly, in person or on Signal (
orpheus.77), if you prefer to raise something informally first.
If someone is in immediate danger, call 911. We will help you reach emergency services or the police if you want that.
What happens after a report
We take reports seriously and handle them as confidentially as we reasonably can, and we will tell you before sharing something more widely. Reports made in good faith are not penalized, even if they cannot be substantiated. Deliberately false or malicious reports may be treated as a violation.
We expect those involved in a review to cooperate in good faith. While a review is in progress, we may take interim steps such as asking someone to leave, pausing access, setting no-contact expectations, or changing event arrangements.
Responses are proportionate, ranging from a conversation or warning to temporary suspension or loss of access, with written reasons where access is ended. We take reports of misconduct into account when deciding who gets access to our spaces and programs. If a report involves the Director or a board member, unconflicted board members handle it, and they may bring in an outside investigator. Anyone involved can appeal an outcome to the HΩ board.
What this code does not do
We can act on what happens in our spaces, at our events, and in the channels we run. We are not a court, we cannot compel anyone to take part in a process, and we cannot resolve every dispute.
Nothing here limits your right to go to the police, a regulator, or any other authority, at any time, whether or not you also tell us.
Changes to this code
This code is versioned by the effective and revised dates at the top, and substantive changes are approved by the HΩ board.
We announce substantive changes to members and volunteers before they take effect. The exception is a change needed immediately to protect someone’s safety, which takes effect on publication and is announced as soon as we can. Clarifications, formatting and link fixes take effect on publication.
The previous version is available on request at team@horizonomega.org.
Posting and questions
This code of conduct is posted visibly at the Ω Labs space, and is maintained in English and French.
Questions or suggestions about this code: team@horizonomega.org.