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, including staff, contractors, and board members. If you host a visitor, you are responsible for their conduct while they are with you.
What we expect
- 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 Unpublished work, organizational plans, and personal information shared with you stay between you and the person who shared them, unless they agree otherwise.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. Unwelcome sexual advances, sexual comments, sexual touching, pressure to engage in sexual activity, sharing sexual images or messages without consent, or other unwelcome sexualized conduct. This applies in any form, including in person, in writing, and online.
- Harassment is prohibited, 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. So are intimidation, stalking, sustained disruption, and threats of any kind.
- Discriminatory treatment, language, or exclusion, in any form.
- Publishing someone’s private information without their consent.
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. You do not need proof, and you do not need to be the person affected. Retaliation against anyone who raises a concern in good faith, or who takes part in handling one, is itself a violation of this code.
- 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 handle reports as confidentially as we reasonably can. If we need to share something more widely, we will tell you first. 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, and we cannot compel anyone to take part in a process.
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; the HΩ board approves substantive changes, and we announce them to members and volunteers before they take effect.
Clarifications, formatting and link fixes take effect on publication, as does any change needed immediately to protect someone’s safety, which we announce as soon as we can. 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.