the Canadian Labor Code defines it explicitly as “any conduct, comment, gesture or contact of a sexual nature that (a) is likely to cause offence or humiliation to any employee; and (b) that might, on reasonable grounds, be perceived by that employee as placing a condition of a sexual nature on employment or on a opportunity for training or promotion.”
The U.S. and Canadian definitions of sexual harassment are found in national laws and are closely tied to the type of remedy available to a victim of this form of violence.
Despite the lack of a universal definition of sexual harassment, there is general consensus about what constitutes prohibited conduct. For an action to be considered sexual harassment it must meet these criteria:
(1) [the action] is related to sex or sexual conduct;
(2) [the conduct] is unwelcome, not returned, not mutual; and
(3) [the conduct] affects the terms or conditions of employment, in some cases including the work environment itself.