7. Key Issues in Employment Equity in 2002
Various issues have dominated the scene in employment equity this year.
Embracing Change
The Embracing Change initiative has resulted in progress for visible minorities in the federal public service. The targets set under this initiative are a good example of the kind of proactive goals needed to remedy the past exclusion of visible minorities from the public service. With the current rate of progress, however, the Commission is concerned that the government will fail to meet its target. Although the share of hiring for visible minorities has nearly doubled from 5.7% to 10.0%, this is significantly below the 20% hiring goal which the government wanted to meet by March 2003. The same 20% goal applies to the Executive category where, as of March 2002, visible minorities held 3.8% of positions, and of the 73 hires into this category in 2001–2002, three (4.1%) went to visible minorities. In view of this shortfall and of the pending increase in availability which will result from the 2001 Census, the Commission recommends that the government maintain this initiative and strengthen its approach with additional measures and necessary funding.
Persons with Disabilities
Of all the designated groups, persons with disabilities continue to make the least progress and to be severely disadvantaged in the labour market, especially in the private sector. In its response to the House of Commons Committee reviewing the Employment Equity Act, the government committed to work with the provinces and territories on a strategy for increasing the number of persons with disabilities in the workforces of all employers covered by the Act. The Commission awaits with interest the outcome of the government’s discussions and initiatives for this designated group and will continue to call for more vigorous action until persons with disabilities are no longer excluded from their fair share of employment.
New Census Data
Canadians who are visible minorities now constitute 13.4% of the country’s population, up from 11.2% in 1996, and they account for as much as 37% of the population of some Canadian cities.
Aboriginal persons now represent 3.3% of the nation’s population, up from 2.8% five years ago. With Aboriginal children constituting 5.6% of all Canadian children aged 14 and under, their presence will soon be significant to the Canadian labour market.
These demographic changes will be reflected in higher availability data for employers subject to the Employment Equity Act and will necessitate revision of their workforce analyses and hiring goals.
Economic globalization puts a premium on using all key resources in the most effective and efficient manner, and human resources are increasingly the most important of these resources. These demographic changes point to employment equity as a critical element in supporting the Canadian environment as it adjusts to the new realities of a value based economy.
More than time is needed to alleviate discrimination
A study entitled Is Work Working for Workers of Colour? conducted by the Canadian Labour Congress and released in November 2002 concluded that "racial discrimination plays a major role in creating and sustaining large differences in the quality of jobs and in the economic security" of visible minorities in Canada. Analysing the substantial income gaps between visible minority workers and all other workers, regardless of education or age, the study questioned the "catch-up" theory that suggests economic differences based on race disappear as immigrants gain more Canadian job experience and move into the mainstream, as did previous white European immigrants. In fact, trends since 1980 do not support this theory. This study underlines the need for social policies, such as employment equity, to redress inequities that time and labour market conditions alone will not rectify.
Giving preference in employment to Canadian citizens
On March 8, 2002, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its judgement in Bailey v. Canada and Lavoie v. Canada and found that the provision in the Public Service Employment Act giving preference to Canadian citizens for federal public service jobs open to the public, regardless of merit, discriminates against permanent residents but is constitutional. The Court ruled that to motivate immigrants to become Canadian citizens, the policy is a justifiable infringement of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms equality guarantees. The ruling also said that it was up to Parliament to enact non-discriminatory legislation. The Commission recommends to the President of the Treasury Board that she remove this preference in the new legislation being proposed to modernize human resource management in the federal public service.
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Including Parliament under the Act
When the Commission tabled its report on the review of the Act in April 2002, it recommended that employees of the House of Commons, the Senate and the Library of Parliament be among those who benefit from the protection of the Act. In his testimony before the House of Commons Committee reviewing the Act, the Clerk of the House of Commons pointed out that employees of Parliament were not subject to the Act because of the principle of parliamentary privilege. The Committee recommended that the Act fully apply to the Library of Parliament, and that the Canadian Human Rights Commission be allowed to conduct audits on the implementation of the Act for employees of the House of Commons and the Senate, without being allowed to take enforcement action, thus preserving parliamentary privilege.
In its November 2002 response, the government did not agree with this recommendation, for reasons dealing with parliamentary privilege. It committed to assist Parliament in achieving the Act’s objectives, without Parliament being subject to the Act.
The Commission recommends that the government revise its position and adopt the compromise put forward in the Committee’s report to the House of Commons. In this way, it would extend the same human rights protection afforded to other workers under federal jurisdiction, while preserving parliamentary privilege.
Harassment in the Public Service
In the 2002 Public Service Employee Survey results, 21% of employees reported that they had been the victims of harassment and 17% declared they had been the victims of discrimination on the job in the previous two years. As part of its audit process, the Commission requires that employers have appropriate policies in place to prevent instances of harassment and discrimination. The Commission will continue to emphasize this aspect of its compliance work and with nearly all federal departments and agencies under audit, look to decrease these incidents in the next few years.
Decreasing shares of designated group members in the public service recruitment process
Results from a recent Public Service Commission study showed that the proportion of each of the four designated groups decreases as the recruitment process proceeds from application to successful completion. The study attributes this to bona fide occupational requirements such as citizenship, education, experience or language skills. Audits by the Commission have found that some of these requirements are at times set with more than just the job to perform in mind. Managers often require extensive experience as a way of narrowing down the potential number of applicants, sometimes because they have a specific candidate in mind, or sometimes simply to keep the task of selection manageable. The Commission hopes that this study will lead to a review of job requirements set by managers, and that results will continue to be monitored until all applicants have the same opportunities to succeed.
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