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Janis G. Johnson
Mobina S.B. Jaffer
Raynell Andreychuck
George Baker
Patrick Brazeau
Vim Kochhar
Grant Mitchell
Nancy Ruth
Rod A.A. Zimmer


 
 
 
Ceri Au
Communications Officer
613-944-9145
Toll-free:
1-800-267-7362
auc@sen.parl.gc.ca

Adam Thompson
Committee Clerk
613-990-6160
Toll-free:
1-800-267-7362
rights-droits
@sen.parl.gc.ca


 
 


Recommendations

In response to the committee's findings on the evidence provided to it between April 2007 and June 2009, the committee has made 13 recommendations. It is important to note, however, that recommendations 1, 10, 11 and 12 serve to both echo and enhance recommendations made by this committee in its February 2007 report. We have reiterated these recommendations here, supplementing them with more specific proposals for concrete action, because the recommendations in our previous report have not, as yet, been implemented. We urge the government to move forward on these matters quickly. Swift action is necessary to ensure that the federal civil service leads the way in responding to Canada's changing demographics, reflecting the diversity of Canadian society within its own workforce.

Recommendation 1
(See page 59)

The committee recommends that the federal government focus on concrete initiatives in order to achieve its employment equity goals. Such initiatives should include:

  • Swift publication and effective implementation of the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer's updated employment equity policy;
  • Providing strong incentives for government agencies and departments to develop and submit staffing strategies that include plans to address gaps in employment equity representation by the end of 2010;
  • Instituting processes which avoid immediate-needs hires that directly and indirectly circumvent employment equity goals;
  • Providing on-the-job language training specifically targeted to assist the career advancement goals of individuals that enter the public service with only one official language;
  • Providing funding to assist public service employees to earn their accreditation in Canada;
  • Encouraging managers to balance the high value that they place on Canadian experience with employment equity priorities; and
  • Renewing core funding, in order to allow all government agencies and departments to fulfill their employment equity objectives.

Recommendation 2
(See page 61)
The committee recommends that Statistics Canada work cooperatively with the Public Service Commission, the Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer to ensure that workforce availability numbers from the most recent national census, reflecting the workforce availability of Canadian citizens, are made available to both the public and to individual federal departments and agencies as soon as they are published.

Recommendation 3
(See page 61)
The committee recommends that individual departments and agencies in the core public administration of the federal public service, as well as monitoring agencies such as the Public Service Commission, Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer, make use of the most recent census data as soon as it is published, for the purpose of assessing departmental and agency performance in meeting employment equity targets and setting accurate and realistic goals for the future.

Recommendation 4
(See page 62)
The committee recommends that, in its 2009 – 2010 Annual Report, the Public Service Commission publish the results of its consultations on developing a common method for calculating representation and recruitment rates in the federal public service.
Recommendation 5
(See page 62)

The committee recommends that, in its future Annual Reports, the Public Service Commission:

  • Release recruitment rates for all four employment equity groups, as it has recently done in its 2008 – 2009 Annual Report;
  • Provide statistics on recruitment rates for employment equity groups for the percentage of jobs that are not publicly advertised;
  • Publish statistics on executive advancement rates; and
  • Make information available regarding trends in recruitment, for both advertised and non-advertised positions.
Recommendation 6
(See page 64)
The committee recommends that, in 2010, the federal government undertake a systemic, government-wide study as to the reasons why federal government employees choose not to self-identify as members of employment equity groups once they have been hired to positions in the federal public service, and that it make the results of this study publicly available as soon as possible following the conclusion of the study.
Recommendation 7
(See page 64)
The committee recommends that in its future Annual Reports, the Public Service Commission and the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer publish statistics on retention rates and retention rate trends for all four designated employment equity groups.
Recommendation 8
(See page 65)
The committee recommends that, in their Annual Reports, the Public Service Commission and the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer break down data for Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and visible minorities by gender when providing statistics regarding employment equity matters in their Annual Reports.
Recommendation 9
(See page 65)
The committee recommends that in 2010-2011, the Public Service Commission undertake further study of appointment rates of employment equity groups, in order to identify reasons why visible minorities are "dropped-off" or eliminated from competitions for jobs in the federal public service at a rate that is higher than that of other designated groups, and that the Public Service Commission table a report in Parliament, outlining both the results of its study and a proposed strategy designed to address and eliminate the causes of visible minority "drop-off".
Recommendation 10
(See page 66)

The committee recommends that the federal government develop concrete means of seeking accountability from managers in the federal public service for their responsibilities in enforcing the standards outlined in the Employment Equity Act. Mechanisms to make managers more accountable could include:

  • Tying deputy head bonuses to employment equity performance assessments, especially in those departments and agencies where special remedial measures have been put in place due to past difficulties in meeting employment equity targets;
  • Enhanced and specific human rights training for deputy heads; and
  • Publishing the names of departments and agencies or statistics with respect to failure to meet employment equity objectives.
Recommendation 11
(See page 69)
The committee urges the federal government to place special emphasis on the need for leadership and a strong organization culture when seeking to achieve its employment equity goals. This should be done for all four employment equity groups collectively, as well as for each employment equity group individually. The push for employment equity must begin at the highest levels – including the Prime Minister's Office – and should encourage a policy of speaking directly to managers to teach them the importance of employment equity to the future of the federal public service.
Recommendation 12
(See page 70)
The committee recommends that the federal government implement a communication strategy to promote its employment equity goals. This strategy should seek to honestly admit the challenges the government has faced in achieving these goals, and the steps it intends to take to create a public service that fully reflects the composition of Canadian society. The strategy should also send a strong message selling the importance of working in the federal public service and the government's renewed commitment to openness in the meeting of its employment equity objectives.
Recommendation 13
(See page 70)
The committee recommends that the government seek to make Canada's human rights protection system under the Canadian Human Rights Act more effective and accessible, in order to ensure its ability to protect individuals from discrimination in a concrete way.


 



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