Employment Equity Related Quotes
“Canadian companies face a global war for talent and shortages have reached crisis
proportion in some sectors. The one-of-a-kind Corporate Knight Magazine Leadership
Diversity Index survey is a call to action and provides concrete recommendations for
improvement. Failure to improve the advancement opportunities for our talented and
diverse labour force not only threatens corporate performance but Canada's global
competitiveness.”
( Wendy Cukier, Associate Dean, Ted Rogers School of Management )
“We truly can go out and say we’re going to take the right person. And many times,
that is a woman or a visible minority. It’s taken care of itself because we’ve created the
culture in the organization where we attract people with that type of background to
work here.”
( Tom Goldie, Vice-President of Corporate Services, Hydro One )
“RBC sets a high premium on diversity. As a matter of interest, I chair our Diversity
Leadership Council, made up of senior leaders from across our businesses, and it is the
only committee other than my executive committee that I sit on. This Council sets
RBC's employment equity strategy and goals. We meet quarterly to make sure the
talent pipeline is being filled with qualified candidates from diverse groups, as well as
tracking the results of our recruitment efforts, promotions and terminations. Each of
our businesses has goals with respect to gender, people with disabilities, aboriginal
people and visible minorities so we can measure our performance and hold people
accountable, rather than just talking a good game. We focus our approach to diversity
not just from a social justice perspective, but as a business opportunity which, in my
view, is the best way to overcome the systemic challenges.”
“In 2008, we created the RBC Diversity Blueprint™ which sets out our corporate
diversity strategy, priorities and objectives. The purpose of the blueprint is to outline
how we will continue to improve our diversity position in Canada, strengthen our
existing diversity and inclusion efforts internationally, and where necessary, develop
new initiatives that support our commitment to diversity.”
“The broad case for leveraging diversity means maximizing potential labour force
participation rates, employment rates and productivity per worker by employing people
at what they do best and at the highest income per worker possible within this context.
More specifically, there are three key reasons for addressing diversity issues that
involve releasing untapped potential in today’s existing workforce, targeting future
workforce challenges and capitalizing on the broader economic benefits that more
diverse populations have to offer. Canada arguably ranks as the most culturally diverse
population among major industrialized nations. This means that Canada also has the
greatest incentive to realize the benefits of cultural diversity. We also have the greatest
potential for rewards from our success.”
( Gordon Nixon, President & CEO, RBC Financial Group )
“We find candidates will come to us and say, ‘You’re really serious about having
opportunities for everybody’. It’s a recruitment tool as well, where people are
saying, ‘You’re putting your money where your mouth is. You’re serious about this.
You’re willing to go public about this.’ If you want to serve the market, you have to
hire the market.”
( Zabeen Hirji, Chief Human Resources Officer, Royal Bank of Canada )
Stronger measures are needed to change hiring patterns ….. to remove barriers to the
fair participation of all workers and develop positive measures for workers in the four
designated groups (women, visible minorities, aboriginal people, and people with
disabilities). The CAW is committed to a policy of fair representation and inclusion. To
achieve fairness, we recognize the need to identify and change structural barriers that
limit participation, especially for women, visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and
those with disabilities. As well, we recognize the need to take affirmative action
measures, without which these groups may not achieve full and fair access to
employment.
( Canadian Auto Workers – CAW – Commitment to Solidarity in Diversity )
“When you represent the communities you serve, I think the company’s always
seen in a much more favourable light.”
( Laura Formusa, CEO, Hydro One )
AOHC is an Equity Employer and encourages applications from Aboriginal peoples,
individuals from racialised and minoritised groups (e.g. diverse ethno-racial and
francophone communities and people of all sexual orientations and genders) and
persons with disability.
( Association of Ontario Health Centres – AOHC – Policy Commitment – 2009 )
The purpose of employment equity is to achieve equality in the workplace, correct
situations of disadvantage, and give effect to the principle that employment equity
means more than treating people in the same way. Employment equity attempts to
promote and ensure equal access to employment opportunities for traditionally
disadvantaged groups, to look at employment practices and policies to remove barriers
to the full participation of these groups, and increase and make equitable the
representation of historically disadvantaged groups at ALL levels of the workplace. By
allowing for a diverse and expansive workforce, employment equity makes it easier for
Canadian businesses to meet the demand for specialized skills. The CEP is dedicated to
the betterment of employment conditions for all of its present and future members, and
for workers at large. The implementation of stronger employment equity legislation is a
necessary step toward redressing the workplace inequities that have affected workers
who have been historically and systemically disadvantaged.
( Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada – CEP – public position
statement – 2002 )
“BMO reports diversity data both by hiring decisions and promotional decisions. And if
we see that it’s skewed or that there are missed opportunities, then we put in place
action plans to address that. The overarching framework to ensure an inclusive work
environment, though, is the company’s code of conduct, which outlines diversity
policies and disciplinary actions. We’ve put in goals for 2010. We are renewing our
focus and making sure that over the next couple of years we are aggressively improving
our leadership on diversity.”
( April Taggart, Senior Vice President, Talent Management and Diversity, BMO
Financial Group )
The University of Western Ontario recognizes that Employment Equity is a value at the
core of its mandate as a community leader and an institution of higher learning.
Employment Equity programs benefit EVERYONE in the workplace – in addition to
members of designated groups ( women, visible minorities, Aboriginal persons and
persons with disabilities ). Western’s strategic plan, Engaging the Future, has adopted
the principle of diversity stating “as part of our commitment to excellence, we seek to
recognize and remove the obstacles faced by traditionally under-represented groups in
order to facilitate their access to and advancement at Western. ( University of Western
Ontario – Western’s Employment Equity Objectives – 2007 )
“I believe you have a great responsibility to do everything you can to reflect the
diversity of the country. The days are over when you can think that you are going to
have the talent that you need by just looking to a single segment in the labour force.
Now, the reality is that we have to take that realization and turn it into an operational
strategy to actively go out and get those people—there’s a huge contest for talent in the
labour market these days, and that’s what you definitely have to do”.
( Moya Greene, President and CEO, Canada Post )
“If that metric of diversity is important, and companies are assessed on that metric,
and that is publicly known, then I think there’s an aspect of transparency and
accountability there. You need to make a commitment to a target. Essentially, what
gets measured gets done. A company’s commitment needs to be visible and tangible.”
( Anne McLellan, Board Member, Cameco Corp. and Nexen Inc. )
“Racism. Sexism. Discrimination. Volatile, ugly words, I know, and ones that nobody
wants associated with themselves or their workplace. But these concepts must be
brought into the discussion regarding the business case for “diversity”; otherwise we
are candy-coating the issue. This is nothing new. But again, this is the reason we talk
about “diversity” in the first place; it has to be about more than simply competitive
advantage, securing new markets in a globalized economy, or about addressing worker
shortages. We need leadership that nurtures work contexts in which implicit bias is
challenged on personal, interpersonal, management, and policy levels”.
( Shakil Choudhury, Programme Director, Anima Leadership )
Background of Employment Equity
In 1983 the federal government established the Royal Commission on Equality in Employment.
The Commission, headed by Judge Rosalie Abella, recognized that the demographic, social, and
economic patterns of Canadian society are changing and that women and minorities will form
increasingly large segments of the labour force in Canada in the future. The recommendations of
this Royal Commission resulted in the Employment Equity Act of 1986 and the Federal
Contractors Program, both of which are significant interventions by the Canadian government
into human resource management policies and practices in the private and public sectors.
What are some of the changes in Canadian society noted by the Abella Commission? First, men’s
participation rate in the labour force remains stable, whereas women, in dramatic numbers, are
increasing their participation in both employment and in post-secondary education. Accordingly,
women are seeking career development opportunities similar to those of men. Second, Canada’s
traditional sources of immigrants have been European countries, but in recent years, many more
immigrants to Canada are members of visible minorities who may have particularly integrating
into Canadian society. Third, there are 1.5 million disabled Canadians of working age who, if
offered employment, could become fully or partly self-sufficient. Fourth, aboriginal people have
suffered from their disadvantageous political and economic position in Canadian society.
These groups of people—women, visible minorities, persons with disabilities, and native
people—have been denied the opportunity to develop their productive potential and share
equitably in the benefits of productive work, yet these groups will play increasingly important
roles in Canada, both politically and economically. Public policy must respond to their needs.
The Abella Commission Report documents the practices Canadians have adopted that have
negative effects on certain groups in society. The Report uses the term “systemic discrimination”
to refer to the unintentional barriers that screen out women, visible minorities, persons with
disabilities, and native people from jobs they may be qualified to do. Systemic discrimination in
the labour market produces high unemployment rates, lower than average salaries, and
concentrations in low-status jobs for these people. Clearly, systemic discrimination calls for
systemic remedies.
In addition to the term “systemic discrimination”, the Commission uses ‘employment equity’ and
‘equality’ in particular ways. The Abella Report refers to equality as both equal and different
treatment in order to achieve fairness; that is, treating people the same, in spite of their
differences, as well as treating people as equals by accommodating their differences. The
Commission coins the term “employment equity” to describe employment practices which
eliminate discrimination and thereby provide equitable opportunities in employment.
Employment equity programs are mandated federally by the Employment Equity Act of 1986 and
the Federal Contractors Program. This program covers all organizations of 100 employees or
more that wish to bid on government contracts of $200,000 or more. (UBC currently holds
government contracts worth two million dollars). Under this program, UBC must implement a
program of employment equity following criteria set by the federal government. The government
imposes no quotas; rather, UBC collects its own data and sets its own goals and timetables to
achieve employment equity.