Mission accomplished? Well, almost. With the exception of visible minorities, three of the four groups targeted for equal employment opportunity in Canada’s public sector have exceeded their quota. If current practices and logic prevail then the solution is obvious: simply restrict non visible minorities from applying for cultural specific designated jobs, then we can move on. Or not.
It is precisely this practice of explicitly prohibiting qualified applicants from applying for designated positions if they are not from a targeted group that precipitated the Conservative government’s recent decision to conduct a review of federal hiring policies. I support the review and hope it leads to merit-based promotion policies that improve representation of designated groups into senior management positions and out of entry level ghettos.
While the aggregate numbers may paint a picture of a more representative public sector, scratch beneath the surface and it’s quickly evident that Canada’s public sector fails to reflect the population it serves at senior decision-making levels. So what are the long-term implications to the country if we continue on this path unchecked?
The absence of diversity at senior levels of policy decision-making and implementation results in policies that are incongruent with the realities and needs of Canadians. This leads to wasted opportunities and contributes to increased taxes, since politicians will need to invest more time and money to correct bad policies through patchwork solutions.
The issue is not about hitting a quota – it’s about accessing and unleashing a pool of talent that provides diversity in thinking, problem solving and performance. In today’s environment, public or private, it does not make sense to limit the potential talent that is available from a growing segment of the population. Otherwise we lose the diverse thinking, culture and representation necessary for good policy development.
Thanks to Statistics Canada, we know that between 2001 and 2006 Canada’s visible minority population grew by 27 per cent – five timers faster than the general population. That’s an estimated 5 million people accounting for 16.2 per cent of Canada’s total population. This trend reflects a consistent increase in the country’s visible minority population.
So when Immigration Minister Jason Kenney asked his cabinet colleague Stockwell Day, the President of the Treasury Board, to conduct a review of Canada’s employment equity program to encourage “public-sector employers to ensure the principle of equality of opportunity,” the goal should not simply be about hitting a number. It should be about ensuring hiring policies that provide merit-based equal opportunities to access all levels of the public service. The existing policy needs to be tweaked.
Predictably, opposition parties pounced on the government’s announcement, implying that the intent is to marginalize designated groups. “If they do what they’re trying to do then there won’t be any protection for aboriginals and visible minorities” Liberal MP Marcel Proulx told The Globe and Mail.
The NDP’s Pat Martin did not mince his words, calling the decision a “full frontal attack on affirmative action.” He continued by saying: “It is paranoia on their part, though, because we are nowhere near achieving equity in the face of the public-service work force.” Well, Statistics Canada tells us he is dead wrong.
According to Statistics Canada’s March 2009 report using data extracted from 2006 census, we know that women make up 54.7 per cent of the public-service work force but only 52.3 per cent of the overall work force. Aboriginals make up 4.5 per cent of federal employees compared to three per cent of the total work force. People with disabilities occupied 5.9 per cent of positions but represent four per cent of work force. Visible minorities, on the other hand, are still lagging behind. While they make up 12.4 per of the national work force they occupy only 9.8 per cent of positions at the federal level.
So rather than knee-jerk pontification not supported by the facts, opposition parties should constructively engage in the employment equity review process. If they do, the electorate from the four designated groups will reward them for recognizing that they are more than a number and merit opportunities at all levels to contribute their talent, competencies and thinking to strengthen Canada’s increasingly diverse society.
Megan Harris is a former Conservative candidate in Toronto Centre and was an adviser to the Conference Board of Canada's 2005 study on diversity in the public and private sectors
