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Employment equity (Canada)

Employment equity, as defined in federal Canadian law by the Employment Equity Act (French: Loi sur l’équité en matière d’emploi), requires federal jurisdiction employers to engage in proactive employment practices to increase the representation of four designated groups: women, people with disabilities, visible minorities, and Indigenous peoples.[1] (The actual legislation uses the now-obsolete term, "Aboriginal" peoples.) The act states that "employment equity means more than treating persons the same way but also requires special measures and the accommodation of differences".[2]

Employment Equity Act
Act of Parliament

The act requires that employers remove barriers to employment that disadvantage members of the four designated groups. Employers are required to institute positive policies for the hiring, training, retention, and promotion of members of the designated groups. Examples of positive policies include recruitment in Indigenous communities, job advertisements in minority-language newspapers, or an apprentice program directed toward people with disabilities.

History edit

The roots of employment equity are in the 1984 Abella commission, chaired by Judge Rosalie Abella. She considered a U.S. term, "affirmative action", but decided not to use it because of the emotions and ill will surrounding affirmative action.[3] In its place she created the term "employment equity" for the Canadian context. Abella's report later became the foundation of the Employment Equity Act of 1986, later amended as the Employment Equity Act of 1995. The purpose of the act, as stated in the legislation itself, is:

The purpose of this Act is to achieve equality in the workplace so that no person shall be denied employment opportunities or benefits for reasons unrelated to ability and, in the fulfillment of that goal, to correct the conditions of disadvantage in employment experienced by women, aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities by giving effect to the principle that employment equity means more than treating persons in the same way but also requires special measures and the accommodation of differences.[2]

Designated groups edit

The Employment Equity Act designates four groups as the beneficiaries of employment equity:[1]

  1. Women
  2. People with disabilities
  3. Aboriginal peoples, a category consisting of Status Indians, Non-status Indians, Métis (people of mixed Indigenous-French ancestry in western Canada), and Inuit (the Indigenous people of the Arctic). The term "Indigenous" is now preferred, although the actual wording of the law uses "Aboriginal".
  4. Visible minorities The term "racialized persons" is now preferred, although the actual wording of the law uses "visible minorities".

Coverage edit

The Employment Equity Act is federal legislation, and as such, applies only to a narrow group of industries that are federally regulated under the Canadian constitution: banks, broadcasters, telecommunication companies, railroads, airlines, private businesses necessary to the operation of a federal act, maritime transportation companies, other transportation companies if inter-provincial in nature, uranium-related organizations, federal crown corporations, and corporations controlled by two or more provincial governments.[4] Overall, federal employment equity legislation covers 10% of the Canadian workforce.[5] Thus the scope of the Employment Equity Act is quite limited, and the vast majority of employers, including nearly all retailers and manufacturing companies, fall outside its jurisdiction.

The Canadian federal government also administers the Federal Contractors' Program (FCP). This is not under the Employment Equity Act, but rather is a non-legislated program that extends employment equity to organizations beyond the scope of the act that provide eligible goods and services to the federal government.[6] The FCP states that suppliers of goods and services to the federal government (with some specified exceptions) must have an employment equity program in place.

Some provinces use the term "employment equity" in conjunction with their enforcement of provincial-level human rights legislation (for example, British Columbia).[7] The government of Quebec requires that employers show preference to people with disabilities, which could be considered a form of employment equity.[8] However, while every province has human rights legislation to prohibit discrimination against women and various minorities, no province has a law that is an analogue to the federal Employment Equity Act.

Regulatory oversight edit

Oversight of employment equity is shared among three federal government agencies. For private sector employers that are federally regulated, Employment and Social Development Canada collects data from employers and conducts research related to the Employment Equity Act.[1] The Treasury Board Secretariat oversees the administration of employment equity in the federal government itself. The Canadian Human Rights Commission deals with both private and public sector employers that are federally regulated, and is responsible for conducting audits of employers' compliance.

In addition to the above, Employment and Social Development Canada is responsible for oversight of the Federal Contractors' Program.[1]

Controversy edit

Employment equity is surrounded with controversy, as has occurred with similar programs in the U.S. and other countries. Opponents of employment equity argue that it violates common-sense notions of fairness and equality.[9] Economists Cristina Echavarria and Mobinul Huq propose that employment equity be redesigned so that employers are required to remove barriers to men applying for female-dominated jobs, as well as barriers to women applying for male-dominated jobs.[10]

On the other hand, proponents maintain that employment equity is necessary to amend historic wrongs and to ameliorate the economic differences among groups.[11][12] A particular point of contention has been the category visible minorities, which lumps together numerous ethnic groups, some of whom are affluent and some of whom are severely disadvantaged.[13][14][15]

Some argue that the act should have been stricter. Others have argued that employment equity should rely more on moral suasion rather than legal remedies.[16] Among those who argue for strictness, the act has been criticized as an example of "soft-law", meaning token penalties combined with an overly casual use of compliance statistics.[17] Other researchers have argued for a more conciliatory approach based on self-regulation, employee participation, and appeals to employers’ sense of self-interest.[18] Some have also contended that employment equity is in conflict with the Canadian Human Rights Act which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, and certain other grounds,[19] since biasing hiring practices to prefer designated groups is necessarily discriminatory against non-designated groups. However, the equality section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms explicitly permits (but does not require) affirmative action type legislation. Subsection 2 of Section 15 states that the equality provisions do "not preclude any law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability."

In July 2010, controversy arose when a Caucasian woman, Sara Landriault, was barred from applying for employment in a federal agency because she was not in a racial minority. This incident led Stockwell Day, then president of the Treasury Board of Canada, to announce a review of employment equity.[20]

Distinct from other human rights concepts edit

Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states in Subsection (1) that, "Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.". Subsection (2) states that "Subsection (1) does not preclude any law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability."

The Canadian Human Rights Act has long prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender, race, ethnicity, and certain other grounds.[21] The Canadian Human Rights Act continues to be in force alongside the Employment Equity Act. The key distinction between the two laws is that the Canadian Human Rights Act merely prohibits discrimination, whereas the Employment Equity Act requires employers to engage in proactive measures to improve the employment opportunities of the four specific groups listed above.[1] Note that the Canadian Human Rights Act protects a wider range of minorities (such as sexual minorities and religious minorities), while the Employment Equity Act limits its coverage to the aforementioned four protected groups. In Canada, employment equity is a specific legal concept, and should not be used as a synonym for non-discrimination or workplace diversity.

Employment equity should not be confused with pay equity, which is an entirely distinct concept.[22][23] Pay equity, as a Canadian legal term, refers to the legal requirement that predominantly female occupations be paid the same as predominantly male occupations of equal importance within a given organization.

One way of understanding the distinction between employment equity and pay equity (comparable worth) is to note that they take different approaches to dealing with the problem of predominantly female occupations being underpaid. Employment equity aims to increase the number of women in well-paid occupations. In contrast, pay equity implicitly recognizes how difficult it is to integrate predominantly male occupations, and instead aims to increase the pay of predominantly female occupations. Employment equity addresses the situation of Indigenous peoples, visible minorities, and people with disabilities, whereas pay equity addresses solely the dilemma that predominantly female occupations tend to be underpaid.

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e . Canadian Human Rights Commission. 27 August 2009. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2016.
  2. ^ a b Employment Equity Act (1995, c. 44) Act current to April 16th, 2010
  3. ^ Abella, R. S. (1984). Report of the Commission on Equality in Employment. Ottawa: Government of Canada. ISBN 0-660-11736-3.
  4. ^ "Federally Regulated Businesses and Industries". Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. 2008-03-19. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  5. ^ Human Resources and Social Development Canada. . Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
  6. ^ . Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. 2003-05-07. ISBN 0-662-55427-2. Archived from the original on 2009-04-11. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  7. ^ Tribunal, Human Rights. "Human Rights Tribunal". www.bchrt.bc.ca. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  8. ^ Neal, Christopher (1982-09-02). "Major Firms Told to Draft Hiring Plans for Disabled". The Gazette (Montreal). Southam Inc. pp. D12.
  9. ^ Burke, R. J.; Black, S. (1997). "Save the males: Backlash in organizations". Journal of Business Ethics. 16 (9): 933–942. doi:10.1023/A:1017991421416. ISSN 0167-4544. S2CID 189901173.
  10. ^ Echevarria, Cristina; Mobinul Huq (2001). "Redesigning Employment Equity in Canada: The Need to Include Men". Canadian Public Policy. 27 (1): 53–64. doi:10.2307/3552373. JSTOR 3552373.
  11. ^ Agocs, Carol (2002). "Canada's employment equity legislation and policy, 1987-2000: The gap between policy and practice". International Journal of Manpower. 23 (3): 256–276. doi:10.1108/01437720210432220. ISSN 0143-7720.
  12. ^ Jain, H. C.; Lawler, J. J. (2004). "Visible minorities under the Canadian Employment Equity Act, 1987-1999". Relations Industrielles. 59 (3): 585–611. doi:10.7202/010926ar. ISSN 0034-379X.
  13. ^ Hum, D.; Simpson, W. (1 September 1999). "Wage opportunities for visible minorities in Canada". Canadian Public Policy. 25 (3): 379–394. doi:10.2307/3551526. ISSN 0317-0861. JSTOR 3551526.
  14. ^ Mentzer, M. S.; Fizel, J. L. (1992). "Affirmative action and ethnic inequality in Canada: The impact of the Employment Equity Act of 1986". Ethnic Groups. 9 (4): 203–217. ISSN 0308-6860.
  15. ^ Swidinsky, R.; Swidinsky, M. (2002). "The relative earnings of visible minorities in Canada: New evidence from the 1996 census". Relations Industrielles / Industrial Relations. 57: 630–659. doi:10.7202/006904ar. ISSN 0034-379X.
  16. ^ Mentzer, M. S. (2002). "The Canadian experience with employment equity legislation". International Journal of Value-Based Management. 15 (1): 35–50. doi:10.1023/A:1013021402597. ISSN 1572-8528. S2CID 141942497.
  17. ^ Grundy, John; Miriam Smith (September 2010). "Evidence and equity: Struggles over federal employment equity policy in Canada, 1984–95". Canadian Public Administration. 54 (3): 335–57. doi:10.1111/j.1754-7121.2011.00179.x. ISSN 0008-4840.
  18. ^ Falkenberg, L. E.; L. Boland (1997). "Eliminating the barriers to employment equity in the Canadian workplace". Journal of Business Ethics. 16 (9): 963–75. doi:10.1023/A:1017995522325. ISSN 0167-4544. JSTOR 25072962. S2CID 189899544.
  19. ^ . Canadian Human Rights Commission. 2008-07-25. Archived from the original on 2010-05-10. Retrieved 2017-10-07.
  20. ^ Friesen, Joe (2010-07-22). "Tories take aim at employment equity". The Globe and Mail (Toronto). CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. Retrieved 2010-08-04.
  21. ^ . Canadian Human Rights Commission. 2008-07-25. Archived from the original on 2010-05-10. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
  22. ^ . Canadian Human Rights Commission. 2008-04-08. Archived from the original on 2010-05-10. Retrieved 2010-04-11.
  23. ^ . Ontario Pay Equity Commission / Queen's Printer for Ontario. 2005-01-06. Archived from the original on 2009-07-03. Retrieved 2010-04-11.

External links edit

  • Employment equity in federally regulated workplaces (Employment and Social Development Canada)
  • Federal Contractors' Program
  • Status of Women Canada (an agency of the Canadian government)
  • Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

employment, equity, canada, employment, equity, defined, federal, canadian, employment, equity, french, équité, matière, emploi, requires, federal, jurisdiction, employers, engage, proactive, employment, practices, increase, representation, four, designated, g. Employment equity as defined in federal Canadian law by the Employment Equity Act French Loi sur l equite en matiere d emploi requires federal jurisdiction employers to engage in proactive employment practices to increase the representation of four designated groups women people with disabilities visible minorities and Indigenous peoples 1 The actual legislation uses the now obsolete term Aboriginal peoples The act states that employment equity means more than treating persons the same way but also requires special measures and the accommodation of differences 2 Employment Equity ActAct of Parliament The act requires that employers remove barriers to employment that disadvantage members of the four designated groups Employers are required to institute positive policies for the hiring training retention and promotion of members of the designated groups Examples of positive policies include recruitment in Indigenous communities job advertisements in minority language newspapers or an apprentice program directed toward people with disabilities Contents 1 History 2 Designated groups 3 Coverage 4 Regulatory oversight 5 Controversy 6 Distinct from other human rights concepts 7 References 8 External linksHistory editThe roots of employment equity are in the 1984 Abella commission chaired by Judge Rosalie Abella She considered a U S term affirmative action but decided not to use it because of the emotions and ill will surrounding affirmative action 3 In its place she created the term employment equity for the Canadian context Abella s report later became the foundation of the Employment Equity Act of 1986 later amended as the Employment Equity Act of 1995 The purpose of the act as stated in the legislation itself is The purpose of this Act is to achieve equality in the workplace so that no person shall be denied employment opportunities or benefits for reasons unrelated to ability and in the fulfillment of that goal to correct the conditions of disadvantage in employment experienced by women aboriginal peoples persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities by giving effect to the principle that employment equity means more than treating persons in the same way but also requires special measures and the accommodation of differences 2 Designated groups editThe Employment Equity Act designates four groups as the beneficiaries of employment equity 1 Women People with disabilities Aboriginal peoples a category consisting of Status Indians Non status Indians Metis people of mixed Indigenous French ancestry in western Canada and Inuit the Indigenous people of the Arctic The term Indigenous is now preferred although the actual wording of the law uses Aboriginal Main article Indigenous peoples in Canada Visible minorities The term racialized persons is now preferred although the actual wording of the law uses visible minorities Main article Visible minorityCoverage editThe Employment Equity Act is federal legislation and as such applies only to a narrow group of industries that are federally regulated under the Canadian constitution banks broadcasters telecommunication companies railroads airlines private businesses necessary to the operation of a federal act maritime transportation companies other transportation companies if inter provincial in nature uranium related organizations federal crown corporations and corporations controlled by two or more provincial governments 4 Overall federal employment equity legislation covers 10 of the Canadian workforce 5 Thus the scope of the Employment Equity Act is quite limited and the vast majority of employers including nearly all retailers and manufacturing companies fall outside its jurisdiction The Canadian federal government also administers the Federal Contractors Program FCP This is not under the Employment Equity Act but rather is a non legislated program that extends employment equity to organizations beyond the scope of the act that provide eligible goods and services to the federal government 6 The FCP states that suppliers of goods and services to the federal government with some specified exceptions must have an employment equity program in place Some provinces use the term employment equity in conjunction with their enforcement of provincial level human rights legislation for example British Columbia 7 The government of Quebec requires that employers show preference to people with disabilities which could be considered a form of employment equity 8 However while every province has human rights legislation to prohibit discrimination against women and various minorities no province has a law that is an analogue to the federal Employment Equity Act Regulatory oversight editOversight of employment equity is shared among three federal government agencies For private sector employers that are federally regulated Employment and Social Development Canada collects data from employers and conducts research related to the Employment Equity Act 1 The Treasury Board Secretariat oversees the administration of employment equity in the federal government itself The Canadian Human Rights Commission deals with both private and public sector employers that are federally regulated and is responsible for conducting audits of employers compliance In addition to the above Employment and Social Development Canada is responsible for oversight of the Federal Contractors Program 1 Controversy editEmployment equity is surrounded with controversy as has occurred with similar programs in the U S and other countries Opponents of employment equity argue that it violates common sense notions of fairness and equality 9 Economists Cristina Echavarria and Mobinul Huq propose that employment equity be redesigned so that employers are required to remove barriers to men applying for female dominated jobs as well as barriers to women applying for male dominated jobs 10 On the other hand proponents maintain that employment equity is necessary to amend historic wrongs and to ameliorate the economic differences among groups 11 12 A particular point of contention has been the category visible minorities which lumps together numerous ethnic groups some of whom are affluent and some of whom are severely disadvantaged 13 14 15 Some argue that the act should have been stricter Others have argued that employment equity should rely more on moral suasion rather than legal remedies 16 Among those who argue for strictness the act has been criticized as an example of soft law meaning token penalties combined with an overly casual use of compliance statistics 17 Other researchers have argued for a more conciliatory approach based on self regulation employee participation and appeals to employers sense of self interest 18 Some have also contended that employment equity is in conflict with the Canadian Human Rights Act which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender race ethnicity and certain other grounds 19 since biasing hiring practices to prefer designated groups is necessarily discriminatory against non designated groups However the equality section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms explicitly permits but does not require affirmative action type legislation Subsection 2 of Section 15 states that the equality provisions do not preclude any law program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race national or ethnic origin colour religion sex age or mental or physical disability In July 2010 controversy arose when a Caucasian woman Sara Landriault was barred from applying for employment in a federal agency because she was not in a racial minority This incident led Stockwell Day then president of the Treasury Board of Canada to announce a review of employment equity 20 Distinct from other human rights concepts editSection 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states in Subsection 1 that Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and in particular without discrimination based on race national or ethnic origin colour religion sex age or mental or physical disability Subsection 2 states that Subsection 1 does not preclude any law program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race national or ethnic origin colour religion sex age or mental or physical disability The Canadian Human Rights Act has long prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender race ethnicity and certain other grounds 21 The Canadian Human Rights Act continues to be in force alongside the Employment Equity Act The key distinction between the two laws is that the Canadian Human Rights Act merely prohibits discrimination whereas the Employment Equity Act requires employers to engage in proactive measures to improve the employment opportunities of the four specific groups listed above 1 Note that the Canadian Human Rights Act protects a wider range of minorities such as sexual minorities and religious minorities while the Employment Equity Act limits its coverage to the aforementioned four protected groups In Canada employment equity is a specific legal concept and should not be used as a synonym for non discrimination or workplace diversity Employment equity should not be confused with pay equity which is an entirely distinct concept 22 23 Pay equity as a Canadian legal term refers to the legal requirement that predominantly female occupations be paid the same as predominantly male occupations of equal importance within a given organization One way of understanding the distinction between employment equity and pay equity comparable worth is to note that they take different approaches to dealing with the problem of predominantly female occupations being underpaid Employment equity aims to increase the number of women in well paid occupations In contrast pay equity implicitly recognizes how difficult it is to integrate predominantly male occupations and instead aims to increase the pay of predominantly female occupations Employment equity addresses the situation of Indigenous peoples visible minorities and people with disabilities whereas pay equity addresses solely the dilemma that predominantly female occupations tend to be underpaid References edit a b c d e Frequently Asked Questions on Employment Equity Canadian Human Rights Commission 27 August 2009 Archived from the original on 27 September 2007 Retrieved 10 December 2016 a b Employment Equity Act 1995 c 44 Act current to April 16th 2010 Abella R S 1984 Report of the Commission on Equality in Employment Ottawa Government of Canada ISBN 0 660 11736 3 Federally Regulated Businesses and Industries Human Resources and Skills Development Canada 2008 03 19 Retrieved 2010 04 14 Human Resources and Social Development Canada Employment Equity Act Review Archived from the original on 17 March 2012 Retrieved 24 February 2012 Federal Contractors Program Human Resources and Skills Development Canada 2003 05 07 ISBN 0 662 55427 2 Archived from the original on 2009 04 11 Retrieved 2009 08 07 Tribunal Human Rights Human Rights Tribunal www bchrt bc ca Retrieved 2019 07 17 Neal Christopher 1982 09 02 Major Firms Told to Draft Hiring Plans for Disabled The Gazette Montreal Southam Inc pp D12 Burke R J Black S 1997 Save the males Backlash in organizations Journal of Business Ethics 16 9 933 942 doi 10 1023 A 1017991421416 ISSN 0167 4544 S2CID 189901173 Echevarria Cristina Mobinul Huq 2001 Redesigning Employment Equity in Canada The Need to Include Men Canadian Public Policy 27 1 53 64 doi 10 2307 3552373 JSTOR 3552373 Agocs Carol 2002 Canada s employment equity legislation and policy 1987 2000 The gap between policy and practice International Journal of Manpower 23 3 256 276 doi 10 1108 01437720210432220 ISSN 0143 7720 Jain H C Lawler J J 2004 Visible minorities under the Canadian Employment Equity Act 1987 1999 Relations Industrielles 59 3 585 611 doi 10 7202 010926ar ISSN 0034 379X Hum D Simpson W 1 September 1999 Wage opportunities for visible minorities in Canada Canadian Public Policy 25 3 379 394 doi 10 2307 3551526 ISSN 0317 0861 JSTOR 3551526 Mentzer M S Fizel J L 1992 Affirmative action and ethnic inequality in Canada The impact of the Employment Equity Act of 1986 Ethnic Groups 9 4 203 217 ISSN 0308 6860 Swidinsky R Swidinsky M 2002 The relative earnings of visible minorities in Canada New evidence from the 1996 census Relations Industrielles Industrial Relations 57 630 659 doi 10 7202 006904ar ISSN 0034 379X Mentzer M S 2002 The Canadian experience with employment equity legislation International Journal of Value Based Management 15 1 35 50 doi 10 1023 A 1013021402597 ISSN 1572 8528 S2CID 141942497 Grundy John Miriam Smith September 2010 Evidence and equity Struggles over federal employment equity policy in Canada 1984 95 Canadian Public Administration 54 3 335 57 doi 10 1111 j 1754 7121 2011 00179 x ISSN 0008 4840 Falkenberg L E L Boland 1997 Eliminating the barriers to employment equity in the Canadian workplace Journal of Business Ethics 16 9 963 75 doi 10 1023 A 1017995522325 ISSN 0167 4544 JSTOR 25072962 S2CID 189899544 Frequently Asked Questions About the Canadian Human Rights Act Canadian Human Rights Commission 2008 07 25 Archived from the original on 2010 05 10 Retrieved 2017 10 07 Friesen Joe 2010 07 22 Tories take aim at employment equity The Globe and Mail Toronto CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc Retrieved 2010 08 04 Frequently Asked Questions About the Canadian Human Rights Act Canadian Human Rights Commission 2008 07 25 Archived from the original on 2010 05 10 Retrieved 2010 04 14 Overview Resolving Disputes Pay Equity Canadian Human Rights Commission 2008 04 08 Archived from the original on 2010 05 10 Retrieved 2010 04 11 About Pay Equity Ontario Pay Equity Commission Queen s Printer for Ontario 2005 01 06 Archived from the original on 2009 07 03 Retrieved 2010 04 11 External links editEmployment equity in federally regulated workplaces Employment and Social Development Canada Federal Contractors Program Status of Women Canada an agency of the Canadian government Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Employment equity Canada amp oldid 1190217266, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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