"Building a Diverse & Inclusive Public Service"

The Joint Union/Management Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion in the Public Service presented its report to the Treasury Board President, the Honourable Scott Brison in December 2017.

The Task Force’s vision for diversity and inclusion in Canada’s public service is as follows: A world-class public service representative of Canada’s population, defined by its diverse workforce and welcoming, inclusive and supportive workplace, that aligns with Canada’s evolving human rights context and that is committed to innovation and achieving results.

The Task Force defined a diverse workforce and an inclusive workplace in the context of the federal public service:

•A diverse workforce in the public service is made up of individuals who have an array of identities, abilities, backgrounds, cultures, skills, perspectives and experiences that are representative of Canada’s current and evolving population.

•An inclusive workplace is fair, equitable, supportive, welcoming and respectful. It recognizes, values and leverages differences in identities, abilities, backgrounds, cultures, skills, experiences and perspectives that support and reinforce Canada’s evolving human rights framework.

The Task Force identified 4 areas for potential action:

a. people management

b. leadership and accountability

c. education and awareness

d.the diversity and d. inclusion lens

Canada is one of the most diverse countries of the world:

•One fifth of Canada’s people were born outside Canada, the highest foreign-born proportion of the population in the G7 countries (previously the G8).

•Immigration accounts for two thirds of Canada’s population growth, with the majority of immigrants being visible minorities. Statistics Canada projects that:

   ◦by 2031 close to 1 in 3 Canadians (31.0%) will be members of a visible minority.
   ◦almost 1 in 2 (44.2% to 49.7%) will be either an immigrant or a child of an immigrant by 2036.

•Depending on the source, methodology and specific groups included in various studies, estimates of people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender in Canada can range from 5%Footnote 14 to as high as 13%. According to one recent study, 54% of LGBTQ2+ people in Canada prefer not to disclose their identities in the workplace because of fear of rejection from their colleagues.

•Roughly 1 in 7 adult Canadians self-identify as having a disability (3.8 million people), with more than a quarter (26%) being classified as having a “very severe” disability. By the age of 40, 1 in 2 Canadians have or have had a mental illness.

•Canada’s Indigenous population is growing at more than four times the rate of the non-Indigenous population, and the average age of Indigenous peoples is almost a decade younger than the non-Indigenous population (32.1 years versus 40.9 years).

•The millennial generation is forecast to make up 75% of the labour force in Canada in just over 10 years (2028).

•Women represent only 12% of board seats for 677 companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and 45% of these boards do not have a single woman on them. In the public service, the representation of women at the executive level (47.3%) falls below their workforce availability (47.8%).