Dr. Delores V. Mullings

Memorial University welcomes the recently released Report of the Employment Equity Act Review Task Force. The offices of the vice-provost, equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism and human resources will work together over the coming months to learn and understand proposed changes to the Employment Equity Act (EEA) and the Federal Contractors Program (FCP).

In 1986, former judge and current Supreme Court Justice, Rosalie Silberman Abella, recommend the Government of Canada address persistent and systemic employment discrimination experienced by certain groups of employees in the federal government and federally regulated industries. In response, in 1987 Canada implemented the EEA to address employment barriers for Aboriginal people, visible minorities, people with disabilities and women.

This is the first arms-length independent review of the EEA since its implementation. This comprehensive review, led by professor Dr. Adelle Blackett (chair) and 12 task force members, including Memorial University’s Stephen Jarislowsky Chair, Dr. Tony Fang, tabled a substantive report of almost 500 pages with over 188 recommendations seeking employment transformation. The report notes that commitment to employment equity in Canada is high but “employment equity has not as yet been achieved.”

The taskforce recommends:

The purpose of this Act is to achieve and sustain substantive equality in the workplace through effective employer implementation, meaningful consultations and regulatory oversight of employment equality and, in the fulfilment of that goal, to:

• correct the conditions of disadvantages in employment experienced by employment equity group members
• give effect to the principle that employment equity means more than treating persons in the same way but requires barrier removal including special measures
• support the implementation of Canada’s international human rights commitments to substantive equality and meaningful consultations in the world of work, including in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and
• foster equitable inclusion and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. (p. 382)

Some of the major recommendations affecting Memorial University, if adopted, include:

• language updates, to dispose of outdated terms such as “Aboriginal,” “visible minorities” and “designated groups” replacing them with Indigenous workers, racialized workers and employment equity group members
• introduction of Black workers and 2SLGBTQI+ workers employment equity groups, and
• the establishment of a data equity steering committee.  

In some cases, Memorial University adopted these recommendations in the time since the initial implementation of the EEA. For example, both Indigenous and racialized people were previously adopted officially in policies such as employment equity statements and faculty and staff collective agreements.

Other recommendations call for intersectional disaggregated data collection; increased penalties for failure to honour the terms and conditions of the EEA and the FCP; target hires and prioritization of target hires for workers with disabilities; expanded clarity around the notion of merit, court-enforced employment equity orders; achieving employment equity through population representation rather than workforce availability; changes to the joint equity committee; employment systems review; increased accountability of senior administrators’ employment equity advancement connected to their performance and the consideration of religious minorities in the EEA.

Memorial University is committed to having a work environment that is reflective of the Canadian population. To achieve that goal, Memorial has and continues to establish employment equity committees, and implement employment equity programs and policies to honour its commitment to “substantive equality” in the work experiences and achievement of employment equity group members in a sustained way. We welcome questions and queries about the EEA report at viceprovostediar@mun.ca and/or equity@mun.ca.