IRCC Anti-Racism Strategy 2.0 (2021-2024) – What we heard from IRCC employees

The comments received during consultation processes, together with sector commitments and plans, informed the scope of the Anti-Racism (AR) Strategy Action Plan (Annex B) and departmental priorities in the Strategy. Below is a selection from the suggestions gathered from IRCC employees during the sessions organized by the Anti-Racism Task Force and Sector Leads or received through the intranet in the first four months of 2022. These are grouped under an overarching theme regarding the main direction of the Strategy, followed by the thematic pillars of the Action Plan, which will be defined in more detail in the subsequent section.

Suggestions received from IRCC employees for the Strategy

Overarching suggestions regarding the iteration of Strategy 1.0 to 2.0

• Emphasize a multi-prong, agile and dedicated approach at all levels (top down, middle, bottom up) – do not expect AR work to be carried out through the corner of one’s desk or as a box ticking exercise.
• Make the Strategy approachable, more like a conversation inviting and encouraging new ideas, a living document to which people will feel connected, touching their daily work experience.
• Continue hammering AR commitments, dedicating resources to track progress and drive home the message that this issue is not just talk.
• Start with smaller, concrete steps and be prepared to make mistakes over a long journey: Establish clear objectives, timelines, and how milestones will be achieved among other competing priorities.
• Add historical context about Canada’s immigration past, the goals and continued impacts of immigration on Indigenous Peoples (e.g. economic, demographic necessity, or social justice) and build on actions to help employees see themselves as implicated in AR work.
• Address Canada’s role vis-à-vis racial equity globally: Does IRCC have a mandate to support racial equity in countries from which Canada draws or does not draw immigrants/refugees?
• Pay attention to multiple forms of racism, including Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, racism within the same minority group and among minority groups.
• Clarify how branch teams will be coordinated and funded, where dedicated staff for AR work will be institutionally embedded: Who will employees turn to start their AR journey or seek guidance?
• Consider having central owners of AR files who reach out to sectors for specific data and measure progress rather than using a shotgun approach from bottom-up which would burden all staff.

Pillar 1: Ensure leadership accountability

• Increase the transparency around Performance Management Accountability (PMA) culture by publishing results in the aggregate so that employees are able to benchmark themselves against the norm.
• Introduce PMA objectives with a clear call to action, including frameworks for managers and setting up 180 PMA (upwards assessment of management).
• Establish clear performance indicators and targets to gauge the impact of the AR Strategy over time.
• Ensure third-party consultants hired for internal audits are not biased in favour of management.
• Communicate the commitment to honest discussion from management encouraging employees to speak up.
• Provide a strong framework to hold the items of the Strategy together and a narrative that explains how they are all linked (e.g. working toward a governance structure to better drive the transformation).
• Provide employees with truly confidential ways of submitting complaints to ensure there are no reprisals.
• Consult unions properly on AR matters.

Pillar 2: Advance equity in the workplace

• Support managers in how to run unbiased staffing and how to communicate the processes effectively to their teams for increased transparency.
• Open up to Canada-wide hiring, create more entry- level unilingual positions, and prioritize official language training.
• Provide tool-kits for change management and allot time and resources for mandatory AR training.
• Create safe spaces of dialogue for racialized employees and allies to discuss AR initiatives.
• Implement joined-up responses by taking into account varied workplaces (e.g. regions, overseas offices).
• Build cultural competency to address day-to-day casual racism rather than focusing on formal reporting channels alone.
• Improve representation at all levels but not at the expense of more qualified candidates.
• Ensure hiring boards include racialized employees.

Pillar 3: Address systemic racism in policy and program design

• Develop a rigorous risk management framework with clear priorities and global coordination to address biases.
• Ensure racialized staff are included in developing policy and helping to the define the objectives.
• Delve into the root causes of policies to reform those with racist impacts.
• Review policy outcomes not only domestically but also internationally (e.g. impact in racialized source countries).
• Ensure more transparency on IRCC’s past and present, and gaps across sectors to build an anti-racist future.

Pillar 4: Address systemic racism in service delivery

• Recognize that the amount of mobilization needed to achieve service delivery objectives will be high, and will require reworking several internal procedures and buy-in at all levels.
• As IRCC implements the Digital Platform Modernization (DPM), ensure that automation of IRCC processing does not perpetuate racism by codifying historical racism in AI.
• Think through selection and admissibility biases in immigration (e.g. Africa) and differential responses to global refugee crises (e.g. Ukraine, Afghanistan, Middle East, Africa) to eliminate any trace of racism.
• Apply an AR lens for all modernization investments (including technological innovations) and ensure that consultations for modernization solutions include diverse stakeholders and community groups.

Pillar 5: Build a strong evidence base

• Dedicate resources for collecting, using and analyzing disaggregated data in an unbiased manner.
• Supply continuous and accessible data, including branch and division level data in terms of equity hiring, to help guide future hiring decisions.
• Institute regular pulse checks with employees through anonymous surveys for all employees.
• Explain key concepts (e.g. allyship, structural racism) to ensure shared understanding that will advance dialogue.