Canada Border Services Agency
Letter on Implementation of the Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion

Summer 2021 update

Dear Ms. Charette:                

I firmly believe that an inclusive, caring, and respectful workplace culture is critical to the success of all organizations. I welcome the opportunity to provide an update on the efforts of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in responding to the call to action on anti-racism, equity, and inclusion in the Federal Public Service that your office issued in June 2021.

I am very proud of the professionalism and integrity that CBSA employees bring to the job every day—both on the front lines, in regions across the country, and here at National Headquarters. Their dedication has been critical to Canada’s security and economic prosperity, even more so during the pandemic.

That being said, the CBSA has an ongoing responsibility to put an end to all racism in the Agency, whether it is the result of conscious or unconscious biases.

This letter highlights actions the CBSA is taking to combat racism in the Agency by laying stronger foundations for inclusion, trust, awareness, and sensitivity; therefore, providing a preliminary response to the call to action.

The CBSA’s actions have focused on:

• providing managers and employees with expectations, guidance, and direction around racism and inclusion, including during hiring and recruitment;
• equipping employees and managers with the training they need to prevent racism and unconscious bias;
• tackling racism through awareness and changing mindsets; and
• addressing the mental health needs of those adversely impacted by racism.

The CBSA is committed to listening, learning, and doing its best to make the Agency a workplace of choice, where employees have a voice.

A. Providing managers and employees with expectations, guidance, and direction around racism and inclusion

Creating an Anti-Racism Task Force and Strategy

Following the George Floyd tragedy, the CBSA created the Anti‑Racism Task Force in March 2021 in order to draft and implement an anti-racism strategy for the Agency. The Task Force, which is made up of representatives from all regions and the headquarters, led by an assistant deputy minister, has completed the strategy. The Anti-Racism Unit will carry out the strategy and ensure its successful implementation over the next three years, with regular reporting and updates to the Agency’s senior executive table and me.

Increasing the number of Indigenous, Black, and other racialized employees in leadership positions:

The CBSA has launched the following initiatives to increase the number of Indigenous, Black, and other historically underrepresented employees in leadership positions in the Agency:

• the Employment Equity (EE) Executive Leadership Development Program for EX Minus 1 and EX Minus 2 levels for women, Indigenous people, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, and employees who are part of the LGBTQ2+ community;
• the Building Black Leaders Initiative;
• a second edition of a mentorship program designed specifically for visible minorities; and
• the targeted EE EX-01 and EX-02 staffing processes, which closed in early March 2021.

These initiatives provide participants with access to coaching, training, mentoring, and peer‑learning that will provide them with the skills and confidence to further their career and become executives.

These collective efforts have generated 650 applications (450 for the EX-01 and 200 for the EX‑02 EE selection processes). Furthermore, 67 senior mentors in the CBSA have stepped forward to volunteer their time and expertise.

B. Equipping managers and employees with the training they need to prevent racism and unconscious bias

Anti-racism training for managers:

Executives at the CBSA have taken mandatory training on racism, reconciliation, accessibility, equity, and inclusion.

Additionally, there has been a strong uptake in anti-racism training in the CBSA among managers:

• 92% of all executives have already taken mandatory unconscious bias training;
• 87% of all senior executives have taken workshops on developing their own personal statements against racism; and
• 706 middle managers have taken training sessions to strengthen character-based leadership, including sessions on inclusive leadership.

Anti-racism training for employees:

In collaboration with union partners, the CBSA has been developing anti-racism training for all employees and has established three sub-committees to do so. An employee survey has also been developed to unearth root causes of racism. The development of the survey included consultations with various stakeholders. The information received via the survey will inform the development of the all-employee anti-racism training product.

Furthermore, the Visible Minority Advisory Committee has hosted over 20 events since January 2021 with subject matter experts on various aspects of racism and how to fight it. Some of the panelists who have spoken to the CBSA are:

• Mr. Peter Sloly, Ottawa’s first Black police chief;
• Dr. Myrna Lashley, Psychologist, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University Racial Expert;
• Sgt Craig Marshall Smith, author of You Had Better Be White By Six A.M.; The African‑Canadian Experience in the RCMP and Her Story;
• Mr. Daniel Quan-Watson, Deputy Minister of Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada;
• Mr. Devon Clunis, first Black Canadian ever appointed as a police chief in Canada; and
• Ms. Jodie Glean-Mitchell, Director of the University of Toronto’s Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office.

C. Tackling racism through awareness and changing mindsets

The CBSA is taking important steps to promote diversity and inclusion as key elements of a healthy workplace. Steps include:

• the development of the 2021–2024 EE, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, building on a culture diagnostic, which provided a snapshot of the Agency’s culture in 2019 and identified what was working and what was not;
• the creation of the new Culture Performance Measurement Framework (PMF) to track progress on culture change in the Agency. The PMF will also track “reasons for leaving” as part of employees’ optional online exit surveys to develop an appropriate response; and
• the appointment of Culture Ambassadors in every region and branch of the Agency to help promote positive culture change, including in the areas of diversity and inclusion.

Important networks and partnerships are being leveraged across the CBSA to help raise awareness of the root cause of racism and discrimination, and their impacts on Black, Indigenous, and racialized employees.

The Anti‑Racism Task Force works closely with the following Committees towards this end:

• the Visible Minority Advisory Committee;
• the Indigenous Advisory Circle;
• the Persons with Disabilities Advisory Committee;
• the Women’s Advisory Committee; and
• the LGBTQ2+ Advisory Committee.

These committees raise awareness and serve as consultative bodies on issues that impact their respective communities. They are safe and open fora for members to connect and discuss, as well as create a more respectful and inclusive work environment.

These groups are very engaged in CBSA anti-racism initiatives, which have been well received by members. CBSA senior executives and I have been participating in a number of committee events in keeping with the Agency’s commitment to listen and learn, and to support change.

D. Addressing the mental health needs of employees impacted by racism

There has been an increase across the CBSA in employees seeking assistance in dealing with mental health issues resulting from racism.

To address these growing needs, the CBSA’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is:

• increasing in-house staff training to better support clients who experience racism; and
• ensuring the external service provider it uses offers diversity and language options for the services they are offering.

The CBSA’s Informal Conflict Management group is also refining its approach to help employees and teams address racism issues and achieve reconciliation in their aftermath.

E. Measurement and results

CBSA anti-racism and inclusion efforts will be measured using:

• the Public Service Employee Survey and internal Agency surveys;
• the volume of EAP requests dealing with racism;
• the volume of Informal Conflict Management cases dealing with racism;
• quarterly statistics related to the acquisition, promotion, and retention of members of EE groups; and
• a new Culture Strategy Logic Model and PMF that were recently developed to assess Agency culture on an annual basis.

F. On the horizon

The CBSA has taken important actions, in fairly short order, to help address issues related to racism and inclusion. However, there is still much to do. In the

short-to-medium term, the Agency will:

• implement and track progress of the EE, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan and the Anti-Racism Action Plan;
• work to increase the number of employees self-identifying as a member of an EE group. This information will be used to eliminate gaps in EE group representation through targeted recruitment strategies at all levels (entry, managers, EX);
• work to retain employees who self-identify as members of EE groups by analyzing EE talent acquisition, promotion, and retention data quarterly; promoting the use of the Agency Exit Survey to understand why EE employees leave and consequently identify potential barriers; leveraging the Agency’s diversity committees and Culture Ambassadors to effect culture change; and eliminating gaps in representation through targeted recruitment strategies;
• collect more information on equity and diversity through surveys, the Task Force, and committees;
• implement a Mentorship Plus Program for the EE groups for the EE Executive Leadership Development Program (EEEXLDP). Like other mentorship programs, this program will support employees who aspire to develop their careers, including reaching leadership roles or executive positions. In addition, the Mentorship Plus program is promoting a sponsorship component. The idea is to have senior-level executives advocating on behalf of high-potential employees from underrepresented designated EE groups or equity-seeking communities; and
• plan events, training, and activities, throughout the year, with leading experts (from both the public and private sectors) to promote awareness of anti-racism and inclusion efforts. Use these activities to educate and equip employees and change mindsets.

Although there is a lot more to do, I am proud of the work that the CBSA has accomplished to date on fighting racism and promoting inclusion. The Agency has made important progress in responding to the call to action on anti-racism, equity, and inclusion in the Federal Public Service. The Anti-Racism Strategy and Culture Transformation will continue to be Agency priorities given their broad reach and the potential they offer for positive change in the Agency and everyone who interacts with its employees. The Agency will continue this important work until all its employees feel included, trusted, respected, and motivated in the workplace.

Yours sincerely,

John Ossowski

Data Annex

Table 1: The total number of hires and departures for the CBSA vs. hire and departure rates for Racialized and Indigenous employees in fiscal years (FY) 2019–2020 and 2020–2021.

	Hires			Departures
FY	Total	Racialized	Indigenous	Total	Racialized	Indigenous
2019–2020	1,176	87 (7.4%)	17 (1.4%)	1,003	149 (14.9%)	34 (3.4%)
2020–2021	781	71 (9.1%)	16 (2.0%)	773	95 (12.3%)	33 (4.3%)

Table 2: Number of appointments to the EX cadre of Racialized and Indigenous people compared to the total number of EX appointments in FY 2019–2020 and 2020–2021.

FY	Total # EX Appointments	Racialized	Indigenous
2019–2020	28	1 (3.6%)	2 (7.1%)
2020–2021	37	3 (8.1%)	1 (2.7%)