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Correctional Service of Canada
Letter on Implementation of the Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion

Summer 2021 update

Dear Interim Clerk,

I welcome the Clerk’s Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service.

An organization is nothing without its people. The Correctional Service of Canada’s (CSC) approximately 18,000 employees are our greatest assets in achieving positive correctional outcomes. They are hard-working, professional and passionate about making a difference in the lives of offenders and ensuring public safety. To do their work to the best of their ability, they require and deserve a safe, inclusive, diverse and supportive environment.

As such, CSC is taking bold actions to address systemic racism, build a diverse and inclusive workforce and foster a safe, respectful and healthy environment.

Advancing anti-racism

CSC is working at ensuring that our practices, policies and initiatives address the root causes of inequities to best support Indigenous peoples, Black people and all members of racialized communities.

CSC has developed an Anti-Racism Framework as an evergreen document to initiate conversations internally and externally about our anti-racism actions as an organization across three pillars: workforce, offenders and stakeholders. The goal of this framework is to create an anti-racist organization that is more inclusive, diverse, equitable, and free of racism.

Since 2010, CSC has benefited from a robust National Employment Equity and Diversity Committee (EEDC) that initiates and promote events across the country to advance diversity.  Regional and local committees are also in place to implement initiatives to promote and strengthen diversity at CSC. In 2018, CSC received an Award of Excellence from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation for the work done by the EEDC. 

CSC also benefits from the commitment and wisdom of various groups, including our National Indigenous Advisory Committee, National Ethnocultural Advisory Committee, and Citizen Advisory Committees. The work of these committees will continue and expand as we increase our engagement with them to develop new partnerships with other communities to better assist the organization in addressing diversity matters.

Building a diverse and inclusive workforce

Our workforce must reflect the diversity of the Canadian population and that of our offender population. Indigenous and Black offenders make up the two largest overrepresented federally incarcerated populations and we must ensure that offenders have employee role models to whom they can relate. This is why, in early 2021, we set local representation objectives for Indigenous peoples and visible minorities that exceed the workforce availability (WFA) and that are based on the offender representation. Representation objectives were formulated by using 30% of the calculation based on the unit offender representation and 70% based on the regional WFA to establish unit-specific objectives. Ambitious hiring objectives have also been set to increase the representation of women and persons with disabilities over the next four years with an aim to meet the WFA by 2025.

In 2020-2021, from the second quarter to the fourth quarter, CSC’s national representation increased across all four employment equity designated groups as identified in the combined quarterly report.

This year, we also formalized our commitment to diversity and inclusion through a Statement on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace, which was signed by all of CSC’s senior executive committee members. Moreover, one of the performance objective of every executive, manager and supervisor is to take meaningful and timely action to promote a healthy work environment and culture that is inclusive and respectful of diversity.  

To better support leadership development, with a specific emphasis on supporting members of underrepresented groups who aspire to leadership and executive positions, CSC will be launching its Sponsorship program in the fall 2021. CSC also commenced a review of its National Mentorship program in consultation with diversity groups to identify and reduce barriers, and promote diversity and inclusion in the program in support of a more diverse representation among our future leaders.

The Connecting Spirits, Creating Opportunities, launched in 2019, is a wellness and networking initiative, which was conceived in response to the Many Voices One Mind strategy in consultation with CSC’s Indigenous employees. This initiative creates an environment where Indigenous employees can freely contribute to and engage in a community where they network and support one another through cultural and employment-related activities.

Additionally, as part of the onboarding process, every new employee who joins CSC gets a letter from me, as Commissioner, which highlights the key role they play in contributing to the achievement of our mission and to public safety. This welcome letter provides new employees with relevant information about CSC’s Mission, mandate and values, and provides them with various sources of information related to employee wellbeing, employment equity and diversity and inclusion. The feedback from new CSC employees has been very positive.

Fostering a safe, respectful and healthy environment

In 2020, CSC launched the National Comprehensive Strategy on Workplace Wellness and Employee Wellbeing. This strategy identifies risks and action plans with clear accountabilities and performance monitoring so that we can track progress.

We are also measuring results on an annual basis through the release of our Workplace Climate and Employee Wellbeing Annual Report. This report informs us on areas for improvement, and on the programs and areas that must be prioritized in the future.

CSC is now preparing for its fourth year of the Respectful Workplace Campaign. This involves creating awareness, promoting best practices, and implementing action-oriented steps to disclose inappropriate workplace behaviour.

Finally, we are currently conducting an Audit of Culture to examine all dimensions of CSC’s organizational culture. By engaging the senior management team across the sectors and regions, as well as the subject matter experts from CSC’s National Advisory Committee on Ethics, external consultants, labour partners, and other federal government departments and organizations who have been through transformational changes, we will examine CSC’s environment and implement or adjust our approaches accordingly.  

We have begun to see changes based on these initiatives. While CSC’s results for all Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) themes are lower than those of the public service, CSC has seen an improvement in 18 of the 25 themes when compared to the 2019 PSES, including psychologically health workplace, work-life balance and workload, harassment, work-related stress, and organizational performance.

While this is a step in the right direction, we know there is more work to do and CSC remains committed to making progress and sustaining positive change. As such, all executives have been asked to review their unit-specific findings and identify two or three key areas for improvement as well as the concrete steps they will take over the next year to address them.

Summary - Reinforcing our Commitment

Now is the time for change. The change will not be a static achievement, but will require commitment and sustained efforts over the long-term. CSC will engage in initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion, and identify and address barriers to achieving a diverse workforce and inclusive workplace. We are committed to listening, learning, and taking action.

As Commissioner, I pledge to contribute to this change and join my colleagues in the Federal Public Service in making this a collective priority. Additional information on CSC’s efforts to address systemic racism and respond to the nine Calls to Action are available in a supplementary report, along with an Annex on CSC’s workforce data.

Sincerely,

Anne Kelly

Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion – Supplementary Report

Correctional Service of Canada Table of Actions – August 2021

1st Call to Action – Appoint Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees to and within the Executive Group through career development and talent management

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) workforce must not just reflect the diversity of the Canadian population, but also that of the offender population. Indigenous and Black offenders make up the two largest overrepresented federally incarcerated populations. To this end, in early 2021, CSC developed and approved representation objectives for Indigenous peoples and visible minorities that exceed the Workforce Availabilities (WFA), based on the offender representation at each location. Representation objectives were formulated by using 30% of the calculation based on the unit offender representation and 70% based on the regional WFA to establish unit-specific objectives. Implementing the representation objectives by location will help CSC align its workforce representation with the representation of the offender population that it serves as well as support more targeted human resource (HR) strategies in support of employment equity and diversity and inclusion objectives.

Hiring objectives for women and persons with disabilities were also established, which aim to close the gaps in representation over a four-year period. Building a diverse workforce in CSC, including in  leadership roles, is very important.

CSC is undertaking a review Of CSC’s current talent management program and framework. This will include consultation with our equity groups to gain insight on potential adjustments to our tools, resources, and processes to promote a diverse, inclusive, and high performing workforce that responds to our employees’ career management and organizational needs.

2nd Call to Action – Sponsor high-potential Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees to prepare them for leadership roles

CSC is engaging in the federal collaborative community in developing best practices and implementing initiatives supporting greater diversity, equity and inclusion. One example is the Mentorship Plus initiative. Following the launch of the Mentorship Plus Toolkit for departments, CSC commenced a review of its National Mentorship Program in consultation with diversity groups to identify and reduce barriers, and promote diversity and inclusion in the program in support of a more diverse representation among our future leaders. The sponsorship element of this program will be launched in the fall 2021.

Another initiative is Connecting Spirits, Creating Opportunities (CSCO), which was launched in 2019 in response to the Many Voices One Mind strategy and the consultation with Indigenous employees. This wellness and networking initiative for Indigenous employees allows participants to contribute to and engage in a community where they network and support one another through cultural and employment-related activities. CSC’s National Headquarters Elder holds monthly talking circles for participants, offers one-on-one support sessions, and provides guidance for the direction of the CSCO initiative.

Within the Information Management Services Branch, partnerships with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) are being established to incorporate Indigenous apprenticeship program and Indigenous mentorship programs.

3rd Call to Action – Support the participation of Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees in leadership development programs (for example, the Executive Leadership Development Program) and career development services (for example, official language training)

In late 2020, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat proposed that linguistic profiles for supervisors in bilingual regions be increased starting in 2024. In recognition of the requirement to increase linguistic profiles, CSC has developed a rubric for assessing language training requirements. The rubric assigns a point score to assess employees for consideration for second language training and can prioritize training for employees who are members of employment equity groups.

CSC recognizes that the language requirement of a position can sometimes represent a barrier for employees from diverse groups. As such, CSC will make increased use of non-imperative staffing appointment for members of employment equity designated group to close the gaps in representation. For the 2021-2022 fiscal year, the Executive Leadership Development Program (ELDP) for EX-01 to EX-03 adjusted the criteria and asked that departments ensure that at least 50% of their nominations are from employment equity groups. CSC submitted one nomination.

CSC supports the career development of non-executive Indigenous employees through targeted Indigenous leadership programs such as the Aboriginal Leadership Development Program. CSC also supports executives through participation in the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s Training Program. Due to COVID-19, CSC did not provide nominations in 2020 but intends to do so in the future.

4th Call to Action – Recruit highly qualified candidates from Indigenous communities and Black and other racialized communities from across all regions of Canada

Integrated HR planning

As part of the 2020-2021 HR plan update, all units were required to add one new action in support of resourcing, retaining, or developing Indigenous employees. Many units indicated an action related to targeted Indigenous recruitment efforts.

Outreach efforts

CSC has increased its outreach efforts when it comes to targeting Ethnocultural and Indigenous communities across Canada in order to increase the representation for its largest occupational group, correctional officers (CX). CX job advertisement links are sent to diverse Indigenous and ethnocultural communities and organizations across Canada. The outreach team also has a designated Indigenous Outreach Officer in the Prairie Region, which has the largest representation of Indigenous peoples. CSC also implemented a specialized recruitment inventory that enables Indigenous peoples to submit general applications, which are then triaged for consideration in appropriate job openings. Since its creation in November 2020, CSC has hired 12 new Indigenous employees from that inventory.

CSC has also made available an ethnocultural toolkit to all employees to assist them in working more effectively with a diverse offender population.  CSC has also moved beyond traditional recruitment options and uses a specialized recruitment inventory for Indigenous peoples.

Assessment Tool Review

CSC is currently reviewing the CX assessment and recruitment tools to ensure there is no cultural bias. The Recruitment Team undertook a third-party review of the Situational Judgement Test (SJT) and the psychological assessment tools for potential cultural bias. The results of the study for the psychological assessment was done for Indigenous candidates, and did not identify any cultural bias in the testing. The review of the SJT did identify a slightly lower pass rate for visible minority candidates.  A fairness review and update of the test will take place over the next year. Findings from the review of the tool will pave the way forward for future decisions related to diversifying standardized assessment tools. CSC also introduced a survey that is being provided to CX applicants to enable prioritization of candidates using employment equity staffing flexibilities.

The HR Management Sector is working with the ethnocultural advisory committees to collaborate on a number of initiatives to increase employment equity and diversity and inclusion (D&I) to recruit and retain Black employees, along with members of other employment equity groups. We are currently exploring and promoting various staffing flexibilities to increase employment equity hiring, such as applying organizational needs, targeted areas of selection for advertised processes and using non-advertised appointments to increase representation.

A focus on increasing diversity in assessment boards for selection processes is also being implemented this fall. The addition of diverse perspectives and cultural competency on assessment boards will contribute to fairness and challenge unconscious bias. In addition to this, increased communication, awareness and training is being completed across all recruitment and staffing employees in order to develop the awareness and ensure cultural sensitivity.

5th Call to Action – Committing to personally learning about racism, reconciliation, accessibility, equity and inclusion, and fostering a safe, positive environment where these conversations are encouraged throughout our workplaces

Reinforcing our Commitment and Our Way Forward

The issues of systemic racism, diversity, and inclusion in the correctional system are ones the Commissioner has acknowledged publicly. We have begun discussions on how systemic racism manifests itself in our workforce and how it affects our offender population and other stakeholders. The commissioner, along with the executive committee members, have formalized their commitment through a Statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace. This statement has also been provided to all CSC executives for signature, and represents a clear and strong signal that will increase accountability and drive change. The statement requires executives to learn about racism, reconciliation, accessibility, equity and inclusion and to actively support diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism. Moreover, performance objectives for the 2021-2022 fiscal year for all supervisors and managers include strong wording in support of anti-racism, as well as D&I commitments.

Learning and Development Compliance

It is important that everyone at CSC commits to learning about racism, reconciliation, accessibility, equity and inclusion, and embraces their role in fostering a safe, positive environment. We encourage participation in related courses through the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) and offer a range of training options in support of these objectives. One example of this is our Diversity and Cultural Competency Training. This mandatory training, designed to increase the cultural competency of staff in their interactions with both colleagues and offenders, has been completed by 95% of CSC employees.

Unconscious Bias and Cultural Competency

In response to senior level commitments to provide support and tools to managers and employees to address personal and systemic racism, biases and discrimination in their workplaces, a Toolkit for Leading Conversations on Systemic Racism and Racial Discrimination is being developed as part of a whole-of-government working group led by the CSPS. The Learning and Development (L&D) Branch has subsequently adapted this product to meet organizational needs. The practical toolkit will contain resources and information for managers to prepare themselves to have conversations with their employees. It will also contain mini session guides on various topics relating to systemic racism and racial discrimination for managers to deliver. Both learning products are currently being piloted with select groups. In addition, as a new requirement of the Appointment Delegation and Accountability Instrument, unconscious bias training will be a requirement in order to receive sub-delegation.

Learning Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion

L&D has created a training governance structure in the area of diversity and inclusiveness called Learning Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion (LACDI). The objective of the LACDI is to provide guidance for the development of D&I training and learning products that are reflective of CSC and the lived experiences of employees and offenders. LACDI will provide a permanent forum to discuss employee learning needs in the areas of D&I, and identify where gaps in learning resources exist, either internally, externally, or both. In addition, the LACDI will provide guidance to the L&D Branch in the development of D&I training by supporting the identification of meaningful training themes, core content, scenarios and training methodologies.

Employment Equity and Diversity Committee

CSC has a robust Employment Equity and Diversity Committee (EEDC) that initiates and promotes events across the country to advance diversity. Their goal is to promote inclusion by ensuring that employees feel valued, respected, and supported. In the past year, the EEDC organized and promoted a range of events in support of this goal, totaling over 113 events across the country. EEDC also took a lead role in the celebration of Black History Month and recognizing the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Other Learning Opportunities

CSC celebrates D&I through commemorating important dates, using awards to acknowledge diversity-related contributions, and promoting initiatives through all-staff communications. Some examples of these communications from the 2020-2021 fourth quarter include:

CSC has developed a training session called ‘’Introduction to Indigenous Corrections”. Since February 2021, this training has been piloted in the Prairie Region as part of the Correctional Training Program. The training includes a focus on the history of Indigenous peoples pre- and post-colonial contact; a lens to assist recruits in developing their understanding of Indigenous Social History; the history of systemic discrimination; and understanding of the over-representation of Indigenous offenders in CSC.

6th Call to Action – Combatting all forms of racism, discrimination, and other barriers to inclusion in the workplace by taking action on what we have learned, empowering employees to speak up about bias and oppression, and better equipping managers to address these issues

Anti-Racism Framework

In fall 2020, CSC developed an Anti-Racism Framework as an evergreen document to initiate conversations internally and externally about our anti-racism actions as an organization across three pillars:

  1. Workforce – building a diverse, representative, inclusive and respectful workforce with and for our 18,000 employees
  2. Offenders – evaluating tools and practices for offender assessments, engaging with inmates and supporting safe and respectful environments for the 13,000 inmates in our custody across the country
  3. Stakeholders – external experts and a network of over 4500 volunteers – listening to external voices, input and lived experience, and evidence to inform our way forward

The Anti-Racism Framework outlines a vision statement and purpose to understand and identify systemic barriers embedded within our structures (policies, programs, processes, people and practices) to make improvements to the correctional system. The goal is to create an anti-racist organization that is more inclusive, diverse, equitable, and free of racism.

CSC shared the framework with its National Ethnocultural Advisory Committee and continued the discussion in early March 2021. During the 2020-2021 fourth quarter, CSC onboarded more than 60 employee volunteers in the role of Ethnocultural Site Coordinators (ESC). Through the connection and collaboration of ESC regionally and nationally, CSC continues to make strides in enhancing its responsiveness to the needs of ethnocultural offenders. ESC, in their capacity as site-based employee volunteers, help address systemic racism by increasing their own understanding of racism, anti-racism, and diversity in Canada, and through the engagement of other employees in these important issues.

The Reintegration Services Division, in its formal call-out, encouraged members of all employees groups to assume this volunteer role at each site, to ensure the ESC cadre, as well as offenders, would benefit from the contributions of a rich and diverse representation of employees with varied correctional experience, institutional position, age, language and gender profile, and cultural background, among others.

Audit of CSC Culture

CSC is currently in the planning phase of its Audit of Culture. The Internal Audit Sector will engage with senior management, regions and sectors, various subject matter experts from the National Advisory Committee on Ethics, external consultants, labour partners, and other federal government departments and organizations who have been undergoing changes in their organizational culture. This is an opportunity to examine all aspects of CSC’s environment and ensure we are adopting the right approach in moving forward. The objective of the audit will be to assess whether CSC’s actual organizational culture is congruent with its desired culture. CSC is committed to listening, learning, and taking action. This is a commitment the Commissioner has made and an expectation for the 18,000+ CSC employees.

National Working Group for Women Employees

CSC created its first National Working Group for Women Employees (NWGWE) to identify and address the barriers faced by women in CSC with respect to recruitment, retention, professional development, promotion, and work-life balance, and to develop an action plan to address the challenges identified. The NWGWE has been active since its inception. A national live event with Commissioner Anne Kelly was held on March 8th, 2021 to honour International Women’s Day. This was a specific measure taken to increase workplace culture of inclusion of under-represented groups. Approximately 300 employees attended this virtual event, where topics such as work-life balance, return to the workplace and career progression were discussed.

7th Call to Action – Enabling and advancing the work of grassroots networks and communities within the Public Service by providing necessary resources and bringing them into discussions at senior executive tables

Positive Space Initiative

CSC has been one of the driving forces on the Federal Positive Space Initiative (PSI) across government and continues to be highly engaged. Thousands of CSC employees have completed PSI training and CSC has contributed to developing and revising the PSI curriculum in collaboration with the CSPS. Our Executive Champion also continues to participate in federal roundtables and presentations to promote and raise awareness of D&I within the broader public service.  In August 2021, Progress Pride flags were distributed to CSC facilities to fly or display during the Public Service Pride week.

Making Connections

As part of Black History Month in February 2021, under the leadership of CSC’s Multiculturalism Champion, CSC created a virtual Black Employees’ Network. This is one of the safe space platforms where Black employees and allies can share various positive and empowering news and activities toimprove our collective commitments to end racism and discrimination, while we celebrate our rich diversity. In May and July 2021, the Assistant Commissioner, HR Management, hosted an ‘open mic’ virtual discussion with Black employees and allies that was attended by over 350 employees. The Multiculturalism Champion has been meeting with leaders as well as Black and other racialized employees across the country to build positive race relations, foster a more respectful workplace and identify practices that create systemic barriers.

Advisory Committees

At CSC, we understand that systemic racism affects not just our employees, but also our stakeholders, including the offender population that we serve. We benefit from a number of advisory committees, which allow CSC to seek essential external input. Moving forward, we will continue seek the views and input of our National Indigenous Advisory Committee, National Ethnocultural Advisory Committee, and Citizen Advisory Committees.

Respect and Wellness Campaigns

In 2018, CSC launched a Respectful Workplace Campaign to promote a healthy and respectful work environment and to highlight recourse mechanisms available to employees who experience harassment, bullying, discrimination and conflict in the workplace. On November 20, 2020, we celebrated our third annual CSC Respect Day. In 2020, CSC also launched its comprehensive strategy for workplace wellness and employee well-being. This strategy was informed by results from the Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) and is based on three pillars: improving culture and increasing pride; building capacity; and fostering healthy, respectful, and resilient environments free from harassment, bullying and violence.

8th Call to Action – Including voices from diverse backgrounds in the identification of systemic racism, discrimination and barriers to inclusion, and the design and implementation of actions to address them

In 2019, our Executive Committee launched the Executive Sub-Committee on Indigenous Corrections. While its purpose is to provide advice and recommendations on issues relating to interventions and reintegration support for First Nations, Métis and Inuit offenders, one component of the governance structure is a “Tiger Team” that develops strategies to promote recruitment, retention, and development of Indigenous employees. As a result of the Tiger Team’s recommendations, in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, all CSC organizational units were required to include at least one new initiative in their human resource plans that supports hiring, retaining, or developing Indigenous peoples.

Since February 2019, CSC has been working with the Beardy's and Okemasis' Cree Nation towards the renewal of our Memorandum of Understanding. This ongoing collaboration resulted in the development of a Joint Action Plan to address recruitment and development of band members employed at the Willow Cree Healing Lodge. The action plan includes a number of initiatives, one of which involves having an Indigenous recruitment officer in the community at least once a month for employment sessions as well as to attend special events such as pow wows and Treaty Days. The community has provided positive feedback on the new approach to recruitment.

In March 2021, CSC implemented a new process in which EEDC is consulted on all CSC policy reviews. This supports efforts to consult with Black and other racialized employees, Indigenous employees, employees with disabilities, and other equity deserving groups.

National Persons with Disabilities Working Group

The National Persons with Disabilities Working Group (PWDWG), started in July 2020, is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible workplace where employees, offenders, victims, and the public can contribute, feel safe and respected. The working group is led by CSC’s Persons with Disabilities Champion and is composed of representatives from CSC’s six regions as well as individuals from various sectors, who act in an advisory capacity. The group meets on a bi-monthly basis to assist in the development of the CSC Accessibility Action Plan. CSC identified sector representatives that will be consulting with the PWDWG about accessibility needs for the whole-of-CSC Accessibility Plan. Actions over the past year include:

Gender Considerations Secretariat

The Gender Considerations Secretariat was created in 2020 to develop CSC's overarching direction, guidance and tools for the management of offenders with gender considerations and also to develop tools and communication materials to promote employee and offender awareness on gender consideration-related matters.

9th Call to Action – Measuring progress and driving improvements in the employee workplace experience by monitoring disaggregated survey results and related operational data (for example, promotion and mobility rates, tenure) and acting on what the results are telling us

CSC will continuously measure results from various initiatives mentioned previously in this report and as outlined further below.

Quarterly Updates on Diversity and Inclusion

CSC produces quarterly updates CSC initiatives that support our commitment diversity and inclusion as well as: actions being taken to address systemic racism within the organization, measures taken to increase the diversity and inclusion of under-represented groups within our workforce, efforts being made to eliminate harassment and gender-based violence in the workplace, and, any challenges within the organization and operating environment to driving progress in these areas. These quarterly reports are shared through an infographic and are available to all employees on CSC’s intranet and to the public on CSC’s website.

Targeted Staffing Processes

During the 2020-2021 fiscal year, CSC had several staffing processes that targeted individuals from one or more of the designated employment equity groups, including processes from administrative personnel to manager positions. Various departments continue active engagement internally and with HR to increase representation of the employment equity groups.

Transparency in Data

In May of 2021, a new HR Business Intelligence Tool – Employment Equity Dashboard was created and is conveniently available to all CSC employees. This online dashboard includes in-depth and ‘real-time’ view of CSC’s workforce representation and WFA, based on the geographic location.  If there is a gap, the gap column shows the number of people that the current gap represents. The HR Analytics Team is working on the development of additional tabs with CSC’s hiring objectives, representation objectives that go beyond WFA, and other employment equity information.

Employment Equity Representation - Promotion/Acting/Termination Rates

Analyzing available data is important to understand our current state and be able to grow towards our goals.

Public Service Employees Survey

The executive committee members reviewed CSC’s 2020 results with a focus on responses from diversity group members and are discussing the results with their teams to identify areas of focus to address survey results. Three key themes for CSC have been developed in response to PSES: Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism, Harassment Prevention, and Wellness. Each sector/regional head will be identifying actions to improve the results for these three themes in the fall of 2021.

National Survey for Women

The National Working Group for Women Employees developed a national survey for women employees with the following four areas of focus: safe work environment, discrimination, work-life balance, professional development. This survey asked respondents to identify specific points of intersection, including if they identify as Black and/or Indigenous peoples). Results of this survey will directly impact actions being taken at CSC to address systemic racism. The results will be used, along with information that is gained through an intersectionality-based analysis, to identify strategies to better support women at CSC. Over 2,500 employees responded to the survey.

The Commissioner will be holding regional Town Hall discussion in October and November to discuss the issues raised through the review of the survey results.

Related Challenges and Barriers to Implementing the Call to Action

Challenges continue to exist in diversifying the workforce. With regard to occupational groups, a large percentage of positions are trade-related and availability of workforce in these areas is limited in most areas of the country, or is highly competitive for individuals who are part of employment equity groups as many private sector companies and other governments organizations are also engaged in diversifying their workforce and provide compensation packages that exceed public service compensation rates. This challenge has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The WFA in these specialized skill/high demand areas (GL/GS/EG groups) across all employment equity groups is limited. However, we continue to find ways to make staffing processes more efficient and effective, conduct more focused recruiting and minimize process related delays.

Annex A: Correctional Service of Canada Workforce Analysis

Workforce Movement1

New Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) hires are included in the table below in comparison to the Workforce Availabilities (WFA).

Percentage of Hires compared to WFA by Employment Equity (EE) group

EE Group

2020-2021

WFA

Indigenous Peoples

7.0%

7.6%

Visible Minorities

14.8%

9.2%

Observations:

The tables below provides hiring information from the 2019-2020 fiscal year (FY) to the 2020-2021 FY. As indicated, the rates of hires for Indigenous peoples, visible minorities, and Black employees have increased from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021.

New Hires - Employee Count and Percentage by EE Group

EE Group

2019-2020 #

2019-2020 %

2020-2021 #

2020-2021 %

Indigenous Peoples

59

6.8%

41

7.0%

Visible Minorities

82

9.4%

87

14.8%

Black Subgroup

23

2.6%

20

3.4%

The following table provides the 2020-2021 separation2 data for the Indigenous peoples, visible minorities and Black subgroup. As a comparator, the percentage of separations for an EE group are compared to the percentage representation of that group.

Percentage of Separations compared to Representation of EE Group

EE Group

2020-2021

Representation

Indigenous Peoples

8.6%

10.1%

Visible Minorities

8.5%

10.5%

Black Subgroup

1.7%

2.4%

Observations:

The tables below provide separations information from the 2019-2020 FY to the 2020-2021 FY. The separation rates of Indigenous and Black employees have decreased from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021, while the separation rate for the visible minority group has increased.

Separations - Employee Count and Percentage by EE Group

EE Group

2019-2020 #

2019-2020 %

2020-2021 #

2020-2021 %

Indigenous Peoples

118

9.6%

95

8.6%

Visible Minorities

92

7.5%

94

8.5%

Black Subgroup

26

2.1%

19

1.7%

As shown in the table below the executive (EX) group representation at CSC is below the WFA for Indigenous peoples and above WFA for the visible minorities group.

EX Group Representation

EE Group

Representation

WFA

Indigenous Peoples

5.4%

6.4%

Visible Minorities

9.5%

8.9%

Appointments to the EX group in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 FY were 28 and 10 people3 respectively. Given the small numbers, to respect the privacy of the employees, actual numbers of appointments of individuals identifying in designated EE groups have been suppressed.

Observations:

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