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

Summer 2021 update

Introduction

As I reflect on the events of the past months to gauge and report back to the Government and Canadian public on Infrastructure Canada’s response to the Clerk’s Call to Action (CC2A) on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion, I acknowledge the land from which I write is the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg people. Land acknowledgement compels us not to only think about our history,  but to also ask ourselves how we can contribute to and further the reconciliation process. What am I doing to align truth with healing? What am I doing to address individual and systemic acts of racism and discrimination? These are the very questions that can no longer be and should never have been ignored.

The struggles of racialized communities against systemic racism are not new; discrimination and the deep challenges and barriers it creates have existed for centuries. Today, our resolve to address these struggles has never been greater. Who can forget the images of Rodney King being violently beaten by four Los Angeles police officers, or the violent protests that followed their acquittal; or the recorded murder of George Floyd. Or, closer to home, the discovery of more than 1,300 Indigenous children to date in unmarked graves in residential schools; the violent arrest of Chief Allan Adams in Alberta in March 2020; the degradation and mistreatment of Joyce Echaquan in Quebec, or the violent death of Abdirahman Abdi steps from where we work. We witnessed something that could neither be justified, dismissed nor allowed to continue.

These shocking incidents, the thousands more that go unreported, and the pervasiveness of racial inequality and discrimination throughout our systems make it impossible to continue ignoring systemic racism and violence against Black and Indigenous Peoples as well as other racialized communities.

Canadians must confront what people in racialized communities have been expressing for years: there are enormous challenges and threats to safety, opportunity and basic human rights. There have been activities, working groups and initiatives to address and try to eliminate systemic barriers, but the results have been insufficient. Biased views and policies continue to plague our institutions. We need to act.

Infrastructure Canada (INFC) has been working towards an inclusive environment for all Canadians, but, like other departments, we fell short of creating a space that allowed Black, Indigenous and other racialized employees to thrive. In January 2021, the CC2A was a response to critical events. It required movement and action to address racism and discrimination in the Public Service and to break down barriers to success. I have been working with INFC’s leadership and staff at all levels to increase representation of public servants who are Indigenous, Black, racialized and persons with disabilities in the department. We are also engaged in a process of laying the foundation to create change that will become part of how INFC delivers our mandate and develops programs and policies.

Background

Prior to the CC2A, action in support of employment equity was already underway.

• In June 2020, INFC updated its Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan with the aim of achieving equality in the workplace.
• Also, in June 2020, the Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) Network was established to provide a safe space for Indigenous, Black and other racialized public servants. This Employee Resource Group started as a sub-committee of the Inclusion, Diversity and Official Languages Committee, whose co-Champions have been encouraging and supporting a workplace that celebrates differences since 2019.
• In October 2020, I committed to measurable change by adhering to the 2020/2021 Deputy Minister (DM) Commitments on Diversity and Inclusion and by appointing a senior official responsible for employment equity, diversity and inclusion a few weeks later.
• In December 2020, the Head of Human Resources (HR) signed the Statement of Action Against Systemic Racism, Bias and Discrimination in the Public Service with the HR Council Committee.

All of these tools and activities help lay a groundwork for change, but are not enough on their own. It became very apparent to me that INFC needed to do more to create real and enduring change. Through meeting with my leadership team and staff and reflecting on what we were doing at INFC, it was clear that we were lacking the voices of people with lived experience. We needed to create opportunities and spaces where members of historically excluded communities could be heard instead of having unrepresentative individuals speak for them. Members of racialized and marginalized communities have been speaking for decades. We should have taken action a long time ago.

Impact of the CC2A, Early Positives and Challenges

We are six months into this work and as much as I’d like to highlight swift, dramatic and enduring change, I cannot. Changing decades of systemic racism, discrimination and exclusion does not happen overnight. Addressing these complex challenges permeates all aspects of the department, from our organizational structure to our decision-making process, our policies and our programs. Understanding the issue and its root causes as they apply to the department will take time. As leaders, our tendency is to jump into action and expect immediate results; however, this can hinder the process, and may result in implementing inadequate and partial solutions that might not respond to the real problem.

INFC as an organization is dedicated to making change, but it must be meaningful change that becomes part of our core values, mentality and business.

What I can report are the early positives, the challenges, and the uncomfortable situations, but most importantly, the impacts of the Clerk’s Call to Action on INFC as an organization. INFC has started making progress and we must continue to work hard to overcome a variety of challenges, biases and structural barriers.

• In light of the CC2A as well as the Deputy Minister Commitments on Diversity and Inclusion, I created the Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion (AREI) Division in March 2021. The AREI Division serves as a catalyst and a centre of expertise for the entire department to help evolve INFC's culture from one that is open and values employment equity into one that is diverse and, more importantly, demonstrates inclusivity as one of our core values. AREI provides strategic advice, education and oversight through an intersectional and holistic approach based on collaboration with Black People, Indigenous Peoples, Racialized People, but also Persons with Disabilities and LGBTQ2+ Peoples.
• A team of diverse and seasoned leaders, the AREI Division has begun making inroads within the organization and building relationships where traditional structures may have met with less success. They have developed a framework that allows us to work collaboratively with various communities, adding a particular lens and amplifying the voices of those who have historically been excluded from key decision-making tables. AREI has focused on engagement and relationship-building with INFC’s leadership, which has led to my senior leaders challenging one another to look around the room and ensure the proper representatives, voices and communities are present. A part of this work will include employee engagement and an intercultural competency assessment of the leadership team.
• The BIPOC Network ensures a space where Black, Indigenous and racialized employees can meet and discuss challenges and systemic barriers they confront as employees in the federal public service. They have already held panels and delivered reflective engagement sessions that help our staff understand concepts like white fragility, privilege, and the difference between systemic racism and racism. These events have been neither easy nor comfortable, nor should they be. The BIPOC Network has allowed staff to challenge themselves, their perceptions, their subconscious biases and bring the discussion to the forefront where they can be addressed.
• My leadership team and I recognize and acknowledge that consistent funding, tools and approaches do not currently exist in this space and that is a challenge. We have reached out to collaborate, co-develop, coordinate and learn from other departments. We are partnering with anti-racism secretariats, divisions and units across government to share research, and, where possible, to pilot new initiatives, training and surveys. We acknowledge we are not experts in the field, and it has allowed us to actively seek perspectives which challenge INFC to do better. We are building bridges and partnerships to reduce duplication of efforts as we focus on finding best practices and approaches that will lead to meaningful change.
• INFC is currently in a period of rapid growth, which has enabled us to create opportunities in staffing and recruitment. INFC has been using various programs to increase employment equity representation by actively leveraging diverse talent pools, such as the IT Apprenticeship Program for Indigenous Peoples led by Employment and Social Development Canada. We are deliberately seeking candidates who have self-identified as Indigenous, a person with a disability or a visible minority, reinforcing that there is significant merit with increased representation, and that qualification and race are not mutually exclusive concepts. The foundation is laid for more staffing of Indigenous, Black and other racialized employees, but more work is needed to achieve meaningful results.
• We are adopting a new approach to contracting services for our Employment Systems Review. We are reviewing existing procurement processes and statements of work to understand why minority-led or minority-owned businesses are not being engaged in this space or are unable to compete successfully. Our intent is to bring lived experience into this space to better understand challenges and barriers that may exist.
• At INFC, we realized collecting, analyzing and understanding the right information and data is essential to change. Numerical data on gaps, targets, and communities, as well as staffing, recruitment, promotion and development initiatives only tells part of the story. Disaggregated and qualitative data are critically important. Understanding the “what” is not enough without understanding the “why”. Our AREI, Data Science and HR teams are working together to examine different approaches to how we collect and use our data, which include different data analytics tools, analysis options and presentation models.
• Personally, I have created spaces for the courageous conversations we have been having both with leadership and staff during well-attended forums where we invited guests from equity-deserving communities, such as Gail Johnson, the first Black member of the Senior Executive Committee and first Black Chief Human Resources Officer at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as well as a co-Champion of the Black Executive Network. In addition, before committing to volunteering with different organizations, I have taken the time to explore and understand how my values and recent commitments at INFC in regards to anti-racism, equity and inclusion align with those of the various organizations. I did this with the encouragement, guidance and support of my advisors and individuals with lived experience.
• However, our progress and impact is limited by the ability for the entire system to change. INFC, like many departments, faces limitations with self-identification related to trust in the data collection process and the interpretation of legislation (policies and directives, as well as their application). In addition, there is a lack of understanding of lived experiences of equity-deserving employees (i.e., race-based traumatic stress syndrome) by mental health or coaching service providers.

Next steps

Although important work has begun, it would be neither accurate nor credible to say we are almost done. What I can assure you and all reading this letter is that INFC is committed to real change. Over the course of the current fiscal year INFC will:

• Develop an anti-racism, equity and inclusion strategy and action plan, as well as a results framework aligned with the department’s integrated business plan, logic model and Departmental Results Framework, in collaboration with internal stakeholders.
• Complete intercultural competency and inclusion pulse checks with the leadership team to determine strengths, weaknesses, biases, opportunities and more. These pulse checks will ensure the momentum that exists now remains, and that it will not diminish as the leadership at INFC changes.
• Create a Strategic and Communities Advisory Working Group with a mandate to engage with employees, advise on and amplify INFC’s anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion efforts to ensure communities have a place to bring forward their lived experience where it can be heard and integrated into INFC’s mandate and work.
• Continue to collaborate with units involved in this work within other government organizations to learn from each other, identify and adopt best practices and, where possible, co-develop mutually beneficial initiatives to impact not just INFC but the federal public service on a broader scale.
• Develop a methodology for a review of INFC’s policies and programs through an anti-racism and equity lens, in alignment with the DM Commitments on Diversity and Inclusion. This will complement our efforts as we consider diversity and inclusion in the design and implementation of our programs. As such, we have initiated research projects to explore opportunities to better integrate equity measures and practices to support these programs.

The path to make INFC a workplace of choice for Indigenous, Black and other racialized employees will be strewn with both challenges and successes. But we are committed to building an environment that supports all employees by deconstructing the elements of the system that reinforce or allow for racism, discrimination and marginalization.

I would like to thank and acknowledge everyone who has contributed to the foundational work done so far and who has provided input and support to achieve an inclusive workspace where all Canadians can thrive. We recognize and respect your contributions to INFC and we commit to continuing to work together towards meaningful change.

Kelly Gillis
Deputy Minister
Infrastructure and Communities

Data annex– Infrastructure Canada’s Response Letter on the implementation of the Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service

Table 1.0 Number of employees who joined the organization between March 31, 2020 and March 31, 2021 (in blue), with a comparison to previous years, and a comparison to the first three months of the fiscal year 2021-2022

This table presents the total number of new employees who joined the organization (external hires and internal transfers in the public service), excluding executives, highlighting those who have self-identified as Black, Indigenous, other racialized groups, or persons with disabilities. Several numbers are suppressed due to privacy policy.

Table 1.1 Total Number of employees within the organization as of March 31, 2021 (in blue), with a comparison to previous years, and a comparison to June 30, 2021

This table presents the total number of employees within the department, excluding executives, highlighting those who have self-identified as Black, Indigenous, other racialized groups, or persons with disabilities.

Table 2.0 Number of employees who left the organization between March 31, 2020 and March 31, 2021 (in blue), with a comparison to previous years, and a comparison to the first three months of the fiscal year 2021-2022

This table presents the total number of employees who left the organization, excluding executives, highlighting those who have self-identified as Visible Minority, Indigenous or persons with disabilities. Several numbers are suppressed due to privacy policy.

Table 3.0 Number of executives who joined the organization between March 31, 2020 and March 31, 2021 (in blue), with a comparison to the previous years and a comparison first three months of the fiscal year 2021-2022

This table presents the total number of executives hired by the department (external hires and internal transfers in the public service), highlighting those who have self-identified as Black, Indigenous, other racialized groups, or persons with disabilities. Several numbers are suppressed due to privacy policy.

Table 3.1 Total Number of executives within the organization as of March 31, 2021 (in blue), with a comparison to previous years, and a comparison to June 30, 2021.

This table presents the total number of executives within the department, highlighting those who have self-identified as Black, Indigenous, other racialized groups, or persons with disabilities. Several numbers are suppressed due to privacy policy.