Year 2 progress report

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About this publication

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister
of Rural Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Atlantic
Canada Opportunities Agency, 2024.

Catalogue No. AC2-16E-PDF
ISSN 2817-884X

General

Message from the Champion of Inclusion, Equity and Anti-racism

The Agency’s Employment Equity (EE), Inclusion and Anti-Racism Committee is active and brings together members from every equity seeking group’s employee network, regions/branch working group, and committee linked to accessibility, inclusion, equity and/or anti-racism. We are committed to building and sustaining an inclusive, accessible, safe and healthy workplace that welcomes, respects, values and includes voices from diverse backgrounds.

A key priority remains the implementation of the Agency’s EE, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Action Plan, which is aligned with the Clerk’s Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion and the advancement of the Calls to Action articulated in the Truth and Reconciliation Report, Many Voices Once Mind: A Pathway to Reconciliation, the Accessibility Strategy for the Public Service, the open letter from the Public Service Pride Network to deputy ministers as well as the Action Plan for Black Public Servants. The committee members and I are dedicated to supporting this work by raising issues voiced by our employees to senior management and finding tangible solutions together.

Our efforts are supported by the renewed focus on the values and ethics code which at its heart espouses the fundamental respect for people and an inclusive values-based culture.

The Agency continues its efforts in identifying, removing and preventing barriers to accessibility.  The Agency’s Accessibility Action Plan is complementary and essential to focus dedicated efforts to create a barrier-free workplace for people with disabilities. This year our focus is to educate employees on the usage of the Accessibility Passport and guide managers in creating an inclusive and barrier-free work environment. The Agency is also working on streamlining the accommodation process to help provide tools and/or support measures for employees to be at their best in the workplace.  I am confident that with the ongoing commitment demonstrated thus far, we will continue to make sustainable progress toward becoming an even more accessible, representative and inclusive workplace.

Kurt Chin Quee
Vice-President, Finance and Corporate Services

Executive Summary

At ACOA, persons with disabilities represent 13% of all employees which is above the workforce availability of 9.5%. Through the 2022 Public Service Employee Survey,  employees indicated their overall satisfaction with their employment, possibly due to the Agency’s efforts to ensuring the needs of persons with disabilities are considered and accommodated. The survey also signalled areas for improvement. The 2024 Public Service Employee Survey currently under way will provide valuable insights into advancements made.

ACOA has made great progress against the objectives in its Accessibility Action Plan (see ACOA’s Progress below), for instance:

There are accessible washrooms in most regional offices, with plans under development to address gaps.

Additional training is planned for employees on how to complete the passport and discuss barriers with managers.

Moving forward, ACOA’s next Action Plan will include:

Contact

Feedback may be provided to:

Accessibility Coordinator
Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
644 Main Street
Moncton, New Brunswick  E1C 1E2
Telephone: 506-871-8071
Toll free: 1-833-834-3004
Email: accessible@acoa-apeca.gc.ca

Format

You may use the contact information listed above to request a copy of the accessibility plan in an alternate format, such as large print, Braille or audio. You may also use the contact information listed above to request a copy of the feedback process description in an alternate format.

Representation

The 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability noted that persons with disabilities (PwDs) were more likely to be employed than in the past. However, focus is still required as 27% of Canadians aged 15 years and over had one or more disabilities that limited them in their daily activities.

The most common barriers were those related to:

At ACOA, persons with disabilities represent 13% of all employees which is above the Workforce Availability of 9.5%.

Of those ACOA employees with disabilities who responded to the 2022 Public Service Employee Survey:

Employment Equity Act Report

The most recent Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Employment Equity Act Report featured data on the current state of representation for PwDs. Of the 4 employment equity groups, PwDs remain the only group not meeting workforce availability levels across the Public Service. While representation of PwDs has increased to 6.9%, this figure remains below the workforce availability of 9.2%. Hiring employees with disabilities is one of the most effective ways to promote inclusion and foster a positive attitude in the workplace.

ACOA is a Canada Workplace Accessibility Passport adopter which the report spotlights as a leading initiative in creating a more diverse, inclusive and accessible public service.

The Canadian Labour Force

All Canadians have the right to participate fully and equally in society. For persons with disabilities the struggle has been long and difficult to exercise that right.

In Canada, 69.6% of persons with disabilities are part of the labour force, compared to 84.2% of persons without disabilities (Statistics Canada). Of PwDs employed in the labour force, between 30% and 40% consider job change or advancement difficult due to their condition (Statistics Canada). For many PwDs, asking for accommodations is an awkward experience. So many don’t ask, either because they are uncomfortable asking (42.2%), do not want to make things difficult for the employer (33.2%), do not want to disclose the need for accommodation (34.8%), or because they fear a negative outcome (33%).

ACOA’s Progress

The following provides an overview of the progress the Agency has made toward its objectives, as outlined in ACOA’s Accessibility Action Plans 2022 – Updated (April 2024).

Employment

1. Objective: Review existing development programs to ensure that persons with disabilities are represented and supported at each stage, from entry to exit.

Results

2. Objective: Close the representation gaps for people with disabilities.

Results

3. Objective: Advertise employment opportunities in an accessible format, particularly important on private sites (versus jobs.gc.ca).

Results

4. Objective: Stakeholder organizations should be consulted as a resource when hiring.

Results

5. Objective: Develop tools and training for supervisors to enable them to create inclusive teams, improving the culture at ACOA and, thereby, the satisfaction levels of employees with disabilities.

Results

Built environment

1. Objective: Develop a Disabilities Considerations Checklist of 5-10 items per location to make the physical workspace more accessible for all: signage (including pictograms); automatic push buttons for access doors; etc.

Results

2. Objective: Ensure events and meetings are accessible to all employees and, where applicable, the public (e.g., tables high enough for wheelchairs, sign language interpreters, etc.).

Results

3. Objective: Draft evacuation plans that include information on how to evacuate an employee/visitor with a disability. Regular practices should be held, with the person(s) with a disability. At HO, the plan is available on the SharePoint corporate Occupational Health and Safety site.

Results

4. Objective: Create accessible washrooms at Head Office (Moncton, N.B.) and the four regional offices (Fredericton, Charlottetown, Halifax and St. John’s).

Results

Information and communication technology (ICT)

1. Objective: Adopt the GC Workplace Accessibility Passport.

Results

2. Objective: All major new information technology (IT) systems, both internal and external, launched as of 2023 are accessible.

Results

3. Objective: Measure and reduce wait times for workplace accommodations.

Results

Design and delivery of programs and services

1. Objective: Ensure external-facing documents are in accessible formats and easy to find online.

Results

2. Objective: Establish mechanisms for clients with disabilities to provide feedback and be engaged on service improvements.

Results

Communications, other than ICT

1. Objective: Make all templates accessible by the end of summer 2023.

Results

2. Objective: Promote Accessibility, Accommodation and Adaptive Computer Technology (AAACT) workshops so staff can learn how to create accessible documents/templates.

Results

3. Objective: Redesign Rendezvous so that the format and new content, including photos, are accessible. Redesign will respect Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) guidelines and plain language use.

Results

4. Objective: Organize relevant activities for employees during National AccessAbility Week in May and promote communications around International Day of Persons With Disabilities (December 3).

Results

Procurement of goods, services and facilities

ACOA reviewed all its policies, practices, programs and services, and determined that there were no barriers in the area of procurement of good, services and facilities.

Transportation

ACOA reviewed all its policies, practices, programs and services, and determined that there were no barriers in the area of transportation.

The accessibility passport and training for managers

ACOA’s Accessibility Coordinator was trained earlier this year as a Canada Workplace Accessibility Passport Facilitator and began giving Passport Information Sessions to managers in September, in English. An outside facilitator has been providing the French sessions. The Agency’s goal is that all managers will have taken the sessions by the end of fiscal 2024-25. So far, 5 sessions have been given in 2024.

The Agency is promoting sessions in its events calendar as well as on Rendezvous. Sign-up has been strong, with over 80 managers having taken the course so far.

A Passport session was provided to the Human Resources Committee on October 8.

Feedback

A new feedback form was developed and uploaded to the website in October 2024. Clients and employees no longer need to download a form and then email or mail their feedback to the Agency – they simply fill in the form and click the submit button once they are done.

ACOA also has a new dedicated phone number for people to provide feedback. It is monitored on a regular basis and feedback will be responded to quickly.

Over the course of this year, the Accessibility Coordinator received feedback directly from several employees regarding issues with flex spaces, completing the Passport and accommodations. No feedback was received via the feedback form or by telephone.

What we’ve learned

We need mandatory accessibility education and training for all employees – especially managers. We need conversations about accessibility to become organizational priorities. Everyone needs to be involved in creating a more accessible workplace.

The return to the office mandate has highlighted a need to continue to review our processes to accommodate individuals in our evolving physical environment and to ensure our  offices are overall more accessible.

We have learned that we need to better understand the onboarding process and to start the accessibility conversation as early as possible – with the letter of offer, as we do now, and the initial Welcome conversation that takes place within months of a new employee starting work at the Agency.

We’ve learned that we need to measure our progress – and so the Accessibility Coordinator has taken both Accessibility Measurement Workshops that were offered this fall. They will inform our plans going forward.

Where we are going from here

ACOA recently created a new Accessibility Advisory Group composed of both management and employees with disabilities (visible and invisible). This group’s work will inform the next Accessibility Action Plan.

Measuring our progress

All actions need to be tracked by objective data. Meaningful measures can produce high-quality data. Data provides evidence to pinpoint issues, progress, and what remains unknown. That evidence is critical to guide future action. Federally regulated entities (FREs) must use, collect and share high-quality data in all their initiatives to improve accessibility, in consultation with PwDs.

In the context of accessibility and disability inclusion, data is information that we can collect, measure, and analyze to:

Data can come in many forms like text, numbers, or facts. It can come from many sources including surveys, public records, interviews, or stories.

We need data to learn about the unique and complex lived experiences of PwDs, especially when making decisions.

ACOA’s Accessibility Coordinator has taken the Measurement Data sessions offered by the GC in order to better measure our level of success. ACOA will strive to put in place measurable (SMART) goals in its next Action Plan.

Consulting persons with disabilities

Building awareness starts with listening and asking questions, from a place of genuine curiosity. This is one reason why Accessible Canada Act (ACA) regulations make it mandatory for FREs to consult with PwDs in developing their accessibility plans. Such consultations can help influence meaningful action.

While awareness is essential to identifying barriers, it alone does not guarantee accessibility for PwDs. Canada has shown awareness about accessibility issues for decades. Yet, as the federal government heard during cross-country consultations that led to the ACA, many PwDs are still experiencing significant barriers in their daily lives.

Awareness must lead to a commitment for change to happen. Because of Canada's complex governance structure, commitments must be made at its various levels of government and by FREs to ensure consistency of accessibility practices across the country.

In the coming year, ACOA plans to consult PwDs within the Agency to discover what barriers they still face in the workplace, and what we can do to remove those barriers – without creating new ones.

Training employees

In 2019, the federal government published its first Accessibility Strategy for the Public Service of Canada. The Strategy recognized a lack of awareness of accessibility matters among federal public servants. In response, the Canada School of Public Service began adding accessibility-specific training courses and videos to its learning catalogue.

There are now dozens of learning tools available to employees in the federal public service. They cover topics such as disability inclusion, building accessible documents and virtual events, inclusive client service, procurement, inclusive hiring practices, inclusive design, and unconscious bias. Although most of these are voluntary, some of the courses are mandatory, particularly for managers. ACOA VPs have asked that managers complete the Passport Information Session by the end of fiscal 2024-25.

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