Visible Minorities Network (VMN) seven (7) actions plan

Proposed action 1 - Culture change by addressing systemic barriers and unconscious bias:

Create a framework to measure the effectiveness of the mandatory Unconscious Bias training and Anti-Racism curriculum (Canada School of Public Service (CSPS)) and publish completion rates.

The two success criteria are:

1. Quantitative: Completion goal was reached: Employees and managers completed the UB training.
2. Qualitative: Measuring the impact of taking the UB training. ESDC must be able to efficiently measure how this training prevented and improved work culture (i.e. Reducing impacts of racism and discrimination)

Proposed action 2 - Add diversity and inclusion to ESDC core competencies (New)

Below is the language the VMN propose:

Please provide concrete examples undertaken to demonstrate at least 2 out of the 7 following criteria.

These actions must be clear, real and concise as to how they met the expected goal.

• Demonstrating a commitment to combatting racism against Black employees, Visible Minorities and other racialized employees;
• Demonstrating a commitment to learning, what Reconciliation with Indigenous people means and working toward implementing reconciliation practises and considerations into your work and workplace environment.
• Displaying respect for other cultural values and beliefs, taking the initiative to gain appreciation, learn and exposure of other cultures, views, opinions and accepting different points of view.
• Committing to cultivate an inclusive workforce with a strong sense of personal responsibility for change.
• Demonstrating courage to step up challenging respectfully organizational attitudes and practices to enhance the conditions of racialized employees.
• Contributing to the empowerment of team members and colleagues to express and share their ideas.
• Embrace and participate to training and activities organized by ESDC Networks and make an effort to put in practice the knowledge learned.

Proposed action 3 - Addressing racism, discrimination and harassment

Discrimination often turns into mental health issues affecting not only the individuals subject to it, but also to their families and to our society. We are proposing an Anti-racism and Anti-Discrimination that would have the powers and authority to redress efficiently

Create an ESDC Anti-racism and Anti-discrimination secretariat that will:

• Hold a new and independent investigation function for each of the complaints. At the end of each investigation, there will be a finding report with precise recommendations to resolve issues more rapidly and efficiently
• The Secretariat would report directly to the Deputy Minister (DM)s, on racism and discrimination complaints, with the authority to liaise with Human Resource (HR) staffing process complaint process and other related processes that might include racism and discrimination allegations
• Publicly report back frequent issues, trends and challenges inherent from the results of the complaint process, to support ESDC in eradicating racism and discrimination on a larger scale (feedback cycle)
• Create a national awareness campaign for all ESDC employees outlining the cost of discrimination. (Public Affairs and Stakeholder Relations Branch (PASRB) driven)
• Publish an Anti-racism and Anti-Discrimination report with stats and investigations content quarterly while protecting privacy from individuals

Proposed action 4 - Targets of representation

• Set a minimum benchmark of 1 in 4 (25%) for all new promotions and acting assignments to help achieve better representation.
• Visible Minorities make up 23% of total ESDC population. However, they are disproportionately represented at the lower, entry levels. This 1 in 4 benchmark would better reflect the demographics of ESDC in 2020.

Proposed action 5 - Recruitment retention advancement:

• Reason: For some positions, mostly entry-level, we might sometimes have 40-50% of applicants that are of visible minority (VM) but only 5-10% are screened in the pool or get an offer.
• Create a VMN Sponsorship on-the-job program to empower VM employees’ careers and development (in addition to existing mentoring)
• Develop and implement a Director Development Program (DDP) on non-imperative basis to include VMN employees including creating opportunities for sponsorship
• Increase (and publicize) opportunities for advancement.

Proposed action 6 - Review existing policy/programs:

Create an ESDC roadmap of opportunities where the VMN committee can provide input on programs and policies from a VM perspective to reduce the impacts of existing systemic barriers. (similar to the GBA+ approach) EX: Policy reset, new program etc...)

Other

Proposed action 7 - Building capacity of VMN executive committee operations:

Make VMN executive committee members more fulltime as possible to achieve our agenda on diversity and inclusion.