Letter from MND: Request for an Inquiry into Diversity

9 November 2020

 

Mr. Gregory Lick
Ombudsman for the Department of National Defence
and the Canadian Armed Forces
100 Metcalfe Street, 12th Floor
Ottawa, ON K1P 5M1

 

Dear Mr. Lick,

I would like to first acknowledge the work that you and your team have put into the racism review which I tasked you last year. This type of work is necessary to ensure that we have a strong and diverse Canadian Armed Forces and Department of National Defence necessary to serve all Canadians. That work has contributed to a deeper understanding of the scope of issues that must be reviewed and for which solutions must be put forward in order to achieve the type of institutional change that the CAF and DND needs. It is clear that all of society has work to do as we collectively work towards a better and fairer Canada. It is my hope and expectation that the CAF and DND can be leaders in that work.

After much consideration on how we can best work towards the goal of eliminating systemic racism and building a better and stronger Canadian Armed Forces, I would like to modify the approach towards this important issue. I am now asking you to review employment equity within the CAF and DND to ensure that we living up to our current obligations and to provide recommendations on how we can make our institution more equitable. At the same time, I will be announcing an Independent Review Panel on the broader issue of systemic racism, discrimination, gender bias and white supremacy within the CAF and DND. This Independent Review Panel will be made up of visible minority individuals who have served in the CAF, which will allow them to perform the deep analysis that is necessary to improve the CAF and DND. The Independent Review Panel will have the ability to provide broad recommendations to address the serious issues of systemic racism, discrimination, gender bias, and white supremacy.

In your review of employment equity, I would like you to analyze a number of issues and provide recommendations on how our organization can perform better. These issues would include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. Potential barriers to advancement for equity groups within the CAF and DND. Examples of potential barriers could include lack of access to training opportunities necessary for advancement or lack of access to certain assignments conclusive to promotion. I would like you to look at any barriers that may exist and provide recommendations as to how we can eliminate those barriers.
  2. Review our approach to recruitment into both the CAF and DND. What changes would be needed to improve recruitment so that we may have better and more equitable results throughout the organization?
  3. Review our approach towards retention of our members. How can we improve retention across all equity groups?
  4. Analyze our historical approach towards employment equity along with our current plan. This would include looking at what has worked in the past, what has not worked and where can make improvements.
  5. Provide the same analysis, where possible, of our results and areas of improvement for the LBGTQ2 community.
  6. Any other issues that are required to be reviewed in order to achieve a more equitable organization.

Within our organization, we have existing resources that can be utilized to provide insights on all of these issues, along with issues that should be reviewed. I expect that you will be consulting frequently with the Defence Advisory Organizations on these important issues. The Defence Advisory Organizations have been on the front line on this for many years and are a great source of knowledge as to what has worked in the past and what needs to be done in the future to achieve my goal of a more equitable and fair Canadian Armed Forces and Department of National Defence.

It is important that we do all that we can to combat both systemic racism as well as to improve our employment equity outcomes. The most important criteria for our military is their ability to do the job that Canadians require them to do for our nation. There should be no barriers or limitations to our ability to find the best people for these important jobs. I look forward to further discussions with you on the employment equity review.

Yours sincerely,

The Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, PC, OMM, MSM, CD, MP

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