Driving Accountability on the Forward Direction of the Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service - Progress report

August 2024

Message from Clerk Hannaford

That is why on April 4, 2024, Deputy Clerk Christiane Fox and I asked the deputies to complete a self-assessment questionnaire to determine where we are on the implementation of the Forward Direction of the Call to Action, where progress is being made, and where barriers remain. We also included a self-assessment on advancing a renewed dialogue on values and ethics, as these are both fundamental and deeply connected components to successfully providing professional, nonpartisan advice to Government and excellent service to Canadians.

Having reviewed the reports, the results demonstrate the need to focus on breaking down the systemic barriers that are impeding progress for all public service employees. We must continue to address concerns identified by employees in a meaningful and sustainable way and strive for a public service that upholds our fundamental values of respect for people and excellence. By continuing to focus on accountability, we drive home the importance of following through on our commitments.

This will enable us to break the cycles of inequity and make meaningful, lasting change, proudly giving Canadians a public service committed to excellence that reflects and celebrates who we are.

John Hannaford
Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet

Introduction

This report is based on self-assessment questionnaire submissions from organizations that represent a broad range of sizes and functions (see Annex A). Responses from individual organizations have been posted on the Privy Council Office website.

Organizations were asked to provide open and frank responses for each aspect of the Forward Direction of the Call to Action and to engage employees and employee networks in the preparation of their submissions. The responses provided by organizations are reflected in the sections of this report.

This report is a snapshot of our journey to date since the launch of the Forward Direction of the Call to Action and provides a high-level overview of the themes emerging from the self-assessments as well as some next steps.

It is not an analysis or assessment of the self-assessments received. Nor is it a replacement for reading through and understanding the individual self-assessments.

This report is intended to set the stage for further dialogue and to accelerate our efforts to learn from and connect with those who are propelling forward good practices. This report will also serve as a starting point to expose areas where additional attention needs to be paid.

This is an opportunity to learn from this first year of implementing the Forward Direction of the Call to Action and to establish a baseline for building goals for the years to come.

Journey to date

The Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service (Call to Action or CTA) was released in 2021 to combat racism and to build a more diverse, equitable and inclusive public service. It was released during a societal push to more boldly and directly confront anti-Black racism, and other forms of racism and discrimination.

In June of 2021, deputy ministers, heads of separate agencies and heads of federal agencies were asked to outline their progress on the Call to Action in the form of open letters. The Privy Council Office received 92 open letters that are published online. The letters were meant to be an opportunity to demonstrate early progress on the Call to Action.

Following the release of the open letters, extensive engagements were undertaken with federal organizations and employee networks to gain a line of sight on how the Call to Action implementation was progressing. These engagements identified, among other things, a need for better sharing across and within organizations.

This led to the organization of a Call to Action Symposium in October 2022, which brought together leaders from within and outside the public service to share practical approaches on fostering belonging and inclusion, identifying recruitment and retention practices, and measuring results.

In May of 2023, the Forward Direction of the Call to Action was issued to bring more precision on how we are to collectively work towards a public service that is anti-racist, equitable and inclusive. It asked organizations to set goals, measure progress, and establish consequential accountabilities for results.

To provide leadership and direction on the Call to Action, an Assistant Deputy Minister Task Team was created. One area where the Task Team has focused early efforts is on developing an approach to measure inclusion, as building inclusive teams and work environments is fundamental to employee success.

Since 2021, we have seen tangible progress, such as the creation of new grassroots employee networks, an opening up of conversations on racism and discrimination, new learning events and activities, more disaggregation of data, and improvements in representation. New and existing employee networks have been particularly valuable in guiding where efforts are most appropriately placed.

We have also seen the objectives of the Call to Action re-enforced in audits and reports, such as the Auditor General report Inclusion in the Workplace for Racialized Employees and the Senate report Anti-Black Racism, Sexism and Systemic Discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Moreover, a Deputy Minister’s Task Team was formed in September 2023 to renew the conversation on values and ethics within the public service. This led to the development of the Deputy Ministers’ Task Team on Values and Ethics Report to the Clerk of the Privy Council (Milestone Report), which was released in December 2023, as well as ongoing engagement with public servants by Clerk Hannaford and Deputy Clerk Fox into 2024.

To build on the momentum of these concurrent priorities, in April of 2024, Clerk Hannaford and Deputy Clerk Fox asked organizations to report on progress made on implementing the Forward Direction of the Call to Action, as well as on how they were advancing a renewed conversation on values and ethics. Both exercises are deeply rooted in changing our workplace culture and our ability to better serve Canadians.

In this respect, this is much more than an exercise in reporting. It is a new beginning in being accountable for breaking down barriers to success, and advancing anti-racism, equity, and inclusion within the public service.

Highlights

The self-assessment questionnaires highlight that there has been an overall increase in activities and initiatives aimed at promoting anti-racism, equity and inclusion. The frankness in responses received has helped identify specific areas of attention.

To meet the objectives set out in the Forward Direction, organizations have developed comprehensive multi-year action plans, developed measurement and reporting tools, and launched programs and initiatives.

Most organizations have set goals for Indigenous employees and racialized employees, but there is a lower rate of setting goals specific to Black employees.

Many organizations pointed to the difficulties in accessing disaggregated data for Black employees. This lack of access to data has trickled down into some key areas including sponsoring, running targeted recruitment campaigns, and prioritizing official language training for Black employees. Others have found approaches to generate data for Black employees, creating an opportunity to share across organizations.

A large number of organizations set inclusion goals, which appear to be mainly based on activities and Public Service Employee Survey results. A few organizations are adding additional human resources data and pulse surveys to make their goals more specific.

Many organizations are embedding accountability for change by placing commitments specific to the Forward Direction of the Call to Action in performance management agreements. Commitments tend to be qualitative statements with some organizations also placing quantitative measures into agreements and fewer organizations defining parameters for consequential accountability.

Most organizations have and support employee networks and communities. The nature of support can vary, from having champions to providing funding to support individual events and activities. Much of this variation appears to be linked to the size and capacity of organizations.

Most organizations have highlighted practices to sponsor employees and have run targeted recruitment campaigns for Indigenous employees and racialized employees. Organizations have also created calendars identifying significant religious, spiritual, and cultural periods.

It is also evident that organizations are using the spirit of the Call to Action to extend the principles of setting goals, measuring progress and consequential accountability to persons with disabilities and to members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

The submissions have highlighted that organizations are implementing innovative approaches and good practices that can be shared across the public service.

Observations

These sections provide a high-level overview of the areas of focus from the self-assessments, organized around setting goals, measuring progress, consequential accountability and the tangible actions outlined in the Forward Direction of the Call to Action.

Response tables represent a broad cross-section of organizations, from micro and small organizations to large departments.

Setting recruitment and promotion goals

Organizations were asked to set multi-year hiring, promotion and inclusion goals, as well as to identify areas of over- and under-representation for Indigenous employees and Black and racialized employees.

A large number of organizations have established goals to improve representation among Indigenous and racialized employees, with some departments and agencies specifically setting goals for Black employees.

Smaller organizations are struggling with accessing disaggregated data, and many have indicated that they are awaiting the modernized self-identification questionnaire and application that will be launched by the Treasury Board Secretariat. Some that have access to disaggregated data have cited the need to suppress data to respect privacy as a challenge in tracking progress. Despite these challenges, some organizations have been able to set goals in areas of under-representation. For instance, the Communications Security Establishment Canada aims for a 1.5% increase in Indigenous representation and a 3% increase in representation of racialized employees in management roles.

Some organizations have decided to use labour market availability or Canadian population data to set their goals. Most organizations have identified that they are using existing workforce availability data as a baseline to set goals, while recognizing that it draws from 2016 Census data.

In recognition that the Canadian population has changed since 2016, some have opted to go above workforce availability to account for future projections of Canadian demographics. An example of this is that, for fiscal year 2025-2026, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency set a goal to increase overall representation by 25% above workforce availability for Indigenous employees, racialized employees, including Black employees, and persons with disabilities.

Some organizations set promotion goals for Indigenous employees and racialized employees, with a smaller number extending these to Black employees. The National Research Council is tracking the rate of promotion for employees in employment equity groups compared to those in non-employment equity groups. Their goal is to have no disproportionate differences in the advancement of members of employment equity groups relative to non-employment equity groups.

Setting inclusion goals

Organizations were asked to set multi-year hiring, promotion and inclusion goals for Indigenous employees and Black and racialized employees.

Many organizations have indicated that they have set goals to foster greater inclusion.

In measuring inclusion, organizations are relying on Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) results. In addition to the PSES, many organizations are using exit surveys, the number of employees attending events, the number of harassment complaints, and mental health dashboards to better understand inclusion.

A number of organizations referenced the existence and level of engagement with their employee networks as a way of highlighting inclusion within their organization. Recognizing the key role that employment equity networks play in helping the department achieve its diversity and inclusion goals, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Networks are involved in a broad range of activities. In addition, each network sets out its own inclusion goals and activities for each year through an integrated planning exercise.

A large number of organizations have integrated their inclusion goals into their equity, diversity, and inclusion action plans, and many have developed these plans in consultation with employees and employee networks.

Measuring progress

Organizations were asked to frequently measure and share progress on representation and inclusion goals.

Feedback from organizations has highlighted that there are a variety of strategies available to track and report on progress, including the use of dashboards, external reviews, surveys, and comprehensive performance measurement frameworks.

Many organizations have indicated they are regularly sharing equity, diversity, and inclusion progress reports with their employees.

An open and transparent practice that several organizations have employed is to utilize dashboards and data hubs to provide real-time data on key employment equity indicators.

Organizations are using surveys, such as the PSES and internal pulse surveys, to gauge employee perceptions of inclusivity and organizational culture. Some organizations are using the findings from these surveys to inform the development of management action plans and contribute to ongoing monitoring and improvement efforts. For instance, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has introduced an Employee Pulse Survey Program, which provides all employees the opportunity to express their views, opinions, and concerns on various issues that may be impacting them and their workplace. The surveys include questions on how well employees perceived the performance of their senior executives in achieving their anti-racism, diversity, equity and inclusion corporate commitments.

Establishing accountability

Organizations were asked to build tangible commitments into executive performance and talent management processes and to include goals in individual performance management agreements.

The self-assessment questionnaires have shown that most organizations have integrated qualitative measures to advance the objectives of the Call to Action into performance management agreements, such as fostering safe spaces for dialogue.

A small number of organizations have built in specific quantitative goals regarding reducing representation gaps and providing support to underrepresented groups. An example of an organization that has achieved this is the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, who have integrated organizational-level quantitative representation goals into the 2024-2025 performance management agreements for executives. Another example is Statistics Canada, who have developed an Executive Performance Management Scorecard, which leverages quantitative data to inform the performance management process and ratings for executives. The Scorecard includes indicators related to self-identification, representation, and hiring of employment equity group members.

A few organizations have outlined the consequences for a lack of progress made on equity, diversity and inclusion commitments. One of those is the Public Health Agency of Canada, who outlined that consequences can include:

• Impact on performance evaluations – lack of contribution to the objectives of the Call to Action may negatively affect an executive’s overall performance rating;
• Professional development opportunities – executives who fail to contribute to the objectives of the Call to Action may be required to undergo additional training or development programs focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion to enhance their understanding and commitment to these initiatives; and
• Accountability measures – performance improvement plans or coaching is implemented if objectives of the Call to Action are not being met.

Tangible actions

Many organizations have implemented tangible actions to make meaningful change. Those include:

• Sponsorship
• Recruitment
• Prioritize official language training
• Invest in employee networks
• Embed anti-racism work
• Considerations for religious and cultural periods

Sponsorship

Heads of organizations were asked to sponsor at least two Indigenous employees or Black or racialized employees to prepare them for leadership roles and have each member of their executive team do the same.

A number of organizations have had their executive teams sponsor Indigenous employees and Black and racialized employees. Fewer heads of organizations have been able to sponsor, with many indicating that work is still underway, and a few of the micro and small organizations indicating that this work has not yet been done.

Participation in the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Mentorship Plus Program is common among organizations as a way of providing developmental support to employees.

Some organizations are using other creative ways to sponsor employees. For instance, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada offers a recurrent six-month senior advisory role opportunity in the Deputy Minister’s office that is open to Indigenous employees and racialized employees.

Recruitment

Heads of organizations were asked to personally endorse at least one recruitment campaign for Indigenous employees and Black and racialized employees, and to track progress from application to onboarding to retention.

Many heads of organizations are personally endorsing recruitment campaigns for Indigenous employees, and some for Black and racialized employees.

Prioritize official language training

Organizations were asked to prioritize official language training for Indigenous employees and Black and racialized employees who are ready for advancement.

Some organizations are prioritizing official language training for Indigenous employees and Black and racialized employees, with others are still working to develop an approach.

Many organizations have indicated that their official language training programs are open to all employees, but do not specifically prioritize Indigenous employees and Black and racialized employees.

Some organizations have found unique ways to support Indigenous employees and Black and racialized employees. For example, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has a language program for Indigenous employees and Black and racialized employees where pronunciation and phonetics workshops are offered to some members to remove all possible barriers to their success.

Outside of a small handful of organizations, almost all organizations indicated that they do not offer access to Indigenous language training.

Invest in employee networks

Organizations were asked to support departmental employee networks and communities and ensure the creation of safe spaces for their voices to be heard so they can support organizations’ efforts in advancing the Forward Direction of the Call to Action.

Most organizations have established employee networks to support initiatives outlined in the Forward Direction of the Call to Action. The support for these networks varies significantly by organization, with some offering dedicated executive champions, human resources, translation and administrative support, funding, dedicated time to undertake network-related activities, and recognition in performance management agreements, while others do not provide any support. For instance, Shared Services Canada provides $15,000 for each network and additional support through EX-level champions and a dedicated Human Resources and Communications team.

Embed anti-racism work

Organizations were asked to embed anti-racism work in their integrated business plan and mental health action plan.

Most organizations are embedding anti-racism, equity and inclusion work into their organizational plans, with some including it in their regional and/or branch plans.

Considerations for religious and cultural periods

Organizations were asked to avoid holding major meetings and events during significant religious and cultural periods.

Many organizations have created a calendar to avoid holding major meetings and events during significant religious, spiritual and cultural periods. At Transport Canada, all employees have access to the Diversity Calendar, which includes religious and cultural observances and other commemorative dates. It is promoted through their weekly internal newsletter and has been designed so that employees can merge this calendar directly into their Outlook calendar.

Challenges

Organizations were asked to share specific challenges that they have encountered in advancing work on the Call to Action. Some common themes have emerged that are present in many organizations:

• Comparatively less data and mechanisms to collect data beyond the four employment equity groups, such as specific racialized groups, like the Black community, and members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
• Employee concerns around stigma, such as the perception of getting a job based on identity rather than merit, and confidentiality with voluntary self-identification leads to less accurate data.
• Micro and small organizations have the additional challenge of data being suppressed due to their size.
• Funding constraints to advance initiatives aimed at Indigenous employees and Black and racialized employees.
• Smaller organizations are particularly challenged by balancing the need for intentional recruitment to enhance representation while supporting internal talent development, given their smaller number of positions.
• Technical and highly specialized positions face a smaller pool of candidates to pull from, creating challenges in attracting successful candidates through intentional recruitments.
• Resistance to new initiatives by some feeling that prioritizing Indigenous employees and Black and racialized employees is unfair.
• Funding and time for training to meet official language requirements as per the Official Languages Act pose a significant barrier in career mobility. This has been most noted for Indigenous employees, Black and racialized employees, and persons with disabilities.

What’s next

The organizational self-assessments have shown that there is a high level of activity and a commitment to advancing the objectives of the Call to Action. There are many practices and approaches that can be more widely shared and adopted across organizations. The submissions have also served to help highlight challenges and barriers that are hindering progress.

Fundamental challenges to making meaningful progress are the growing fatigue towards advancing “equity, diversity, and inclusion” and the outright resistance and backlash that is directed at communities and individuals alike. These forces of resistance run counter to our values and ethics and hold us back from becoming a more inclusive, effective organization.

In this first year of implementing the Forward Direction of the Call to Action, it is evident that organizations are at different points on their longer journey of implementing the Call to Action. The frankness of submissions has allowed for the identification of specific challenges.

Although setting clear goals for Black employees has proven to be a challenge for some, there are organizations who have been able to disaggregate the data and set specific goals for Black employees. There is an opportunity to learn from these organizations. The modernized self-identification questionnaire and application that will be launched by the Treasury Board Secretariat will further help address this challenge.

Organizations are also implementing differing approaches to providing language training for Indigenous, Black and racialized employees. There are opportunities to share best practices between organizations and to leverage lessons learned such as from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s workshop approach.

The submissions have highlighted that there is measurement happening around inclusion, while the goals for inclusion are less well defined. To support enterprise-wide progress, the Assistant Deputy Minister Call to Action Task Team has already initiated work to help organizations measure inclusion. This work has led to the development of a phased approach to measuring inclusion that also identifies key sources of data that organizations can draw from. This toolkit is currently being tested with organizations and will be made available once finalized.

The information from the self-assessments will inform the identification of systemic barriers disproportionately affecting Indigenous employees and Black and racialized employees in the federal public service. Further engagements across organizations and with employees and employee networks will help find solutions to dismantle identified barriers.

To help sustain the focus on the need for culture change, a Values and Ethics Symposium is being planned for fall 2024, and there will be a session dedicated to continuing the conversation on the Forward Direction of the Call to Action. This event is meant to gather all public servants across Canada and abroad.

The upcoming focus on tackling barriers will help make the public service a more effective organization to successfully deliver for Canadians.

Annex A – List of organizations who submitted a self-assessment questionnaire on the Forward Direction of the Call to Action

1. Administrative Tribunals Support Service of Canada
2. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
3. Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
4. Canada Border Services Agency
5. Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions
6. Canada Energy Regulator
7. Canada Revenue Agency
8. Canada School of Public Service
9. Canadian Dairy Commission
10. Canadian Food Inspection Agency
11. Canadian Grain Commission
12. Canadian Heritage
13. Canadian Human Rights Commission
14. Canadian Institutes of Health Research
15. Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat
16. Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency
17. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
18. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
19. Canadian Security Intelligence Service
20. Canadian Space Agency
21. Canadian Transportation Agency
22. Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
23. Communications Security Establishment Canada
24. Copyright Board of Canada 
25. Correctional Service of Canada
26. Courts Administration Service
27. Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs
28. Department of National Defence
29. Elections Canada
30. Employment and Social Development Canada
31. Environment and Climate Change Canada
32. Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
33. Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario
34. Finance Canada
35. Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
36. Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada
37. Fisheries and Oceans Canada
38. Global Affairs Canada
39. Health Canada
40. Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada
41. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
42. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
43. Impact Assessment Agency of Canada
44. Indigenous Services Canada
45. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
46. Invest in Canada
47. Justice Canada
48. Library and Archives of Canada
49. Military Grievances External Review Committee
50. Military Police Complaints Commission of Canada
51. National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman
52. National Gallery of Canada
53. National Research Council Canada
54. National Security and Intelligence Review Agency
55. Natural Resources Canada
56. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
57. Office of the Auditor General of Canada
58. Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs
59. Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada
60. Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages for Canada
61. Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada
62. Office of the Intelligence Commissioner
63. Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
64. Office of the Procurement Ombudsman
65. Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner
66. Office of the Secretary to the Governor General
67. Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions
68. Pacific Economic Development Canada
69. Parks Canada
70. Parole Board of Canada
71. Patented Medicine Prices Review Board
72. Polar Knowledge Canada
73. Prairies Economic Development Canada
74. Privy Council Office
75. Public Health Agency of Canada
76. Public Prosecution Service of Canada
77. Public Safety Canada
78. Public Service Commission of Canada
79. Public Services and Procurement Canada
80. Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada
81. Royal Canadian Mounted Police
82. Royal Canadian Mounted Police External Review Committee
83. Shared Services Canada
84. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
85. Statistics Canada
86. Telefilm Canada
87. Transport Canada
88. Transportation Safety Board of Canada
89. Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat
90. Veterans Affairs Canada
91. Veterans Review and Appeal Board
92. Women and Gender Equality Canada