Canadian Dairy Commission

Goal setting

Question 1

Has your organization set goals (for fiscal year 2023-2024 or future fiscal years) for recruiting and promoting Indigenous peoples and Black and other racialized people?

• Work is underway to set goals.

Please provide details and/or examples, including what your organization is using to set its goals (e.g., operational priorities, labour market availability [LMA], population data, workforce availability [WFA]), and how these goals are communicated to employees, if applicable. What has been the most helpful in advancing towards the goals you have set? What challenges, if any, have you encountered?

The Canadian Dairy Commission’s (CDC) goal will be to suggest to hiring managers to pull curricula vitae from the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) fully or partially qualified staffing pools to staff vacant position within the CDC. These pools have partially and fully qualified candidates that are either Indigenous and/or having declared a disability.

Question 2

Has your organization set goals to foster greater inclusion (for fiscal year 2023-2024 or future fiscal years)?

• My organization has set goals to foster greater inclusion.

Please provide details and/or examples, including which metrics or data your organization is using, if applicable (e.g., your Public Service Employee Survey results, pulse surveys, exit interviews, human resources administrative data).

During a recent Town Hall that was held on May 30, 2024, the Chief Executive Officer of the CDC talked about inclusiveness and diversity and explained that he will not accept discrimination of any kind, racism or harassment. He signed in front of all the staff an inclusion pledge to outline the steps that he will take to ensure the above. He also encouraged employees to join him in signing the same pledge that was posted on our intranet site. We will be sending reminders from time to time to increase our results. We will also be organizing activities to foster greater inclusion in the coming year. The CDC has also implemented an Accessibility Plan and progress reports to ensure that our organization is a barrier-free work environment.

We will also soon be implementing the Accessibility Passport as well over the next couple of weeks/months.

Measuring progress

Question 3

Has your organization developed an approach for measuring progress towards your established goals? 

How is the approach being implemented within your organization (e.g., how is it communicated to employees? What are the roles of executive team members including the Chief Data Officer and Head of Audit and Evaluation and regional management if applicable? How are you reporting on results and outcomes both internally and externally?)?

The Human Resources Section has developed an action plan (document) that outlines all activities that the CDC will be implementing or has already implemented to track its progress. This action plan will be updated on a regular basis to ensure that goals are being met.

Consequential accountability

Question 4

How is your organization using performance management and/or talent management processes to establish accountability for results?

• Work has not yet started to develop approaches to establish accountability for results in either of these processes.

Please provide details about how performance management and/or talent management processes are being used to establish accountability for results.

N/A

Specific, tangible actions outlined in the forward direction of the Call to Action

Question 5

Have you, as head of your organization, and/or your executive teams sponsored at least two Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees to prepare them for leadership roles?

• Neither I nor my executive team have sponsored at least two Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees to prepare them for leadership roles.

Please provide details about the nature of sponsorship that you and/or your executive team have provided, along with other programs, such as mentorship or leadership development, if applicable.

Given the size of the CDC (85 in total) we do not have a mentorship program. However, we ensure that all employees have fair opportunities to advance within the organization and we also have many developmental programs within the organization to allow progression. 

Question 6

Have you, as head of your organization, personally endorsed at least one recruitment campaign for Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees?

• I have not personally endorsed at least one recruitment campaign for Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees.

Please provide details.

The Human Ressources Section is looking at various options on how to proceed to launch a recruitment process to attract and retain Indigenous, Black and other racialized employees. 

Question 7

Has your organization prioritized official language training for Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees who are ready for advancement?

• My organization has prioritized official language training for:
  • Indigenous employees
  • Black employees
  • Racialized employees

How is your organization prioritizing official language training?

All employees are offered languages training to ensure progression within the organization. Given our size, we automatically offer language training to all employees who require updated results or require different language requirements to be able to advance within the organization.

Does your organization offer access to Indigenous language training or have plans to offer access? Please provide details. 

N/A

Question 8

Has your organization provided support and/or invested resources for organizational employee networks and communities?

• My organization has not provided support for and/or invested resources in organizational employee networks and communities.

Please provide additional detail about how your organization engages with and supports employee networks and communities.

N/A

Question 9

Has anti-racism, equity and inclusion work been embedded in your organization’s integrated business plan and/or mental health plan?

• Anti-racism, equity and inclusion work has been embedded in the organizational plan.

Question 10

Does your organization have a calendar to avoid holding major meetings and events during significant religious, spiritual, and cultural periods?

• Work has not yet started to develop this calendar for my organization.

If the calendar already exists, please provide additional details on how this calendar is communicated or promoted within your organization.

N/A

Additional information about your organization’s ongoing initiatives 

Question 11

What are two or three specific barriers that you have faced in advancing work on the Call to Action?

Please provide two or three examples.

Our biggest barrier that we face at the CDC is that when big initiatives such as this Call to Action are being implemented, we find that given our size (micro-organization), we do not have an entire team dedicated to developing many initiatives and activities such as larger organizations. We would like to be able to implement more activities and initiatives, but this is our reality and we do as best as we can with the resources that we have internally.

Question 12

Recognizing that employees often have multiple identities, what actions is your organization undertaking to support Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees who are also members of other communities, such as persons with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and religious minorities who face compounding barriers of discrimination?

Please provide details.

To reduce barriers of discrimination, the CDC now has two gender-neutral washrooms, we now highlight on our intranet site commemorative days/months such as Pride Month, certain religious celebrations, and the Day for truth and reconciliation for Indigenous peoples, etc. We will work jointly with the PSC to be able to obtain applications from existing pools of qualified candidates that are part of employment equity groups.

The CDC also retained the services of a trans consultant to help us develop our strategic plan.

Question 13

In your first year of implementing the forward direction of the Call to Action, what impact has this work had on the culture of your organization?

Please provide the two or three most important impacts. 

This year we organized a Town Hall that was held on May 30, 2024. During this session, the Chief Executive Officer read and signed a pledge in front of all employees. This pledge outlined his commitment to taking actions to address any issues of systemic discrimination and or harassment, including microaggression; and to taking actions to make the CDC an accessible and inclusive work environment for all.

The impact is that we have employee engagement and that they have a sense of belonging and creating a great work environment to work in. At the CDC, all employees know each other very well, therefore it is very important for employees to feel safe, comfortable while being at work and speaking out. The Chief Executive Officer’s door is always open to discuss any topics.