Copyright Board of Canada

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 Copyright Board is a micro-organization with fewer than 25 employees, and an annual budget of $4.2 million. Since 2019, when we began to give deliberate attention to equity, diversity, and inclusion as a priority, we have been exploring and testing creative ways to set, meet, and evaluate manageable commitments (outlined throughout this report). Our broad goals are communicated to employees through our Departmental Plans, as well as through all-staff meetings.  Recent focus has been on improving accessibility measures at the Board.  We actively monitor our employee data and labour market analysis. 

The Board also takes advantage of the many useful resources available through various interdepartmental networks and via the Centre on Diversity and Inclusion in the Treasury Board Secretariat. The topic of equity, diversity and inclusion also remains a priority for many of the corporate leadership networks in which I participate, such as the Human Resources Council and the Networks of Small Departments and Agencies. I appreciate that central agencies keep these networks updated in a timely way.  These networks have also helped us, as a micro-organization, interact with larger departments or other small organizations so that we may benefit from their activities. It can be a challenge, however, to dedicate the time and effort needed to recognize, reach out, access, and in particular, adapt resources created by others – something that can be difficult to sustain consistently and in the longer term. For every one successful connection, there are also false starts and failed attempts that can weigh on motivation and commitment of Board managers over time. 

Question 2

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

• Work is underway to set goals.

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).

We regularly monitor Public Service Employee Survey results, and human resources administrative data. However, this data has only been partially useful in setting meaningful goals and metrics. For example, employee data collected by the Treasury Board Secretariat does not reflect secondments and acting secondments, which represents a significant number of our staffing actions. To date, this has been our most successful path for recruiting and contributing to the career development of Indigenous peoples and Black and other racialized people. Through secondments and acting secondments, the Board can offer Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees working in other departments opportunities to diversify and expand their experience, and receive coaching and talent management support. Occasionally, an employee has chosen to stay at the Board, and have been offered a promotional appointment on the strength of their development during their secondment. They have also been offered language and other training, as needed.  More often, these employees have moved on to permanent promotional appointments elsewhere, which the Board also considers a success for them, as well as for the Board having facilitated the opportunity to gain practical experience at a higher level.  Since 2019, we have undertaken seven such secondments.

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?)?

As indicated above, we do not yet have formal measures in place to meaningfully assess and report progress.

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?

• Work is underway to develop an approach to sponsorship.

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.  

N/A

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?

• Work is underway so that I will personally endorse at least one recruitment campaign for Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees.

Please provide details.

Recruitment in general represents an ongoing challenge at the Board. Staffing resources are limited. As a micro-organization, we have a very small corporate team, with a heavy workload across many corporate responsibilities. As a specialized administrative tribunal, we have team managers who are also technical specialists who have non-management responsibilities, and positions already difficult to fill due to the level of technical expertise and language requirements. We have rarely been able to plan for vacancies, and generally need to identify replacements quickly as there is little flexibility to re-assign work to others while a position sits vacant. In the past, staffing has often been conducted through word of mouth and network connections.  We have not had the internal dedicated pools for equity-seeking groups, nor have we successfully targeted staffing of certain positions specifically for Indigenous peoples and Black and other racialized people. 

These challenges provide important context, but they are not unique to the Board.  We are committed to finding creative ways to set and meet recruitment goals. To date, I have made efforts to connect with corporate and micro-organization networks, and with staffing teams in larger departments to better support our employment equity recruitment and development activities. In the past two years, we have explored the potential to earmark two positions, one legal expert and one leadership, for recruitment and development of Indigenous peoples and Black and other racialized people. To this end, I have been in touch with the Department of Justice, who generously offered us access to their work in the recruitment of Indigenous lawyers. I have also sought guidance from the Centre on Diversity and Inclusion for a leadership development opportunity in the future through an acting secondment. Both of these initiatives will take time to realize, again due to our limited size, competing priorities, and often urgent organizational needs. However, we hope to soon be in a position to formalize and action them.

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
  • Racialized employees

How is your organization prioritizing official language training?

Generally speaking, the Board is very supportive of official language training, given the very bilingual culture of our organization and our work.  Since 2019, we have offered language training opportunities to one Indigenous employee while on acting secondment, and to one Racialized employee while on probation.  In both cases, the employees did not complete their language training with the Board, for different reasons.

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

Not at this time. 

Question 8

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

• Engagement with employees and employee networks in my organization’s decision-making is meaningful and regular.
• Governance structures are in place to support employee networks and communities (e.g., champions, champions/chairs participate at management tables).
• Material supports are provided for employee networks and communities (e.g., dedicated funding, FTE support, allowing time to engage in activities).

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

At this time, we use resources shared by other departments, identified through our service agreements or through active networking. We support a employee-driven wellness committee at the Board. We hold monthly formal all-staff meetings where Champions of various organizational priorities provide updates to all employees.  Through the all-staff meeting, Board employees are engaged in organizational decision-making, such as planning for modified return to office schedule slated for September. I also host an informal “ask anything” discussion, open to all employees, once a month where employees can discuss Board priorities and commitments with management. We recognize and value these contributions through every employee's performance agreement, where an expectation is set for participation in the achievement of the organization’s corporate priorities – this can include participation in the wellness committee, hosting learning discussions, or acting as a Board Champion.

Question 9

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

• Work is underway on our integrated business plan and/or mental health plan to embed anti-racism, equity and inclusion work.

Question 10

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

• My organization currently has a calendar for this purpose..

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

Through our service agreement with the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), our employees have access to all ISED Equity, Diversity and Inclusion online resources, including their Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion calendar. We are grateful to be able to benefit from their dedicated work and support on these issues.

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.

I have noted a few barriers above – typical ones such as limited resources, multiple competing priorities, etc. However, I believe that a big challenge in setting and meeting meaningful diversity and inclusion objectives is simply in the size and scale of our organization. Many well-tested initiatives and measures currently adopted in larger departments do not adapt well to the Board. For example, employment equity talent pools are not sustainable when we have only one or two positions for any given classification. Our representation numbers can go from 100% to 0% in an instant.  Finally, as previously noted, we have a dilemma in terms of taking the time necessary to identify or develop qualified candidates. Many of our positions are difficult to staff under any circumstances, as they require specialization in law or economics, as well as the capacity to work effectively in a bilingual environment. Ensuring that a candidate also belongs to an equity-seeking group further limits availability at any given time.  Ideally, we would be contributing to external development of potential candidates prior to their coming to the Board - some departments work with educational institutions to identify Indigenous, Black or racialized persons in specialized fields to increase availability. While we have connected with educational institutions in various ways for recruitment purposes, we are not able to sustain external initiatives of this type, at least not alone. There is also a high cost to the organization whenever staffing or onboarding are prolonged due to lack of available candidates, in terms of overworking other employees or incurring a backlog of cases or corporate obligations. 

Our approach has instead been to look for smaller scale, creative ways to meet our goals, also noted above. This includes tapping into other staffing, recruitment and development networks focused on employment equity. However, whether we are trying to imagine and design our own initiative, like identifying a development position, or benefitting from the efforts of others, like drawing from staffing pools, we are not in full control of the timing, required resources or outcomes. Sustained effort and commitment are required by leadership, but we are also only a small number of people with less wiggle room to share or move around priorities. Measurable success will come amidst many failed attempts, and may take considerably longer to achieve.

I am very interested in working on ways to address this barrier, which is not unique to the Board. I know that many people in micro-organizations are very dedicated to diversity and inclusion, and have worked together on collective success. Building on this with dedicated resources may be a concrete way forward, especially for those who have similar classifications of employees. It could essentially create some wiggle room for micro-organizations, to allow action and measure of success to be collectively owned and shared. 

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.

Nothing specific at this time. We promote regularly awareness of existing activities and resources by circulating relevant communications from the ISED Equity, Diversity and Inclusion network and from other federal employee networks (e.g., information about events, meetings, important messages, etc.). These are shared via email with all employees from our corporate team or from our Secretary General.

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. 

As noted above, we have not yet put in place meaningful measures to determine the overall impact on the organization.