Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the Canada Revenue Agency – Annual Report 2023-2024

Message from the Commissioner and the Deputy Commissioner

We are pleased to present to the Parliament of Canada the Employment Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Annual Report, 2023-2024. This report is part of the CRA’s ongoing commitment to promoting full participation, equal opportunity, and equitable employment for all employees, including members of employment equity groups designated in the Employment Equity Act: Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, and women.

Over the years, the CRA has actively prioritized cultivating a work environment that is equitable, inclusive, respectful, culturally diverse, and free from discrimination and harassment. CRA programs and initiatives supporting equity, diversity, and inclusion, such as those found in the CRA Accessibility Plan 2023-2025 and the new CRA Indigenous Strategy 2024-2027, are guided by Government of Canada priorities, including those articulated in the Clerk of the Privy Council’s Call to Action Forward direction on Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service.

The CRA applies a people-centric approach to its equity, diversity, and inclusion activities by supporting employees at all levels and fostering a positive and inclusive organizational culture. Our focus remains on implementing programs and initiatives that create and nurture a genuinely inclusive workplace:

• As part of the implementation of the CRA Accessibility Plan 2023-2025, the CRA continues to identify, remove, and prevent barriers. The 2023 Accessibility Report for the Canada Revenue Agency outlines the efforts we made to strengthen our accessibility culture, including the actions we are implementing to make the CRA a barrier-free institution by 2040.
• The CRA’s Indigenous Portfolio Action Plan 2021 to 2024, which focused on advancing reconciliation and renewing relationships with Indigenous peoples, will transition to the CRA’s Indigenous Strategy 2024 to 2027. The new Indigenous Strategy will contribute to the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and will reinforce our steps to advance reconciliation.
• The CRA successfully implemented a mandatory unconscious-bias training for all employees, aimed at helping our employees develop an inclusive mindset.
• The CRA has been expanding the resources available through the Engagement on Anti-Racism and Bias initiative which supports engaging all CRA employees in increasing their awareness and understanding of anti-racism, discrimination, and bias

The CRA’s progress in the past year is meaningful, and our work continues to achieve greater diversity within the executive community and foster an inclusive workplace and culture of belonging.

In the coming year, the CRA will implement a performance measurement framework to monitor progress towards equity, diversity, and inclusion, which is in line with the Office of the Auditor General of Canada recommendations in its report on Inclusion in the Workplace for Racialized Employees.

We would like to acknowledge the vital roles of CRA’s National Employment Equity and Diversity Committee, unions, and employee networks in enhancing the workplace experience of employees from equity-deserving groups and increasing awareness of the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion among all employees.

We invite you to read this year’s Employment Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Annual Report to learn more about the initiatives, activities, and measures that demonstrate the CRA’s progress in employment equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Introduction

The Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) 2023-2024 Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EEDI) Annual Report provides an update on the progress made toward reaching our goals and objectives in support of the legislative requirements set out in the Employment Equity (EE) Act.

While the activities outlined in this Annual Report are guided by the CRA’s 2021-2025 Employment Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Action Plan (EEDIAP) and our legislative requirements, the CRA strives to also ensure that we are taking proactive measures to create a positive and respectful work environment where all employees can thrive.

Over the last fiscal year, the CRA has continued to make steady progress towards our EDI goals and objectives while embedding a culture of inclusion and belonging. The CRA has:  

• Increased diversity through strategic recruitment, onboarding, and retention efforts that will continue to support the CRA in achieving the representation of the Labour Market Availability (LMA).
• Provided tools and resources to enable our employees and leaders to support equitable and inclusive behaviours that align with the CRA’s People First approach, the CRA’s People Strategy, and our values of integrity, professionalism, respect, and collaboration.
• Initiated the development of a directive on EDI and a performance measurement framework that will ensure we are focusing on achieving continuous improvement at each step of the employee life cycle.
• Identified opportunities to create positive change for equity-deserving groups through the support of our CRA Equity and Diversity employee networks and various initiatives that promote a culture of inclusion and belonging.
• Continued to strengthen our organizational capacity to collect, measure, and interpret EDI data in order to provide more timely, accessible, and valuable insights to inform EDI decisions.

The following report provides an overview of the results of the March 31, 2024, workforce analysis, including a snapshot of CRA’s progress towards closing all national-level gaps in Employment Equity (EE) group representation by 2024. It also describes the activities and initiatives the CRA has undertaken during the 2023 to 2024 fiscal year to support the commitments outlined in our action plan, which contribute to increasing EDI throughout the organization.  

What the data tells us as of March 31, 2024

Over the past year, the CRA has continued to leverage data to monitor and make steady progress towards achieving full representation for the four EE designated groups (i.e., Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, visible minorities and women) by 2024. The Labour Market Availability (LMA) rates used for the six-year period of analysis (2019 to 2024) are based on the 2016 Census and the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability^{Footnote 1} . To help interpret this report, please see Appendix B: Technical notes.  

Some of our most notable findings include:

• The persons with disabilities, visible minorities, and women groups remain fully represented at the national level for both the CRA workforce and the Executive Group. The Indigenous peoples group remains underrepresented compared to LMA.
• In the Executive Group, the representation rates of all four EE groups have increased year over year since the 2019 workforce analysis. Although a gap remains for the Indigenous peoples group, representation has increased for the second year in a row to reach 2.7%, almost attaining LMA of 2.8%.
• At the workforce level, the internal representation (IR) rate for Indigenous peoples increased positively from 3.2% to 3.3% as of March 31, 2024, for the first time in the six-year period.
• At the EE Occupational Group (EEOG) levels, the gap has been closed at the professional level for both Indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities. As such, all four EE groups are fully represented at the Middle and other managers (EEOG-02) and Professionals (EEOG-03) levels.
• The participation rate of employees who have submitted the CRA's EDI self-identification questionnaire, also known as the workforce profile questionnaire (WPQ), continued to climb for the sixth consecutive year, reaching 92.3% participation rate. Higher rates of completion contribute to increased reliability in the data.

The following section provides a more in-depth portrait of the progress made in the past year regarding representation of the four EE groups, as well as trends observed over the six-year period of analysis. These findings also highlight the challenges which we will continue to address in the years to come. We also look forward to refreshing our workforce analysis with the LMA data from the 2021 Census and the 2022 Canadian Survey on Disability, when available, to be able to inform our EDI policies, practices, and measures.

The CRA’s overall workforce

The numbers in (parenthesis) represent the change in the workforce and executive populations over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023.

CRA’s total workforce has increased over the last few years, a direction which can, in part, be attributed to the administration of various financial measures required to support a post-pandemic Canadian population. As demonstrated, the size of the CRA’s overall workforce has, in the past year, continued to adjust to ongoing environmental changes.

CRA workforce internal representation compared to the LMA

The numbers in [brackets] represent the change in percentage points over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023. 

During this one-year period, the overall portrait of EE group representation was positive, with persons with disabilities, visible minorities, and women remaining fully represented. Encouragingly, IR rates grew for Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and visible minorities, while the women’s group remained stable and fully represented. Possible factors contributing to these positive trends are outlined throughout this report and include the continued implementation of the National Employment Equity Staffing Strategy (Non-EX) positions, as well as other initiatives and programs that support equitable career development for employees at all levels.

CRA workforce internal representation trends of employment equity group members in CRA, 2019 to 2024

Representation of employees who identified as belonging to at least one or more EE groups also grew during this period, to include 81.3% of the CRA’s total workforce on March 31, 2024. This figure is up by 7.0 percentage points from 74.3% on March 31, 2019.

Over the six-year period from 2019 to 2024, representation data for three of four EE groups within CRA’s workforce experienced positive trends. Most notably, the persons with disabilities and visible minority groups increased steadily each year. When comparing March 31, 2019, to March 31, 2024, trends and observations for each of the EE groups are as follows: 

• The Indigenous peoples group remained largely stable, increasing by 0.1 percentage points, from 3.2% to 3.3% of the workforce, and remain below LMA rate of 3.6%. 
• The persons with disabilities group nearly doubled in size, from 6.8% to 13.4%. This group has experienced growth annually, remaining above the LMA rate of 9.8% for the past three years^].
• The visible minority group experienced a 14 percentage point increase, from 25.6% to 39.6%, remaining above the LMA rate of 22.5% during the entire period.
• The women’s group has remained stable at 59.5%, a rate above LMA of 59.4%. 

CRA executive internal representation compared to LMA

The numbers in [brackets] represent the change in percentage points over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023.

CRA executive internal representation trends of employment equity group members in CRA, 2019 to 2024

Over the six-year period from 2019 to 2024, representation rates increased for all four EE groups within the Executive Group. This is positive progress towards our goal of building diverse and representative leadership at the CRA. In particular, we are proud to have increased the representation of both the Indigenous peoples and visible minority groups, which have historically been underrepresented in leadership positions. Executives who self-identify in at least one or more EE groups account for 70.5% of the EX group. As illustrated: 

• The representation of executives who self-identify as an Indigenous person increased from 2.6% to 2.7% in the past year, almost reaching LMA of 2.8%.
• Like the workforce population, the proportion of executives who self-identified as a person with a disability has more than doubled over the six-year period from 5.9% to 12.8%, always remaining above LMA of 5%^{Footnote 2} .
• The representation of members of the visible minority group in executive positions experienced the largest percentage point increase in the six-year period, growing from an IR rate of 11.5% in 2019 to 19.8% in 2024 (+8.3 percentage point increase). For the past two years, IR has surpassed the LMA rate of 16.4%. 
• The representation of women has consistently exceeded the LMA of 37.1%, making up 54.2% of the Executive Group as of March 2024. The group grew by 4.8 percentage points between 2019 and 2024. 

CRA’s employment equity groups by province

The map above indicates the representation of employees that identify as belonging to one or more EE groups as of the 2024 workforce analysis. British Columbia has the highest EE group population at 88.6%, while the National Capital Region (NCR) has the lowest, with 75.5%. For additional information about the representation of the EE groups in each province, refer to Tables 1.1 – 1.5 in Appendix A1.  

Salary distribution by employment equity group

Compared to the total CRA workforce, the proportion of each of the four EE groups is higher in the salary range of less than $100,000 with Indigenous employees having the highest representation. Persons with disabilities have a higher representation than other groups in the $75,000 to $99,999 salary range. Compared to the total CRA workforce, the proportion of each of the four EE groups is lower in the salary ranges between $100,000 and $149,000. In the $150,000 and over salary range, the proportion of women is higher when compared to the total CRA workforce, whereas the Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and visible minorities groups are below. Other factors that influence salary, such as job classification and level, age, and years of service require additional analysis in order to explain these observations. For additional information about the salary distribution of EE groups, refer to tables 3.1 – 3.4 in Appendix A3.

Percentage of employment equity groups within hires, promotions, and separations

In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the CRA hired 4,244 first-time external employees, a decrease of 45.4% year-over-year.

During this one-year period, the share of EE groups among new hires also decreased, except for the Indigenous peoples group. New hire rates have increased annually for Indigenous Peoples since 2020, which is encouraging; however, the new hire rate remains below LMA. Of note, the visible minority group is the only EE group which has experienced a new hire rate which has exceeded the LMA rate since 2020.

• Promotion rates, among all CRA employees, decreased by 19.3% year-over-year
  • The data reveals that, despite the overall decrease, the proportion of EE group members being promoted increased for all groups except women. Since 2019, rates have trended positively and above IR for all EE groups, except for Indigenous peoples, which has fluctuated, ranging between 2.6% and 3.9%.
• Separation rates among all CRA employees increased by 24.7% year-over-year
  • Separations for all four EE groups increased overall as well. Additionally, between 2019 and 2024, separation rates for Indigenous peoples and women have been above IR and separation rates for persons with disabilities and visible minorities have been below their respective IR rates.

In order to explain these observations, other factors influencing workforce movements, such as budgets, type of employment (permanent or temporary), or personal motivations, require additional analysis. For additional information about the hiring, promotion, and separation rates of EE groups, refer to Tables 5.1 – 5.3 in Appendix A5.

Indigenous Peoples

The numbers in (parenthesis) represent the change in the Indigenous peoples workforce and executive populations over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023. 

Between March 31, 2023, and March 31, 2024, the representation rate of employees who self-identified as an Indigenous person increased in both CRA’s workforce and Executive Group. 

Although Indigenous peoples remain underrepresented in the workforce, the IR rate increased positively in 2024 from 3.2% to 3.3% for the first time in the six-year period. Representation of Indigenous peoples in the Executive Group has increased for the second consecutive year, reaching 2.7%, almost equivalent to the LMA of 2.8%.

Representation of Indigenous peoples by employment equity occupational groups (EEOGs)

The numbers in [brackets] represent the change in percentage points over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023. 

At the EEOG-levels, IR rates increased for all, closing the 2023 gap for the Professionals group (EEOG-03), and maintaining full representation for the Middle Managers (EEOG-02) and Supervisors (EEOG-03) groups.

Although underrepresentation remains for both the Administrative and senior clerical (EEOG-07) and Clerical personnel (EEOG-10) groups, the rates of IR have increased annually at the Clerical personnel group level and fluctuated between 3.4% and 3.7%, compared to the LMA of 4%, for the Administrative and senior clerical group.  

Representation of Indigenous peoples who self-identified as:

The numbers in [brackets] represent the change in percentage points over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023. 

Among the 3.3% of the workforce who self-identified as being Indigenous, those who self-identified as having a disability increased year-over-year by 3.2 percentage points, while the number of Indigenous women decreased by 0.8 percentage points.

Representation of Indigenous peoples by subgroup

The numbers in [brackets] represent the change in percentage points over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023. 

Of the 3.3% of employees who self-identified as Indigenous peoples, when analyzing representation trends in the subgroup level, small decreases were noted in the share of each subgroup with the exception of those who chose not to disclose subgroup information.

In summary, despite these positive signs and annual increases in the new hire rates for Indigenous peoples, we have fallen short in closing the national-level gap for the group and within the two EEOG levels.

The CRA remains committed to advancing initiatives to create optimal conditions to sustain progress in successfully attracting, recruiting, developing, and retaining Indigenous peoples throughout their employment journey at the CRA. During the past year, we have undertaken a collaborative approach to develop the CRA’s Indigenous Strategy 2024-2027, which has identified the hiring, retention, and career development of Indigenous employees as one of its six strategic priorities. Through this strategy, the CRA will continue to explore opportunities for the benefit of Indigenous peoples and build organizational capacity to serve Indigenous clients.

Persons with disabilities

The numbers in (parenthesis) represent the change in the persons with disabilities workforce and executive populations over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023.

Between March 2019 and March 2024, the persons with disabilities group experienced the highest proportionate growth rate of all EE groups at the workforce level, nearly doubling in representation, from 6.8% in 2019 to 13.4% in 2024. This group has been fully represented for the past three years, exceeding LMA of 9.8%.^{Footnote 2}

Similarly, in the Executive Group, the persons with disabilities group has remained fully represented since 2019 and makes up 12.8% of the Executive population.

Representation of persons with disabilities by employment equity occupational groups (EEOGs)

The numbers in [brackets] represent the change in percentage points over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023.

At the EEOG level, all groups are fully represented with the exception of the Supervisors (EEOG-05) group, where IR continues to increase annually. The gap at the Professionals (EEOG-03) group level, which had been present since 2019, has been closed.

Representation of persons with disabilities who also self-identified as:

The numbers in [brackets] represent the change in percentage points over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023.

Intersectional data for persons with disabilities demonstrates slight increases (each less than 1%) for each group. For example, those who self-identify as a person with a disability, who also self-identify as an Indigenous person, increased by 0.4 percentage points.

Representation of persons with disabilities by subgroup

The numbers in [brackets] represent the change in percentage points over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023.

Of the 13.4% of the workforce population who self-identify as having a disability, similar patterns of subgroup distribution and year-over-year changes in representation have been observed. Those living with mental health conditions and chronic illness make up the two largest subgroups, respectively representing 42.3% and 24.3% of persons with disabilities.

At the CRA, we are encouraged by the positive impact our initiatives and plans have made on our workforce, that support the implementation of the Accessible Canada Act and which embed accessibility throughout the employment journey. Hiring rates of persons with disabilities have steadily climbed since 2019, with a slight dip in 2024, which is similar to other groups. Further, promotion rates have increased annually, and separation rates have remained below IR for the past four years, which are all positive indicators.

Visible minorities

The numbers in (parenthesis) represent the change in the visible minorities workforce and executive populations over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023.  

We are pleased to have reached CRA’s objective of closing all gaps for the visible minority group as of March 31, 2024, namely the Supervisors (EEOG-05) gap in 2021-2022 and the executive-level gaps in 2022-2023.

Similar to all of the EE groups, both the internal representation and LMA rates for the visible minority group are lower at the Executive level than at the workforce level. We anticipate, nonetheless, that the CRA’s approach to supporting equal access to career opportunities for equity-deserving groups, through tailored approaches like leadership development programs, will contribute to the employment outcomes for these groups. Combined with the maturing of the visible minority workforce population^{Footnote 3}  and an upward trending of the labour market availability rates for this group, these factors will play a part in reducing the existing differences in representation levels between Executive and workforce levels in the years to come.  

While we are encouraged by having increased the representation of visible minority group members, including those in the leadership pipeline, we will continue to monitor these trends and implement measures to support equity and diversity at all levels within the organization.

Representation of visible minorities by employment equity occupational groups (EEOGs)

The numbers in [brackets] represent the change in percentage points over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023.

The visible minority group remains fully represented at the workforce and executive levels, as well as at all EEOG levels. During the six year period of analysis, internal representation has risen annually for the visible minority group. As of March 31, 2024, the visible minority group made up 39.6% of the workforce (76% above the LMA of 22.5%) and 19.8% of the Executive Group (21% above LMA of 16.4%).

Representation of visible minorities who self-identified as:

The numbers in [brackets] represent the change in percentage points over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023. 

Intersectional data for visible minorities indicate that 56.1% are women (an increase of +0.3) while 6.5% identified as having a disability.

Representation of visible minorities by subgroup 

The numbers in [brackets] represent the change in percentage points over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023. 

Of the 39.6% of employees who have self-identified as being a visible minority, South Asian/East Indian and Black employees continued to represent the largest proportion of the visible minorities group at, respectively, 29.5% and 21.6% (11.7% and 8.6% of all CRA employees). Of note is the percentage of those who chose not to disclose their subgroup information increased to almost 4% of the visible minority group.

Movement indicators (new hire, promotion, and separation) have trended positively throughout this period. The indicators suggest that the deliberate and continued efforts and actions put in place to identify and break down barriers to equitable access to employment, career development, and advancement opportunities for equity-deserving groups have contributed to sustaining this positive direction. We will continue to monitor, measure, and adapt strategies and initiatives that contribute to building a diverse talent base and fostering inclusion of members of all racialized groups. 

Women

The numbers in (parenthesis) represent the change in the workforce and executive populations for women over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023.

The representation of women in the CRA remained stable at 59.5% during the 2024 workforce analysis, and the group remained fully represented at the workforce level. After experiencing a slight downward trend in representation since 2019, the CRA was able to raise the representation of women at the workforce level during last fiscal year, reaching 59.5% and closing the gap that was noted between 2020 to 2022

At the executive level, women have maintained full representation since 2019, increasing every year since 2020 to reach a representation rate of 54.2% in the most recent workforce analysis. 

Representation of women by employment equity occupational groups (EEOGs)

The numbers in [brackets] represent the change in percentage points over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023.

At the EEOG level, women are fully represented in three of five groups. Gaps remain in the Administrative and senior clerical group (EEOG-07) as well as the Clerical personnel group (EEOG-10); however, representation rates have been trending upwards. 

Representation of women who self-identified as:

The numbers in [brackets] represent the change in percentage points over a one-year period, since March 31, 2023. 

Women who identified as a visible minority increased to 37.4% in 2024 (+2.2), while those who identified as Indigenous women experienced the smallest change, increasing by 0.1 from 3.7% in 2024.  

The representation of women in employees newly hired into the CRA has declined at just below the target LMA rate of 59.4%. Separations from CRA for women grew during the 2023-2024 fiscal year, rising to 60.8%, while promotions declined to 58.6% (a 0.9 percentage point). 

What has been done

The CRA has focused on increasing diversity and inclusion at each step of the employee life cycle, from attracting to recruiting, hiring, onboarding, developing, and retaining our employees. This approach supports the CRA’s goals of being an inclusive employer, where all employees in the organization feel a sense of belonging.  

Strengthening diversity in recruitment 

The CRA has strengthened recruitment programs and actions, as well as onboarding practices, to support equity-deserving groups in achieving equitable access to employment opportunities. These initiatives include: 

• Outreach activities to equity-deserving community groups, including non-profit organizations, friendship centres, immigration associations, and educational institutions across the country. Some examples listed below: 
  • Partnered with S.U.C.C.E.S.S in British Columbia and the Saskatchewan Intercultural Association (SIA), two immigrant-serving organizations, to increase awareness among immigrants of the variety of career opportunities at the CRA. 
• Participated in career-focused events, such as Spectrum Works, a virtual job fair for individuals on the autism spectrum, the Canadian Congress for Disability Inclusion’s virtual event as well as a Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) Career Fair in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 
• Participated in the government of Canada’s employment kiosk, in partnership with the Federal Council of Quebec, at the Pride event in Montreal, Quebec.
• Promoted recruitment programs, such as the Indigenous Student Employment Program and the Federal Student Work Experience Program for Students with Disabilities, which contributed to increasing the representation of these two often underrepresented EE groups. The CRA also supported the onboarding of Indigenous students through the Connecting Pathways for Indigenous Students (CPIS) program. CPIS is a CRA initiative that facilitates career development of Indigenous students by partnering them with a CRA Indigenous employee.
• Implemented initiatives to overcome employment barriers as previously identified in the Canada Revenue Agency’s Accessibility Plan 2023-2025 and the Strategy for Recruitment, Onboarding, and Retention of Persons with Disabilities at the Canada Revenue Agency 2022 to 2025. 

The CRA has observed positive indicators with respect to the recruitment of students who identify as a member of an EE group. For newly hired students during the 2023-2024 fiscal year: 

• 5.2% were Indigenous, representing an increase of 1.1% from the previous year. In addition, 4.4% of the students bridged were Indigenous.
• 4.2% identified as having a disability, an increase of 0.2% since the previous year, and 7.3% of students bridged identified as having a disability. 
• 35.2% were members of visible minority groups, and 46.5% of students bridged were members of visible minority groups, a year-over-year increase of 7.6%.
• 46.8% were women, and 44.4% of students bridged were women, a year-over-year decrease of 7.5%.

To identify barriers and increase objectivity and fairness in staffing processes, we have introduced a few important initiatives:  

• Initiated a research project to examine the candidate experience throughout the staffing process.
• Deployed the mandatory unconscious bias training, entitled Moving from Bias to Inclusion, for all employees, achieving a 97% national completion rate since the implementation in 2023. 
• Introduced an Inclusion Stewards initiative as part of internal executive talent and performance management programs, with the aim of enhancing the consistency of assessments and mitigating potential bias that may occur during calibration exercises. 

To support the recruitment and appointment of members from EE groups, which have historically been underrepresented in the workforce, the CRA continued to monitor and build upon existing recruitment initiatives and programs to ensure continued progress towards achieving our objective of increasing representation. Examples of our efforts include: 

• Supported the Clerk of the Privy Council Office’s (PCO) Call to Action forward direction to endorse the recruitment and promotion of Indigenous peoples and visible minorities. Specifically, we launched an executive-level selection process exclusively eligible to Indigenous peoples and implemented a special program to proactively support the appointment of qualified visible minority candidates to the Executive Group. 
• Implemented a special program to enable the appointment of persons with disabilities in support of the CRA’s commitment to increase the hiring rate of persons with disabilities in alignment with the Government of Canada's Accessibility Strategy for the Public Service of Canada.
• Monitored the National Employment Equity Staffing Strategy (Non-EX), implemented as a special measure in 2021-2022, to ensure that the program is achieving its intended objectives.  

Supporting equitable career development 

Creating an inclusive environment that supports the recruitment and onboarding of a diverse and talented workforce is an important pillar of the CRA’s People Strategy. The CRA is also ensuring that recruitment efforts are supported at all stages of the employment cycle through equitable opportunities for career development. Actions to support these initiatives include: 

• Introduced a new national leadership development program in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, with the goals of supporting the developmental needs of aspiring leaders earlier in their careers as well as building a diverse feeder group to the middle management and leadership positions.
• Exceeded, for the third consecutive year, a 70% participation rate of members of EE groups (visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, and/or persons with disabilities) in the Agency Leadership Development Program, an initiative tailored to build a diverse leadership pipeline within the middle management stream.  
• Assisted participants in leadership development programs in building the skills required to lead in a diverse and inclusive organizational culture by embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion within the programs.  
• Supported the PCO’s Call to Action forward direction by expanding our Sponsorship program, which pairs senior leaders with high-potential employees. Since its implementation in 2021, the program has welcomed 67 pairings from employees who identify as members of Indigenous peoples and visible minorities EE groups.  
• Encouraged mentoring opportunities through both the Indigenous Mentoring Initiative (IMI), which had 26 pairings last fiscal year, and the MentorMe initiative, which is well established and used by nearly 5,000 employees across the organization.
• Initiated development of a process to increase participation rates of EE group members in Second Official Language Training (SOLT) programs to help address identified barriers to career advancement. 
• Launched additional tools and resources available to all employees, including equity-deserving group members, to support second official language learning and retention:  
  • Introduced the Language Research Development Group (LRDG) which is a self-directed language learning tool, and District L2 which is a platform to support second-official language maintenance.  
  • Established a language coaching program that prioritizes participation of employees from EE groups.

We will continue to adapt initiatives and programs to support equitable opportunities for career growth and development in order to foster an engaged workforce, a diverse leadership pipeline, and a thriving Executive group.  

Supporting an inclusive environment for all employees  

Nurturing a welcoming and inclusive work culture and environment is a CRA priority that aligns with our People first approach and is an important element that contributes to the retention of equity-deserving group members, as well as all employees. The CRA continues to ensure that employees have the tools and resources they need to actively engage with EDI initiatives and with their colleagues in a respectful manner. Some examples include:   

• Launched Phase 1 of an EDI learning platform for all employees called Inclusion+, in December 2023. The first phase is titled “Knowing yourself” and included a Manager’s Guide to support leaders with implementing Inclusion+ with their teams.
• Launched the Indigenous Speaker Series for 2023, in collaboration with Public Service Procurement Canada (PSPC), which was open to all CRA employees to attend, providing opportunities to increase cultural competency.  
• Continued to promote the Positive Space training initiative, which includes an ambassador component, intended to increase awareness of the Two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and others (2SLGBTQI+) community. 
• Expanded the current tools and resources available through the Engagement on Anti-Racism and Bias (EARB) initiative, including:  
  • Courageous conversations 
  • Inclusive virtual meeting best practices 
  • Proximity bias 
  • Reconciliation of our language 
  • Microaggressions and interventions training which has offered 64 sessions to date 
• Created a CRA Service Culture video, an internal tool to help employees understand service culture behaviours, that emphasizes empathy, inclusion, and a People-first approach.  
• Implemented the CRA Well-being approach for 2023 and beyond, which takes a holistic approach to workplace well-being, and focuses on raising awareness of how a workplace impacts an employee’s well-being, including correlating EDI factors related to feeling included, respected, valued, and having a sense of belonging. 
• Initiated the planning and development of an Accessibility Hub to centralize information, tools, and resources to assist CRA employees in designing and delivering accessible programs and services. The Hub aims to increase the awareness and understanding of accessibility barriers and the capacity of all employees to remove them. 
• Developed an EDI Communications and Engagement Strategy to support an increased awareness of EDI and encourage all CRA employees to contribute towards creating a culture of inclusion. 

We actively consult our leadership and employees to help increase our understanding of the diverse experiences of our workforce. This includes consulting our National Employment Equity and Diversity Committee (NEEDC), comprised of executive, network, and union representatives from across the organization, who provide continuous feedback on the CRA’s EDI-related initiatives, policies, and programs.   

The equity-deserving group employee networks help create awareness of diverse identities and provide a sense of belonging through community events. These networks include: 

• CRA’s Black Employee Network (CRA BEN), officially launched in November 2023, with more than 1,900 employees attending the event. Members are currently collaborating with the CRA’s senior leaders to develop a 2024-2025 action plan.  
• The Indigenous Employee Network (IEN) provided culturally-based events to support Indigenous employees and strengthen the cultural competencies for non-Indigenous employees. The IEN continues to be an invaluable partner in the development of the CRA’s renewed Indigenous Peoples Action Plan.  
• The Persons with disabilities Network (PWDN) provided continuous feedback and collaborated on initiatives stemming from the CRA’s Accessibility Plan 2023-2025. They have also held events for all employees on commemorative dates such as International Day of Persons with Disabilities.      
• The Pride Network leads the delivery of the Positive Space Awareness initiative and contributed to updating the CRA’s Guide for Transgender and Gender-Expansive Employees.  
• The Visible Minorities Network, in collaboration with other equity and diversity networks, organized a CRA-wide panel discussion to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 
• The Women’s Collaborative Network hosted events for both International Women’s Day and the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. 

The CRA actively seeks employee feedback through consultations, focus groups, and surveys on a variety of topics to support the CRA in providing initiatives and programs that meet the needs of our employees. 

Increasing our capacity for data collection and measurement 

We understand that EDI efforts need to be supported by quantitative and qualitative data that is measured and reported on to help inform the direction of our initiatives, policies, and programs. During the year, we continued to strengthen the tools and information available to organizational leaders to drive accountability while also establishing measurable EDI goals that can be monitored over time and allow the CRA to course correct, when needed.  

The CRA implemented new data visualization tools to provide leaders at the CRA with information to evaluate organizational, Branch, and Regional-level progress in achieving EE group representation goals and commitments to inclusion. These resources provide up-to-date results at a more disaggregated level, demonstrating trends and data findings from both the annual workforce analysis and the Public Service Employee Survey. The availability of this information helps enable leaders to identify improvements made, understand challenges, make informed decisions, and take actions to close the gaps. 

In addition, the CRA has continued its efforts to build a stronger data foundation to inform the development of policies, initiatives, and strategies in support of the representation and inclusion of EE groups, their subgroups, and the 2SLGBTQI+ community. Concurrently, we have sustained our efforts to prepare for the implementation of the modernized Workforce Profile Questionnaire (WPQ), an initiative led by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS). This tool will enable the collection of more robust data. Progressively, this comprehensive employee data, combined with other sources of employee feedback such as those obtained through surveys and focus groups, will contribute to a deeper understanding of the diverse communities that make up our workforce and the intersecting nature of the multiple identities. This information will be critical to further our understanding of the issues that prevent full inclusion of all equity-deserving groups and to guide decisions which contribute to addressing these barriers.

What we are working on

The 2023-2024 EDI achievements of the CRA demonstrate a commitment to ensuring we are a diverse and equitable organization which fosters a sense of belonging and inclusion for all employees, while focusing on addressing employment challenges of equity-deserving groups through effective initiatives and programs. We have also taken measures to ensure that our leadership is well-equipped to lead by example when it comes to EDI, and that we are actively preparing the organization with talented and skilled employees, management, and executive feeder groups to maintain our progress on closing representational gaps.  

We recognize that more work is required to keep our organization agile in the face of a dynamic environment, and that we must be honest in identifying and addressing areas that require improvements when it comes to anti-racism, discrimination, and bias. We will continue to develop resources and initiatives that support the Clerk of the Privy Council’s Call to Action forward direction. We will also continue making progress on our existing plans and initiatives such as the the CRA’s Pay Equity Plan through its Pay Equity Committee (PEC), and fully implementing the modernized WPQ as led by TBS to improve the data we collect that is used to develop policies and programs for the organization. The CRA will also implement an EDI performance measurement framework, to ensure we are accurately measuring the impact of our EDI efforts across the employee life cycle.  

These activities will support the CRA in achieving equity at all stages of the employment journey while supporting an organizational culture that fosters a sense of belonging and inclusion.

Appendices

Appendix A: CRA employment equity statistics

A1 Representation of designated groups in the CRA’s total workforce as of March 31, 2024

Data source for tables 1.1 to 1.5: Corporate Administrative Systems as of March 31, 2024

Notes: The National Capital Region includes Ottawa, Gatineau, and surrounding areas. Province and territories with less than 10 employees are not included to respect the confidentiality of information.

Columns reflecting internal representation and LMA are not to be calculated vertically.

A2 Distribution of employees by designated group and employment equity occupational group (EEOG) as of March 31, 2024

Data source: Corporate Administrative Systems as of March 31, 2024.

Data source for tables 2.2 to 2.5: Corporate Administrative Systems, as of March 31, 2024

Note: Columns reflecting internal representation and LMA are not to be calculated vertically.

A3 Distribution of employees by designated group and salary range as of March 31, 2024

Data source for tables 3.1 to 3.4: Corporate Administrative Systems, as of March 31, 2024.

Notes: The percentage column represents the designated group’s share of each salary band. For example, 68.2% represents the percentage of women in the $50,000 to $54,999 salary range. The percentage column is not to be calculated vertically.

The cumulative percentage column represents the cumulative total percentage of the designated group’s share up to and including the identified salary band. For example, 3.3% of all women earned less than $55,000, as of March 31, 2024. Totals include the executive group (EX and DM).

A4 Distribution of employees by designated group and age groups as of March 31, 2024

Data Source for tables 4.1 to 4.2: Corporate Administrative Systems, as of March 31, 2024

A5 Hiring, separation and promotion rates of designated group members

Data source: Corporate Administrative Systems from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2024

Note: Representation at the CRA includes permanent employees and term employees of three months or more. Includes the Executive (EX) group and the Deputy Minister (DM) group

Hiring only includes first-time/new external hires to the CRA as well as “students bridged”. It cannot be compared to separation as it is based on a different sample of information.

Data source: Corporate Administrative Systems from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2024

Data source: Corporate Administrative Systems from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2024

Appendix B: Technical notes

Period under review

This report covers the April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024 fiscal year. Data from the 2018-2019 to 2022-2023 fiscal periods inclusively have been included as reference in the report.

Workforce covered by the report and the source of data

The report is based on the objectives and key activities of the CRA Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan 2021-2022 to 2024-2025. This report presents the statistical profile of designated groups at the end of the fiscal year. It compares their internal representation rates with their LMA rates. Employment and Social Development Canada provided the LMA rates for each designated group. The LMA rates of Indigenous peoples, visible minorities, and women comes from the 2016 Census of Canada. The LMA rate of persons with disabilities comes from the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability. In both cases, they represent the most recent official LMA numbers.

This report uses information on permanent employees and term employees of three months or more. It takes into account active and temporarily inactive employees, such as employees on maternity leave and people on leave for the care and nurturing of preschool children. It does not include data on students or term employees of less than three months.

The data in this report comes from the CRA’s Corporate Administrative Systems (CAS).

The self-identification information (obtained through voluntary disclosure) of employees who are Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and visible minorities is confidential and kept secure. Only authorized employees in the HRB, and CRA employees responsible for maintaining and supporting CAS employment equity data, have access to the data. The data on women comes from employee files.

Weighting method

The CRA received the new LMA data in 2019 and applied it for the first time to the March 31, 2019 workforce analysis. Therefore, previous years comparisons are not available, and the March 31, 2019 data will serve as a baseline for the next five years. The March 31, 2024 data in this report shows the CRA’s year 5 progress using the LMA benchmarks. Unless indicated otherwise, the data in this report comes from the CAS as of March 31, 2024.

The CRA workforce analysis uses the national occupational classification system, which Employment and Social Development Canada developed with Statistics Canada. This system classifies occupation using two criteria: type of skills (type of occupation or field of work) and level of skills (time and length of training). The CRA workforce analysis measures how designated group members are represented internally and compares it with their LMA.

Appendix C: Definitions

Employment equity occupational group

The unit group of occupations from the National Occupational Classification that is used by Statistics Canada and regrouped into 14 employment equity occupational groups to reflect the occupational structure within an organization under Schedule V of the Finance Administration Act.

Hiring

The staffing action to hire an employee (permanent employee or term employee of three months or more) at the CRA during the fiscal year covered by this report. The figures show the number of employees hired and may include more than one staffing action. Hiring only includes first-time/new external hires to the CRA as well as “students bridged”. It cannot be compared to separation as it is based on a different sample of information.

Indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples means the same as Aboriginal peoples. As stated in the EE Act, “Aboriginal peoples means persons who are Indians, Inuit or Métis.”

Permanent employees

An employee appointed to the CRA for an unspecified time.

Promotion

A permanent appointment to a new position where the maximum rate of pay is greater than that of the employee’s substantive position by one of the following:

• an amount equal to the lowest increase in the new position
• an amount equal to a maximum rate of 4% of the new position

Separation

A permanent employee or a term employee of three months or more who leaves the CRA during the fiscal year covered by this report.

The figures in this report reflect the number of employees who left the CRA and may include more than one staffing action for term employees. The number of separations includes people who retired or resigned and those whose term employment ended. People on leave without pay are not included in the separation data because their leave is temporary.

Workforce availability

The CRA workforce availability includes the distribution of persons in the designated groups as a percentage of the entire Canadian workforce. This includes data for Canadian citizens and landed immigrants, according to the organization’s staffing directives. Workforce availability for employees is based on the figures for the total Canadian workforce (in keeping with the Census of Canada definition) who held employment in the Canadian labour market corresponding to occupations at the CRA.