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Thomas D’Arcy McGee Building
90 Sparks Street, Suite 512
Ottawa, ON K1P 5B4
(613) 998-8653

September 11, 2006

Message from the President

Dear Members:

The 2004-2005 Annual Employment Equity Report to Parliament was tabled on August 16, 2006. It highlights the following:

Visible Minorities

• Significant under-representation still exists. As of March 2005, the Public Service was three quarters of the way to its workforce availability goal of 10.4 per cent of employees from visible minority groups. This goal, deriving from information collected in the 2001 Census, is in itself a lagging indicator, given the impact of immigration on the diversity of the Canadian population. The next Census - conducted in the spring of 2006 - will undoubtedly establish a higher goal for the public service, further reinforcing the need for more and faster progress in becoming representative.

• As of March 31, 2005, the total number of employees in the Pubic service was 171,125.

• Eight per cent of public service employees are members of a visible minority group, more than 2 percentage points below the workforce availability goal of 10.4 per cent.

• A little over 45 per cent of visible minority employees work in the NCR, followed by Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec with 18.7 per cent, 14.4 per cent, and 7.1 per cent respectively.

• Among large departments and agencies, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (14.8 per cent) and Health Canada (13.3 per cent) continue to employ the highest proportions of persons in a visible minority group.

• The Immigration and Refugee Board has the highest percentage of visible minorities (21.8 per cent) among small departments (those with 100 employees or more).

• Just over 40 per cent of visible minorities in the public service work in six departments: Social Development Canada (1,064); National Defence (1,041); Health Canada (1,034); Public Works and Government Services Canada (996); HRSDC (925); and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) (766).

• Six of the large departments have at least 10 per cent visible minority representation in their workforce: CIC (14.8 per cent), Health Canada (13.3 per cent), Statistics Canada (11.2 per cent), Environment Canada and the Department of Justice Canada (each with 10.1 per cent), and Natural Resources Canada (10.0 per cent).

• The goals identified in the Embracing Change Action Plan have not been fully met. Persons in visible minority groups made up 9.5 per cent of new hires, approximately half a percentage point less than last year.

• Just over 5 per cent of all executives in the public service of Canada are members of visible minority groups. Their number has doubled from a little over 100 in 2000 to some 220 in March 2005.

• Corporate development programs such as the Accelerated Executive Development Program (AEXDP), Management Trainee Program (MTP), and Career Assignment Program (CAP), have all surpassed the 1-in-5 levels for visible minority participation.

• Visible minorities remain under-represented. Although their representation has increased from 7.8 to 8.1 per cent, there remains a large gap when compared with workforce availability (10.4 per cent) for visible minorities.

• In May 2005, the Clerk of the Privy Council and head of the Public service recognized that "We have been moving in the right direction, at a pace that is considerably slower than the pace we have to achieve. The directions are all right, but the pace of change is not.

Other Designated Groups

Three of the four designated groups remain well represented when compared with workforce availability estimates. Women account for 53.5 per cent of public service employees, Aboriginal peoples for 4.2 per cent, and persons with disabilities for 5.8 per cent compared to respective workforce availabilities of 52.2 per cent, 2.5 per cent, and 3.6 per cent. Overall, women, Aboriginal peoples, and persons with disabilities are well represented in the public service. However, eliminating the gap in the representation of visible minorities continues to be a challenge. Significant under-representation still exists.

I invite you to read this report carefully and send any comments you might have to your NCVM Regional Directors. The Board will be preparing a report to the President of the Treasury Board to voice our continued concerns pertaining to the under representation of VM in the Federal Public Service as well as to acknowledge the progress that have been made to date.

The report can be found at the following electronic address: http://www.hrma-agrh.gc.ca/ee/ar-ra/ar-ra_e.asp

For a quick snapshot of the report, please consult the EE Report in brief.

Sincerely Yours,

Jacqueline Edwards
President
National Council of Visible Minorities in the Federal Public Service

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