DPR 2005-2006
Canadian Human Rights Commission

Section II - Analysis Of Program Activities By Strategic Outcome

Analysis by Program Activity

Strategic Outcome

Equality, respect for human rights and protection from discrimination by fostering understanding of, and compliance with, the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Employment Equity Act.

Program Activity Name

A. Foster understanding of and compliance with the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Financial Resources ($ thousands)

Human Resources (FTE)

The Commission provides recourse for those who believe that their rights, as set out in the Canadian Human Rights Act, have been violated. This program activity has three sub-activities to support its goals:

• Integrated processing of individual human rights complaints filed against federally regulated employers and service providers.
• Development of prevention initiatives and collaborative arrangements within the federal system to promote sound human rights practices in the workplace.
• Conducting stakeholder outreach, policy research and development, public inquiries, national human rights institution building and human rights impact assessments of government initiatives.

This program activity primarily supports the Commission's priority to improve the case management system. It also supports the priorities of implementing the new Discrimination Prevention Program and designing and implementing a human rights research program aimed at increasing compliance with the Canadian Human Rights Act. It is expected that this program activity will result in increased compliance with the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Sub-Activities

A 1 Integrated processing of individual human rights complaints filed against federally regulated employers and service providers.

In 2005-2006, the Commission continued to make improvements to its complaint process. It did this through structural changes, by bringing together all its complaint-related services under a single branch, and through the introduction of new programs and streamlined procedures.

The results were significant, as shown in the following Figures. The Commission eliminated its backlog, reducing its overall caseload to a manageable size. The Commission is now processing cases more quickly (taking an average of 9.1 months per complaint compared to a 25-month average in 2002), with the result that three quarters of its active complaints are now under one year old.

Figure 1 shows the reduction in the number of complaints in the active caseload over the last four years, a reduction of 49% since 2003. Figure 1 also shows the number of cases between one and two years old, and the number of cases over two years old for each year as a proportion of the total caseload. Complaints over two years old now represent only 5% of the total caseload, whereas in 2003 they represented 25% of the total caseload. The number of complaints that have been in the system for less than a year now represent almost three-quarters of the total caseload.

Figure 1: Total Active Caseload by Age Category

Figure 2 shows the average age of complaints in the active caseload as of March 31 over the last three years. The average age has been reduced by 28% since 2004.

Figure 2: Average Age of Cases (in months)

Members of the Commission must decide on the disposition of all complaints filed under the Act. Figures 3 and 4 provide information on these decisions over the past four years. Figure 3 shows the total number of decisions, and Figure 4 shows the types of decisions that were taken.

As shown in Figure 4, the Commission has increased the number of decisions under sections 41(1)(a) and 41(1)(b) of the Act which give the Commission the discretion not to deal with complaints when other redress procedures are available. This is supported by recent court decisions, as well as the new Public Service Modernization Act which expands the opportunities for redress within the federal public service.

It should be noted that the numbers for 2005-2006 in Figures 3 and 4 include a group of 594 related complaints counted as one.

Figure 3: Number of Final Decisions

Figure 4: Final Decisions by Type

With the new integrated complaint services, the Commission can more readily focus on finding appropriate resolution options without necessarily engaging in litigation. This supports the view that the Commission can assist with allegations of discrimination outside of the formal complaint process.

In this regard, the Commission introduced a major change in December 2005. It added preventive mediation to its range of dispute resolution services. Preventive mediation is offered to the parties as soon as a situation is brought to the Commission's attention, prior to the acceptance of a complaint. It allows parties to address allegations of discrimination more informally, quickly, and in a very focussed way. Under this model, a Commission mediator works with the parties to find a solution to the problem within a relatively short time frame. If a settlement is reached, the parties have the option of entering into an agreement between themselves, or of asking the Commission to approve and monitor the minutes of settlement.

The Commission's formal mediation service, which is offered to the parties after a complaint has been filed, also continued to be successful. Mediation is usually carried out before an investigation gets under way, eliminating the need for investigation and litigation in a large number of complaints.

The Commission also improved on its conciliation model, by creating two separate streams. In the first stream, the Commission refers a matter to conciliation with the proviso that, should conciliation fail, the complaint will automatically be referred to Tribunal. In the second stream, an expert in human rights prepares an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the complaint and options for settlement before the conciliation takes place. In those cases, should conciliation fail, the file returns to the Commission for decision with a detailed report including information on the conciliation process and the offers exchanged by the parties, as permitted under the Act.

The results of the mediation and conciliation programs are shown in the following three Figures. Results are not given for preventive mediation as this program is still in its infancy. Figure 5 shows the total number of settlements achieved over the last three years. The drop in 2005-2006 reflects the drop in the total caseload.

Figure 5: Settlements Achieved

Figure 6 gives the participation rate in mediation, which is a voluntary program. The participation rate in mediation is a good indication of the confidence complainants and respondents have in the program. The participation rate is not calculated for conciliation, which is mandatory. Figure 7 shows the settlement rates for complaints that were mediated and conciliated over the last three years.

Figure 6: Participation Rate in Mediation

Figure 7: Settlement Rate

The Commission has made several improvements to its inquiry/intake process over the past year. It further simplified its procedures for dealing with complaints that should be initially dealt with through some other process (such as a grievance process or a process under another Act of Parliament), and created a new step in the complaint process called "Preliminary Assessment." In the Preliminary Assessment stage of the process, an assessor speaks to the parties immediately after a complaint has been filed to help narrow the issues and to discuss next steps and potential outcomes. This should allow a faster resolution of the complaint.

These changes, coupled with the increased focus on alternative dispute resolution, have resulted in a decrease in the number of cases requiring investigation. They have also reduced the pressure on the Commission's litigation services, allowing it to focus on high-impact, public interest cases before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, and other tribunals and courts, while supporting all parties at the Tribunal's pre-hearing mediations (which achieved a 72% settlement rate in 2005-2006).

Figure 8 shows the significant reduction over the past four years in the number of complaints requiring investigation, and potentially litigation, as a result of the Commission's new service model.

Figure 8: Investigation Caseload

Other improvements to the complaint process included the introduction of a more informative investigation report format, continuing work on service standards, and the initiation of a satisfaction survey for alternative dispute resolution services to be implemented in the coming year.

Finally, the Commission continues to make more information on the dispute resolution process accessible to the public on its website. The website allows members of the public to obtain practical information on how to file a complaint, or on what to do if a complaint is filed against them. It also provides information on how to resolve disputes.

The Commission's success in eliminating its backlog and reducing its complaint caseload means that Canadians can have their allegations of discrimination dealt with more quickly and appropriately, and the Commission can focus its resources on the other key priorities of its legislation, such as discrimination prevention and knowledge development.

A 2 Develop prevention initiatives and collaborative arrangements within the federal system to promote sound human rights practices in the workplace.

An ongoing priority for the Commission, commencing in 2004-2005, has been the implementation of the Discrimination Prevention Program. The program is now well established.

For the 2005-2006 fiscal year, the Commission was committed to engaging key employers through the signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs). As a result of its efforts, ten MOUs were signed during the year involving organizations from the public as well as the private sector.

As a measure of its success, the Commission hoped to show a decrease in complaints against employers with whom the Commission signed MOUs, as well as a decrease in time to resolve complaints filed with the Commission ("through-put"), relative to last fiscal year. The ten MOUs, however, were spread throughout the year, in some cases delaying the development of action plans. As a result, the effect on the overall decrease in the number of complaints or the time to resolve them cannot yet be assessed. The Commission will continue to monitor its performance in this regard and refine the performance indicators related to the impact of its prevention work as required.

Although data does not indicate that all MOU signatories have had a decrease in the number of complaints filed against them relative to other respondents, a decrease was noticeable for certain MOU signatories. The data also showed:

• a larger increase in the number of complaints filed against non-MOU respondents (9.8%) than against MOU signatories (3.3%), and
• fewer returns from a referral to an alternate redress mechanism for MOU signatories (12.5%) than from non-MOU respondents (20.9%).

Preliminary results for the past fiscal year are encouraging. The Commission, however, identified two prime risks associated with its capacity to reach its goal. One was that the demand for service might exceed the capacity of the Commission to deliver on its prevention initiatives. The other was that the Commission might be unable to generate sufficient savings and efficiencies in the redesign of its case management system to redirect resources to this emerging priority. The Commission mitigated the first risk by offering its services in a very strategic way, identifying the largest employers as its initial key stakeholders in order to have the greatest overall impact. The Commission is presently addressing the second risk through an internal reallocation exercise.

The goal of the Discrimination Prevention Program to assist employers to reduce discrimination in workplaces and service centres through the negotiation of MOUs remains a priority for the Commission. It is beginning to see the benefits of its work with the first group of ten MOU signatories. Other employers have heard about the benefits of the MOUs and are becoming more interested in developing the same kind of relationship with the Commission.

The Commission's website has played an important role in the implementation of the organization's new Discrimination Prevention Program. The website provides information about the Program and gives access to a series of tools and resources for employers, employee groups and others, such as an on-line guide to employment accommodation for people with disabilities, and a video clip excerpt of a presentation on duty to accommodate, which the public can order on-line. By making prevention-related tools available to employers, the Commission aims at encouraging the provision of a discrimination-free work environment. The website allows for sharing of information about best practices for putting in place a culture of human rights in the workplace, and includes the MOUs between the Commission and federally regulated employers who have agreed to work with the Commission to that end.

The Commission has also worked on new discrimination prevention tools which are expected to be made available to employers in the next fiscal year. The new tools address the issues of harassment, racism and cross-cultural communication.

A 3 Conducting stakeholder outreach, policy research and development, public inquiries, national human rights institution-building and human rights impact assessments of government initiatives.

The Commission committed to design and implement a human rights research program with a view to: expanding the Commission's research and policy capacity; undertaking ongoing environmental scans to monitor emerging and systemic human rights issues; and conducting impact assessments of government initiatives.

In response to its commitment, the Commission created a Knowledge Centre. The Knowledge Centre has brought together policy, legal and strategic initiative functions that existed throughout the Commission and to which a new research mandate was added. The Knowledge Centre is responsible for knowledge creation through research and policy development, statistical analysis, strategic proactive policy and legal advice, as well as the study of systemic issues that have an impact on a group of people or on the overall human rights system. It is also responsible for all aspects of regulatory affairs, including the development of regulations and guidelines. The Knowledge Centre began operations in November 2005.

Under section 27 (1)(b) and (f) of the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Commission is mandated to carry out research initiatives. A research program and a management framework were developed following the creation of the Knowledge Centre. The research program is action-oriented; it serves to advance human rights in Canadian society and could provide a starting point for debating current societal issues. Further, it supports the Commission's development of guidelines, regulations and policies on human rights and employment equity, strategic initiatives, and other tools to assist employers' efforts to prevent discrimination.

In developing and promoting its research program, the Commission held discussions with universities, provincial human rights commissions and agencies that have similar programs. The research program is publicized on the Commission's website at www.chrc-ccdp.ca and a database of researchers has been set up and is being populated.

In 2005-2006, the Knowledge Centre carried out several projects:

• National Security and Human Rights. The Commission sought to identify key issues in the field of national security and human rights. Areas of concerns were identified in the study which will be explored in greater detail.
• Managing the Return to Work: The Human Rights Perspective. The results of the study will lead the Commission to drafting guidelines intended for managers concerned with this matter.
• No Answer, Telephone Access for Deaf and Hearing Impaired. The study report was issued in July 2005. The Commission will work with the government to foster equal access for all.
• A Report on section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act was produced in October 2005. The report addresses the human rights reasons for repealing section 67 and the steps needed post-repeal to ensure that First Nations people have access to an effective system for resolution of human rights issues.
• In the Fall of 2005, the Chief Commissioner presented the Commission's views before the Parliamentary Committee reviewing anti-terrorism legislation.
• An analytical study was conducted on complaints based on the grounds of disability and race. The study led to the development in December 2005 of strategies and action plans on disability and race related matters.
• In December 2005, the Commission hosted A Serious Threat: A Conference on Combating Hate on the Internet and Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. The Commission's strategy to deal with the issue includes making the best use possible of its own legal powers and working with other groups to encourage a better understanding of the harm caused by hate on the Internet.

During the period under review, the Commission worked on a number of policy projects that will be completed in 2006-2007. These include updating the Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy and following up on the Commission's 2003 report on human rights in correctional facilities for federally sentenced women.

Some research projects have also been launched which will be completed in 2006-2007. These research projects deal with the legal and medical perspectives of environmental sensitivities, as well as the evolution of the status of sexual orientation in society and its presence as a prohibited ground in the Canadian Human Rights Act. The Commission also worked on a proposal for the development of a report card on the state of human rights in Canada. The model for this report card will be developed in 2006-2007 and refined in subsequent years.

Other strategic initiative projects have been completed in 2005-2006 and the release of their results is planned for 2006-2007. These projects deal with best practices in universal design, the government's provision of publications in alternative formats, and a demographic analysis of the Canadian visible minority population.

The Commission, through its newly created Knowledge Centre, managed to conduct more projects than it anticipated. The project related to the development of an environmental scan to monitor emerging and systemic human rights issues, as well as to conduct impact assessments on governmental activities, was delayed. However, the results of projects that are either completed or nearing completion will contribute to the scan.

The Commission continued to develop and enhance its website and use it as its primary tool of disseminating information to Canadians about the Commission's work. The website, through which the public can obtain a wide range of information about human rights and the Commission's activities, has become an increasingly important source of information. In 2005-2006, the Commission welcomed more than 619,000 visitors on its website, compared to 450,000 in 2004-2005 and 206,299 in 2003-2004. It now has 914 subscribers who are notified of new postings, compared to more than 600 subscribers last year. Requests for research contract proposals are now posted on the website, and there is an on-line form for qualified individuals wishing to be included in a database of potential researchers for Commission research projects. The Commission also introduced an on-line publications order form, making it easier for the public to request Commission publications. The Commission distributed close to 40,000 publications during the year.

Program Activity Name

B. Conduct employment equity audits in federal and federally regulated workplaces.

Financial Resources ($ thousands)

Human Resources (FTE)

Program Activity Description

The requirements of the Employment Equity Act are designed to ensure that federally regulated private-sector employers with more than 100 employees, Crown Corporations, and federal government departments and separate agencies take the necessary steps to identify, correct or eliminate the effects of employment discrimination on the four designated groups: women; Aboriginal peoples; persons with disabilities; and members of visible minorities. This program activity has three sub-activities to support its goals:

• Ensuring employer compliance with employment equity statutory requirements in the form of an employment equity plan;
• Ensuring reasonable efforts and reasonable progress are made towards full representation in accordance with labour market availability; and
• Conducting stakeholder outreach, policy research and development, public inquiries, and employment equity impact assessments of government initiatives.

This program activity primarily supports the Commission's priority to deliver the Employment Equity Compliance Program and design improvements. It also supports the priorities of implementing the new Discrimination Prevention Program and designing and implementing a human rights research program aimed at increasing compliance with the Employment Equity Act. It is expected that this program activity will result in greater representation in the workplace for the four designated groups under the Employment Equity Act.

Sub-Activity Description

B 1 Ensuring employer compliance with employment equity statutory requirements in the form of an employment equity plan.

The Employment Equity Compliance Program requires employers to identify barriers to employment and implement best practices to eliminate gaps in the representation of designated groups. Through the Employment Equity Act, the Commission is mandated to conduct audits of the federal public sector and federally regulated private sector workplaces to ensure compliance with the Act. The Commission was expected to complete approximately 56 planned audits in 2005-2006. This plan was adjusted downward to allow the Branch to redirect efforts to an overhaul of the program. During the course of the year, the Commission found 16 employers in compliance, which was down from 44 the previous year. A review of the Employment Equity Compliance Program has identified opportunities for streamlining the process to make it shorter and simpler.

A pilot of the streamlined audit process is expected to be completed by March 2007, at which point the number of audits completed per year would be increased. The revitalized audit approach, along with greater efforts on disseminating information to employers and continuing to provide them with support and education, will contribute to greater employer compliance under the Employment Equity Act. Performance measures will be developed to align with the new audit process.

The Commission has also implemented a new and strengthened accountability regime within the Employment Equity Compliance Program, which has provided the Commissioners the opportunity to review and approve the audit reports.

B 2 Ensuring reasonable efforts and reasonable progress are made towards full representation in accordance with labour market availability.

The Commission monitors progress made by employers in implementing their plans and achieving an equitable workforce. This is done by monitoring the achievement of the employers' hiring and promotion goals. For the private sector, goals are measured against data that employers are required to submit annually to Human Resources & Social Development Canada. For the public sector, goals are measured against data submitted to the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada.

The Commission has completed the three-year monitoring of progress for about 100 employers. Approximately 37% of hiring and promotion goals for employers in the private sector were met. Results in the public sector were somewhat more positive, as 55% of goals have been met since the beginning of the program. The attainment of goals varied by sector and by designated group, from a low of 27% for persons with disabilities in the private sector to a high of 68% for the same group in the public sector.

Figure 9: Goals Attained Among Public and Private Sector Employers

In addition to monitoring progress regarding goals, the Commission compares the proportion of designated groups among audited and unaudited employers in the private sector to see the positive effects of conducting employer audits. Since almost all of the public sector employers have been audited, a similar comparison is not possible. The comparison made shows that the representation of groups is higher among audited employers, particularly for women and visible minorities. The proportion of women in audited employers was 47.4% in December 2005, compared to 33.0% for employers who had not yet been audited. The corresponding figures for Aboriginal Peoples were 1.7% and 1.6%; for persons with disabilities, 2.9% and 1.7%; and for visible minorities, 15.0% and 8.7%.

Figure 10: Representation of Designated Groups Among Private Sector Employers showing Audited and Unaudited Employers

B 3 Stakeholder outreach, policy research and development, public inquiries, and employment equity impact assessments of government initiatives.

Sharing knowledge with employers on hiring and promotion practices that help ensure equality in the workplace for designated groups is an important part of the Employment Equity Compliance Program. As the program progresses, the Commission gathers information through the audit process on successful strategies for combating discrimination.

To this end, the program has been repositioned within the newly formed Discrimination Prevention Branch. This will allow the Commission to enhance its audit approach with preventive tools and information to improve the human rights culture in employers' workplaces.

Policy research and development on employment equity has been amalgamated with the other policy and research initiatives in the Knowledge Centre.