Reports

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The Coming Year

Employment Equity Act is to be reviewed

In passing the new Employment Equity Act in 1995, Parliament included a provision for its review five years after its coming into force, and at the end of every five-year period thereafter.

October 2001 marked the fifth anniversary of the Act's coming into force, and preparations for the review are well under way.

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities has been tasked with the review and began its deliberations in November 2001.

Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Public Service Commission, and the Public Service Alliance of Canada have held consultations and forums to discuss possible changes to the Act. They are expected to submit their reports and recommendations to the Committee in 2002. Canadian Human Rights Commission staff participated in most of the public consultations held by HRDC across the country in the spring and summer of 2001.

The Commission is also conducting its own consultations, based on a discussion paper, with key stakeholders across the country. They include employers, organizations representing designated groups, and unions. These consultations will help shape the Commission's recommendations to the Committee in 2002.

Independent evaluation is being conducted

The Commission has retained Consulting and Audit Canada to independently evaluate its compliance audit program. The evaluation will take an objective look at the Commission's activities, highlight strong points, and suggest corrective action where warranted.

Requirements under the Act should be made clearer

The Commission's final views will reflect the full results of its program's evaluation and consultations. It hopes Parliament will take the opportunity afforded by the review to clarify some requirements of the Employment Equity Act, clear up some ambiguities, and make certain adjustments that the Commission's auditing experience of the past four years has shown to be advisable.

Legislative framework should be retained

On the other hand, the Commission believes that it is premature to call for fundamental changes to the Act. To do so requires first answering a basic question: has the present Act reduced under-representation of members of designated groups?

As indicated in section 9 of this report, the Commission has set up a system for monitoring progress made by employers. But progress -- or lack of -- will manifest itself clearly only over the next two or three years. The Commission therefore considers that, overall, the Act's basic framework should remain unchanged until then.

More employers to be audited

In 1998, when the Commission began conducting compliance audits, 412 employers were subject to the Employment Equity Act. This number has hovered around 400 over the past four years, although it has fluctuated slightly as corporations have merged, individual employers' staffing levels have risen and fallen, and markets have been restructured.

During 2001, Human Resources Development Canada identified additional employers that come under the Act, most of them in the transportation industry, and smaller numbers in the banking, telecommunications, and other industries. This now brings the number of employers subject to audits to 476, thus increasing the Commission's workload.

Tailoring audits to smaller employers

In 2002, the Commission will continue to conduct compliance audits of employers that have not yet been audited. The objective remains to make certain that as many employers as possible have employment policies and practices that are fair to members of designated groups.

Most remaining unaudited employers are fairly small, so in 2002, the Commission will try to devise ways to simplify compliance audits for small employers, while ensuring that the Act is applied consistently.

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