Vol. 136, No. 24 — June 15, 2002

Canadian Forces Employment Equity Regulations

Statutory Authority

Employment Equity Act

Sponsoring Department

Department of Human Resources Development

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

Description

The objective of the Employment Equity Act (the Act) is to achieve equality in the workplace so that no person is denied employment opportunities for reasons unrelated to ability. To achieve this objective, the Canadian Forces are required to identify and eliminate employment barriers against women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities in the Canadian Forces. The Canadian Forces are also required to institute positive policies and practices and make reasonable accommodations when these are necessary to achieve and maintain a representative workforce.

The Employment Equity Act, which received Royal Assent on December 15, 1995, identifies the Canadian Forces as a portion of the public sector employing one hundred or more employees but will not pertain to the Canadian Forces until the Canadian Forces Employment Equity Regulations (the Regulations) are approved by the Governor in Council. The purpose of the Regulations is to adapt the Act to accommodate the Canadian Forces, taking into account their unique role and requirement for operational effectiveness.

The Chief of the Defence Staff, acting within the scope of the powers, duties and functions conferred to him under the National Defence Act, is responsible for carrying out the obligations of an employer under the Act and for the application of these Regulations to the Canadian Forces.

The Act requires that the Canadian Forces:

— collect information and conduct an analysis of their work force to determine the degree of under representation of members in designated groups;

— conduct a review of their employment systems, policies and practices to identify employment barriers; and

— prepare a plan that contains measures to eliminate employment barriers, and that specifies positive policies and practices, and reasonable accommodations; the plan is to include short-term as well as longer term goals and strategies for increasing representation in the Canadian Forces.

The Canadian Forces Employment Equity Regulations cover the following areas (provisions refer to the Act):

— definitions [paragraph 41(1)(a)];

— adaptation of the Act [subsection 41(5)];

— deemed employer status for the Canadian Forces [subsection 4(5)];

— Canadian Forces not required to take certain measures [section 6];

— not an employment barrier within the meaning of the Act [subsection 8(4)];

— limitations respecting directions and orders [section 33];

— collection of work force information and work force analysis [paragraph 9(1)(a) and subsections 9(2) and (3)];

— information regarding underrepresentation [subsections 25(1.1), (1.2) and (1.3)];

— employment systems review [paragraph 9(1)(b)];

— maintenance of employment equity records [section 17];

— consultation with employees [section 15];

— access to restricted areas and documents [subsection 23(1)]; and

— contents of report [subsection 21(4)].

Examples of how the Employment Equity Regulations adapt the Act to accommodate the Canadian Forces, taking into account their unique role and requirement for operational effectiveness include:

— restricting enrolment to those persons who meet the applicable medical and physical fitness criteria for entry into the Canadian Forces; and

— acknowledging the operational structure of the Canadian Forces and the skills set and knowledge common within the military occupational groups for reporting purposes.

Alternatives

The Employment Equity Act does not elaborate on how the Canadian Forces, or other employers, should meet their obligations. An alternative to adopting these Regulations with respect to the areas mentioned above is for the Canadian Forces to adopt the Employment Equity Regulations. However, the Employment Equity Regulations do not take into account the need to preserve the operational effectiveness of the Canadian Forces and do not elaborate on sections of the Act that are especially relevant to the operation of the Canadian Forces. Consequently, adapting the Employment Equity Regulations would not suffice. Thus, it is necessary to make the Canadian Forces Employment Equity Regulations, which adopts a minimalist approach and only regulates areas where operational effectiveness is an issue or where the Act does not provide sufficient direction.

During the drafting of the Regulations, the Canadian Forces reviewed the Act in order to determine what impact including persons with disabilities as a designated group would have on their operational effectiveness. It was acknowledged that the Act provided the Canadian Forces the flexibility it required to achieve its mission without having to change standards that are otherwise defensible as bona fide occupational requirements. However, it was also recognized that members of the Canadian Forces would be reluctant to self-identify as persons with disabilities in an organization that requires personnel who are physically and mentally ready at all times to perform any lawful duty. Consequently, the Canadian Forces Employment Equity Regulations include provisions that take this reluctance into account.

Benefits and Costs

Administrative Costs

Although the Canadian Forces are not seeking any additional funding for this proposal, additional costs may be incurred to maintain the records in a stand-alone database and to produce the annual reports. These costs will be funded with existing departmental funds. The costs include the military pay for one Major (84K) and an estimated $35-40K annually for operations and maintenance. The work will include tracking both full and part time personnel, as well as all new recruits and all releases. The current plan is for the Department to continue to maintain the stand-alone database until the planned upgrades to the Human Resource Management System (HRMS) have been completed, which will allow HRMS to hold Protected B information.

Research Costs

The Canadian Forces will be required to identify those segments of the Canadian workforce that are identifiable by qualification and eligibility and from which it may reasonably be expected to draw recruits. Human Resources Development Canada has the majority of the required data available for use. Additional information that is specific to eligibility requirements of the Canadian Forces has been identified in surveys conducted by the Canadian Forces in 1997 and 1999. The Canadian Forces will likely commission some additional surveys; however, the majority of information required is already available in the public domain.

Benefits

The Canadian Forces recognize that employment equity is part of a strategic approach to human resource management. It acknowledges that it must develop policies and practices that take advantage of Canada's increasingly diverse workforce if the Canadian Forces wishes to be successful in attracting and retaining new and present members in today's competitive environment. The Canadian Forces Employment Equity Regulations provide clarity for the Canadian Forces with respect to their employment equity obligations.

Consultation

The proposed Canadian Forces Employment Equity Regulations have been prepared to adapt the requirements of the Employment Equity Act to the specific operational needs of the Canadian Forces. Because these Regulations will only apply to the Canadian Forces, and amendments to the Employment Equity Act itself are not being proposed as part of this submission, consultation has been restricted to internal government departments and agencies.

The Canadian Forces Employment Equity Regulations have been prepared with the assistance of the Department of Justice. They will be further developed in consultation with the Treasury Board Secretariat, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, who has the responsibility of ensuring compliance with the Employment Equity Act, including the authority to conduct audits to verify compliance by the Canadian Forces, and the Department of Human Resources Development representing the Minister of Labour who is responsible for the Employment Equity Act.

The Departments of Justice and Labour and the Treasury Board Secretariat have approved the Canadian Forces Employment Equity Regulations as submitted. The Canadian Human Rights Commission has agreed to assist the Canadian Forces in conducting a workforce analysis outside the framework of an audit. This will ensure that the processes used by the Canadian Forces to determine comparison with the Canadian workforce are acceptable.

Compliance and Enforcement

The Canadian Human Rights Commission enforces all employer obligations except reporting obligations. The Employment Equity Act gives the Canadian Human Rights Commission the mandate to conduct on-site compliance reviews in order to verify and gain Canadian Forces compliance. It also provides for final enforcement of the Act, where necessary, by an Employment Equity Review Tribunal established by the Chairperson of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The Review Tribunal is empowered to hear disputes and issue orders registrable in Federal Court.

Contact

Major Christian Girard, Director, Military Gender Integration and Employment Equity 3, National Defence Headquarters, 101 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K2, (613) 996-2681 (Telephone), (613) 996-2343 (Facsimile).

PROPOSED REGULATORY TEXT

Notice is hereby given that the Governor in Council, pursuant to subsection 41(5) of the Employment Equity Act (see footnote a) , proposes to make the annexed Canadian Forces Employment Equity Regulations.

Interested persons may make representations with respect to the proposed Regulations within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice. All such representations must cite the Canada Gazette, Part I, and the date of publication of this notice, and be addressed to Lieutenant-Colonel K. Ritchie, Director — Military Gender Integration and Employment Equity 3, National Defence Headquarters, 101 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K2 (tel: (613) 992-6033).

Persons making representations should identify any of those representations the disclosure of which should be refused under the Access to Information Act, in particular under sections 19 and 20 of that Act, and should indicate the reasons why and the period during which the representations should not be disclosed. They should also identify any representations for which there is consent to disclosure for the purposes of that Act.

Ottawa, June 13, 2002

EILEEN BOYD
Assistant Clerk of the Privy Council

SCHEDULE 1
(Subsection 1(1))

PART 1

MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS - OFFICERS

PART 2

MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS - NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS

SCHEDULE 2
(Section 11)

CANADIAN FORCES WORKFORCE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

COMPLETING THE QUESTIONNAIRE

This questionnaire is designed to collect information on the composition of the Canadian Forces workforce to comply with legislation on employment equity and to facilitate the planning and implementation of employment equity activities. Participation in the survey is mandatory; however, responses to the questions in section 2 are voluntary.

The information collected will be used by or disclosed to other people in the organization only for the purpose of compiling statistics on employment equity programs in the Canadian Forces.

Employment equity information will be retained in the Canadian Forces Employment Equity Program Personal Information Bank (DND PPE 816) and is protected under the Privacy Act.

Canadian Forces members have the right to review and correct information about themselves.

Step 1: Complete section 1 (Identification of member - Mandatory).

Step 2: To complete section 2, refer to the definitions provided in section 2 (Self-Identification - Voluntary).

QUESTIONS

SECTION 1

All Canadian Forces members are required to complete this section.

Service Number: ____________________

Surname: ____________________

Telephone Number: ____________________

Female ____ Male ____

SIGNATURE AND DATE

SECTION 2

Participation in this section is voluntary.

Canadian Forces members are free to self-identify as members of more than one designated group.

Under the Employment Equity Act, "designated groups" means women, aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities.

Question 1

For the purposes of the Employment Equity Act, "aboriginal peoples" means persons who are Indians, Inuit or Métis.

For the purposes of the Employment Equity Act, "members of visible minorities" means persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour.

Based on these definitions, are you

Question 2

For the purposes of the Employment Equity Act, "persons with disabilities" means persons who have a long-term or recurring physical, mental, sensory, psychiatric or learning impairment and who

(a) consider themselves to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment, or
(b) believe that an employer or potential employer is likely to consider them to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment,

and includes persons whose functional limitations owing to their impairment have been accommodated in their current job or workplace.

SCHEDULE 3
(Sections 23, 25 and 26)

PART 1

MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS — OFFICERS, REGULAR FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(a))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 1

PART 2

MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS — NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS, REGULAR FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(a))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 2

SCHEDULE 4
(Sections 23, 25 and 26)

PART 1

MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS — OFFICERS, RESERVE FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(b))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 1

PART 2

MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS — NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS, RESERVE FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(b))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 2

SCHEDULE 5
(Sections 23 and 24)

PART 1

MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS — OFFICERS
(subsection 4(1))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 1

PART 2

MILITARY OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS — NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS
(subsection 4(1))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 2

SCHEDULE 6
(Sections 23 and 27)

PART 1

REPRESENTATION BY MILITARY RANK — OFFICERS, REGULAR FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(a))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 1

PART 2

REPRESENTATION BY MILITARY RANK — NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS, REGULAR FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(a))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 2

SCHEDULE 7
(Sections 23 and 27)

PART 1

REPRESENTATION BY MILITARY RANK — OFFICERS, RESERVE FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(b))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 1

PART 2

REPRESENTATION BY MILITARY RANK — NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS, RESERVE FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(b))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 2

SCHEDULE 8
(Sections 23 and 26 and subsection 28(1))

PART 1

ENROLMENTS — OFFICERS, REGULAR FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(a))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 1

PART 2

ENROLMENTS — NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS, REGULAR FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(a))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 2

SCHEDULE 9
(Sections 23 and 26 and subsection 28(2))

PART 1

ENROLMENTS — OFFICERS, RESERVE FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(b))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 1

PART 2

ENROLMENTS — NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS, RESERVE FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(b))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 2

SCHEDULE 10
(Sections 23 and 26 and subsection 28(1))

PART 1

PROMOTIONS - OFFICERS, REGULAR FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(a))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 1

PART 2

PROMOTIONS — NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS, REGULAR FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(a))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 2

SCHEDULE 11
(Sections 23 and 26 and subsection 28(2))

PART 1

PROMOTIONS — OFFICERS, RESERVE FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(b))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 1

PART 2

PROMOTIONS — NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS, RESERVE FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(b))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 2

SCHEDULE 12
(Sections 23 and 26 and subsection 28(1))

PART 1

RE-ENGAGEMENT — OFFICERS, REGULAR FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(a))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 1

PART 2

RE-ENGAGEMENT — NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS, REGULAR FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(a))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 2

SCHEDULE 13
(Sections 23 and 26 and subsection 28(2))

PART 1

RE-ENGAGEMENT — OFFICERS, RESERVE FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(b))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 1

PART 2

RE-ENGAGEMENT — NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS, RESERVE FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(b))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 2

SCHEDULE 14
(Sections 23 and 26 and subsection 28(1))

PART 1

RELEASES — OFFICERS, REGULAR FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(a))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 1

PART 2

RELEASES — NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS, REGULAR FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(a))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 2

SCHEDULE 15
(Sections 23 and 26 and subsection 28(2))

PART 1

RELEASES — OFFICERS, RESERVE FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(b))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 1

PART 2

RELEASES — NON-COMMISSIONED MEMBERS, RESERVE FORCE
(paragraph 4(1)(b))

Please note that the width of this table exceeds the capacity permitted by the layout. See Part 2

[24-1-o]

Footnote a 

S.C. 1995, c. 44

NOTICE:
The format of the electronic version of this issue of the Canada Gazette was modified in order to be compatible with hypertext language (HTML). Its content is very similar except for the footnotes, the symbols and the tables.

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