Untitled Essay Research Paper POL 209Y PUBLIC

Untitled Essay, Research Paper

POL 209Y PUBLIC POLICY AND ADMINISTRATION IN CANADA

The Employment Equity Act: A short paper evaluating the success of the Act.

Canada has a population of approximately twenty six million people. With

the introduction of the federal government’s multicultualism program, the

social demographic make up of Canada is quite vast, bringing together people

from many different nations to join those already living here. Taking the

population as a whole into account, it is no secret that historically, certain

members of this social order have been denied fair access to employment system.

The federal and provincial governments had undertaken steps to address the

issue through a wide range of programs such as equal employment and other

affirmative action programs to “promote equal opportunity in the public service

for segments of the population that have historically been underrepresented

there.” Today those designated groups, underrepresented in the labour force

include women, Aboriginal peoples, disabled people, and persons who are,

because of their race or colour, is a visible minority in Canada. In October

1984, Judge Rosalie Silberman Abella submitted a Royal Commission Report

on equality in employment (the Abella Report) to the federal government.

“The Commission was established in recognition of the fact that women, visible

minorities, the handicapped and native peoples were being denied the full

benefits of employment.” Based on the findings of the Abella Commission,

the federal government implemented “The Employment Equity Act” in 1986. This

short paper will evaluate the success of the “Act” and will argue that although

some progress has been made, the Canadian Labour force still does not reflect

the demographic composition of Canada as the Act had targeted.

For the purposes of implementing Employment Equity, certain individuals or

groups who are at an employment disadvantage are designated to benefit from

Employment Equity. The Employment Equity Act describes the designated groups

as “women, aboriginal peoples; Indians, Inuit or Metis, who so identify

themselves to their employer, or agree to be so identified by an employer,

for the purposes of the Employment Equity Act. Persons with disabilities;

are people who, because of any persistent physical, mental, psychiatric,

sensory or learning impairment, believe that they are potentially disadvantaged

in employment, and who so identify themselves to an employer, or agree to

be so identified by an employer, for the purposes of the Act. Members of

visible minorities are persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are

non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour, and who so identify themselves

to an employer, or agree to be so identified by an employer, for the purpose

of the Act.”

The designated groups, in particular women, have essentially been discriminated

against for a substantial period of time. A 1977 study of women in federal

Crown Corporations conducted by the Advisory Council on the Status of Women,

reported that the federal government is the largest employer in Canada, with

almost 40% of it’s employee’s (excluding the Army) employed by federal Crown

Corporations. At that time, employees of Crown Corporations were not subject

to the Public Service Employee Act, which prohibited discrimination in all

aspects of employment including personnel hiring and promotion. The study

showed that women made up 37% of the Canadian labour force population and

33% of federal public service employee population. However, only 15.4% of

the total employee population of federal Crown Corporations were female.

The underrepresentation of women in federal Crown Corporations are clearly

evident in the two charts indicated below. According to the 1981 census,

women were at a disadvantage in a number of ways. In comparison to men, women

have higher unemployment rates, lower participation rates and are concentrated

in lower paying jobs, regardless of their level of education.

Company Men Women % of Women

CN 71,369 4,434 5.9

Air Canada 14,867 6,073 29.6

CBC 8,015 3,094 27

Atomic Energy Canada 5,000 778 13.5

Cape Breton Development 3,822 78 2.0

Number of men and women working for Crown Corporations in 1977

Company Men Women % of Women

CN 1,014 2 0.2

Air Canada 158 1 0.6

CBC 116 2 1.7

Atomic Energy Canada 78 0 0

Cape Breton Development N/A N/A N/A

Number of men and women in senior management

There is also evidence that the other designated groups were at a disadvantage

to fair access to employment. Studies have shown that aboriginal peoples,

have significantly lower participation rates and higher unemployment rates

than those generally experienced in the Canadian labour force. They also

have significantly lower levels of educat

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