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Inclusivity of diversity: A Comprehensive Employment and Pay Equity Proposal For Ontario
By: Anusha Anowar Date: April 14th 2015
Canadian Public Policy Proposal York University
Acknowledgements
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I would like to thank Professor Dr. Ian Roberge for giving me an opportunity to research and write on a
subject I felt invested in and for introducing me to processes of public policy and for giving me invaluable
feedback . I would also like to thank Professor Sirvan Karimi who has helped me develop my ideas on
Employment Equity. Furthermore, I would like to thank my family for their continuous support and help.
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Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary..............................................................................................4
2. Overview/Background...........................................................................................7
Human Rights Code Ontario.........................................................................................9
Labour Relations Act Ontario.......................................................................................10
3. Why is Employment Equity Legislation Necessary for Ontario?..........................11
Income Disparity...........................................................................................................12
Housing and Homelessness.........................................................................................14
Ontario Pay Equity Act and its Failures........................................................................15
Case by Case is not the Solution.................................................................................16
4. The Case of British Columbia..............................................................................17
5. The Case of Quebec...........................................................................................18
6. Proposal for Employment Equity Legislation for Ontario.....................................20
Obligations...................................................................................................................21
Advantages & Disadvantages.....................................................................................22
7. Implementation....................................................................................................25
8. Conclusion...........................................................................................................26
9. Bibliography........................................................................................................27
10. Appendix.............................................................................................................29
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Executive Summary
The groundbreaking work by Judge Abella and the Abella Commision resulted in a
Federal Legislation designed to address inequalities in the workplace, to identify and
eliminate unfair barriers in recruitment processes, retention and promotion, and to
improve workplace environments for four disadvantaged groups – women, aboriginal
peoples, visible minorities and people with disabilities . However, this legislation is 1
limited in addressing discrimination on a national scale, as it circumvents wide
application catering to only 6% of the Canadian workforce , or as section 3(a) of the Act 2
stipulates, The Employment Equity Act applies to federal institutions and private sector
employers who employ one hundred or more employees on or in connection with
federal work. The Act has been successful in increasing representation of
disadvantaged groups in the workplace and has decreased barriers to their recruitment,
however the increase wasn’t incremental and the failures have been credited to
incomplete adherence to the Abella Report in addressing economic and social
structures that contribute to disadvantaged groups facing discrimination in entering the
labour market and a lack of stringent oversight of noncompliance. If provincial 3 4
legislation is passed in congruence with the federal act, both these problems may be
mitigated. With changing demographics, income disparity, rentgap causing
displacement of lowwage earners or those on welfare, and unemployment being
1 Agócs, Carol. Employment Equity in Canada: The Legacy of the Abella Report. Buffalo, USA: U of Toronto, 2014 2 Human Resource and Social Development Canada. Employment Act Review 2012 3Anand, Raj. Real Change? Reflections on Employment Equity’s Last Quarter Century. Buffalo, USA: U of Toronto, 2014 4 Burkett, Brain. Employment Equity: The Next 25 Years. Buffalo, USA. U of Toronto, 2014
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noticeably high among disadvantaged groups in Ontario, it is the time to revisit the
legislation for employment equity.
This proposal identifies three policy options that can be considered to increase
inclusivity of disadvantaged groups in the labour market.
1. The first is to expand and amend the Ontario Pay Equity Act by altering section
1(1) a to include classifications other than femalejob class/malejob class to
determine the demographic of a workplace. The included subclassifications
would be of people who selfidentify to be part of visible minorities, people with
disabilities, aboriginal peoples and the LGBT community. The purpose of this
would be to to produce a pay equity action plan under section 13(1) of the Act by
the businesses under the Act to promote equal pay for equal work done by all the
aforementioned disadvantaged group. However the scope of the Pay Equity
would not cover equal opportunity for equal merit even but would not fix statistical
discrimination that results in visible minorities being paid lower wages, and being
passed up for hiring or promotions , which would be a step backward in 5
implementing employment equity in the workplace.
2. The second policy option is to implement an Employment Equity Plan similar to
that of the federal legislation, pertaining only to employees of Provincial and
Territorial Government, Provincial and Territorial Business Enterprises and Local
Government and Local Government Business Enterprises. This would build the
5 Blau, Francine D., Marianne A. Ferber, and Annie E. Winkler. The Economics of Women, Men, and Work. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: PrenticeHall, 1986
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foundation for Employment Equity Legislation in Ontario and be a source for
information, research and experimentation, in order to evaluate its effectiveness
and determine its scope of expansion. However, as according to statistics
provided in Graph 1(a)(b) in the Appendix, this would only comprise of 6.01% of
the current labour force available and would not bring forth incremental change
needed to tackle the socioeconomic disparity between racialized and
nonracialized groups.
3. The third policy option is to reintroduce a new Employment Equity Plan for
Ontario that emcompasses all employers under Public or Private Sector, having
100 or more employees, extending disadvantaged groups to include members of
the LGBT community and addressing barriers also faced by new immigrants who
do not espouse canadian work experience. By a way of proactive measures of
implementing action plans, submitting annual reports and regulatory compliance
audits, the policy will aim to decrease the higher rates of unemployment faced by
these disadvantaged groups, limit discrimination in finding and retaining
employment and promotion. Moreover, this policy will include The Pay Equity Act
provisions and hold to be one comprehensive policy that tackles unfair work
practices, providing equal pay for equal work, and equal opportunity for equal
merit, addressing the underrepresentation of these groups in most areas of
employment, especially in senior and management positions and their
overrepresentation in lowpaying, vulnerable and/or temporary work. This policy
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will help contribute in the advancement of these disadvantaged groups in
breaking income barriers and discourage discrimination in the labour market.
The third option is the most viable as it addresses necessary discrimination and
socioeconomic disparity faced by disadvantaged groups. This paper will further outline
the reasons for recommending this option.
Overview/Background
At the provincial level, employment equity policies are poorly developed and
legislation is almost nonexistent. At the current time, only British Columbia and Quebec
have legislated employment equity, and in both cases the implementation is weak and
limited. In 1993, the New Democratic Party (NDP) in Ontario passed an employment 6
equity legislation known as The Act to Provide Employment Equity for Aboriginal
People, People with Disabilities, Members of Racial Minorities and Women, under
Premier Bob Rae. Once the law was enacted, responses became increasingly
unfavorable , severe ideological backlash propagated by political opponents stated that 7
the law was an affront to the concept of individual freedom and private enterprise, and
attacked the concept of merit and imposed quotas . This provincial equity act was 8
repealed two years later under the newly elected Ontario Progressive Conservative
majority government led by Mike Harris, calling it the Job Quotas Repeal Act (1995).
6 Bakan, Abigail B., and Audrey Kabayashi. "Backlash Against Employment Equity: The British Columbia Experience." Atlantis 29.1 (2004): 61-70 7 Bakan, Abigail B., and Audrey Kabayashi. "Affirmative Action and Employment Equity: Policy, Ideology, and Backlash in Canadian Context." Studies in Political Economy 79 (2007): 145-67. 8 Bakan, Abigail B., and Audrey Kobayashi. "Ontario: Lessons of the Rise and Fall of Employment Equity Legislation from the Perspective of Rights Advocacy." Canadian Race Relations Foundation (2003): 133.
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The name of the Repeal Act itself is enough basis to illustrate political opportunism and
political ideological difference as Ontario’s equity act did not use quotas (which, it
accepted, might compromise merit) but relied instead on changing the values of the
workplace using action plans and compliance audits . Moreover, party shifts in 9
provincial elections makes policy implementation volatile to ideological differences 10
and is highlighted by the Repeal Act’s law of destroying all materials containing
information and data collected for Ontario’s Employment Equity Legislation. The
desirability of Ontario’s employment equity act further decreased due to negative media
coverage of ‘reverse discrimination’, susceptibility of false claims of aboriginal ancestry,
and the withdrawn support of the labour unions due to public sector wage cutbacks
during the Rae Government . Studies conducted show a direct correlation between 11
public opinion and policy outcomes , and so the undesirability of an act that would 12
promote cultural diversity and social equity in the workforce declined in the adverse
political climate that promoted false claims about the Act.
Currently, the labour force of Ontario (who are not protected under the banner of the
federal Employment Equity act as stated above) are protected by the following
legislations:
9 Bakan, Abigail B., and Audrey Kabayashi. "Affirmative Action and Employment Equity: Policy, Ideology, and Backlash in Canadian Context." Studies in Political Economy 79 (2007): 151 10 Filion, Pierre. "Toronto's Tea Party: RightWing Populism and Planning Agendas."Planning Theory & Practice 22.3 (2011) 11 Bakan, Abigail B., and Audrey Kobayashi. "Ontario: Lessons of the Rise and Fall of Employment Equity Legislation from the Perspective of Rights Advocacy." Canadian Race Relations Foundation (2003): 10 12 Tausanovitch, Chris, and Christopher Warshaw. "Representation in Municipal Government." American Political Science Review (2004)
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Human Rights Code (Provincial – Ontario) The Ontario Human Rights Code states “right to equal treatment without
discrimination due to race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship,
creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, record of offences, marital status, family status or
handicap.” Under section 14(1) of the Human Rights Code, employment equity policies
are encouraged through the implementation of programs designed to ensure equal
opportunity for disadvantaged groups. Furthermore, section 5(1) states that every
individual has the right to be treated fairly and without discrimination in the workplace.
According to section 32(1), if an employee faces discrimination due to the grounds
mentioned above, he/she can file a complaint to the Human Rights Commission, who
then conducts an investigation to determine any infringement under the Code under
section 33(1).If an infringement of right is found under the Code, the matter is then
referred to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario as stated by section 36(1) of the Code.
An appeal of any decision made by the tribunal can be made to Divisional Courts under
section 42(1) of the Code. While this legislation provides legal recourse to those facing
discrimination in the workforce, the onus or burden of proof and filing a complaint falls
on the person discriminated against, which some may be reluctant to do, in fear of
further discrimination, legal hassles or lack of information. Moreover, the standard of
proof is very high and the complexity of the process are also reasons for underfiling of
complaints of discrimination faced. 13
13 Johnson, Tamara. The Visible Minority Experience of Marginalization in the Canadian Labour Force A Proposal to the Ontario Government to Reintroduce Employment Equity Legislation in Ontario. School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University 2006
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Labour Relations Act (Provincial – Ontario) Sec 2 of the Act state the purpose of facilitating collective bargaining between
employers and trade unions that are freelydesignated representatives of the
employees, to recognize the importance of workplace parties adapting to change, to
promote flexibility, productivity and employee involvement in the workplace, to
encourage communication between employers and employees in the workplace, to
recognize the importance of economic growth as the foundation for mutually beneficial
relations amongst employers, employees and trade unions, to encourage cooperation
and to resolve disputes in the workplace. Under this purpose, the broad spectrum of
discrimination and employment equity policies can be argued. Moreover, Section 54 of
Ontario Labour Relations Act protects persons under the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms and Human Rights Code from being discriminated against in collective
bargaining agreements. This Act provides limited application regarding employment
equity as the voice of the majority in the trade union will prevail in addressing disputes
regarding discrimination, furthermore, Ontario has the second lowest union participation
rate (See Chart 2 (1) below) with 28.2% of its workforce protected by this Act and the
unionization is also showing signs of decreasing in representation (See Chart 2(2)
below).
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Chart 2 (1) Chart 2 (2)
Why is Employment Equity Legislation Necessary for Ontario?
Employment Equity would be a major public policy initiative designed to tackle issues of
racism in the workplace and barriers to employment for disadvantaged groups. This is
essential to overcome socialeconomical problems of inequality that exist in Ontario and
equal access to employment is central to changing social attitudes and practices and
should be endorsed through state legislation especially in the current circumstances of 14
changing demographics. Below are the reasons highlighted for the necessity of equity
legislation in the province of Ontario:
14 Bakan, Abigail B., and Audrey Kobayashi. "Ontario: Lessons of the Rise and Fall of Employment Equity Legislation from the Perspective of Rights Advocacy." Canadian Race Relations Foundation (2003): 10
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Income disparity
‘Working for a Living Wage’ a project of Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives
Ontario Office, stated racism and sexism being a major contributor in income disparities
faced among racialized and nonracialized groups, men and women, and people
belonging to disadvantaged groups. Studies have also documented racial disparities in
income, health status, services, civic participation and in the labour market . 15
Employment and income disparities persist for racialized people in Toronto and
Canada, regardless of education and they are more likely to be unemployed and
underemployed even though they are willing and available work . 16
According to Statistics Canada, Ontario has a visible minority population of 25.9%
and 2.4% of Aboriginal Population, 50.6% of its population is female, and 1 in 7 people
suffer from a disability . The Wellesley Institute and Canadian Centre for Policy 17
Alternatives report racialized men in Ontario earn 73.6 cents for every dollar earned by
nonracialized men and racialized families are 2 to 4 times more likely than
nonracialized families to fall below the lowincome cutoff . Moreover, persons living 1819
with disabilities earn vastly less and the median income for Aboriginal peoples is 30%
less in all of Canada . Families and individuals from racialized communities are 20
overrepresented among Ontario’s poor. Racialized families are 2 to 4 times more likely
15 Canadian Centre of Policy Alternatives. Working For A Living Wage. Publication. Ontario: n.p., 2014. 16 Galabuzi, Grace Edward, Amy Casipullali, and Avvy Go. "The Persistence of Racial Inequality in Canada." Toronto Star 20 Mar. 2012: n. pag. Print. 17 https://www.ontario.ca/homeandcommunity/peopledisabilities 18 Block, Sheila. Who Is Working for Minimum Wage In Ontario? Publication. N.p.: Wellesley Institute, 2013. 19 Mandryke, Josh. The Case for a Stronger Fair Wage Policy In Ontario. Rep. Ontario: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 20 Cornish, Mary. "A Living Wage As a Human Right." Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (2012): 118
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than white counterparts to fall below the low income cutoff . This is alltoo evident in 21
Toronto where ethnoracial minority families make up 37 % of all families but comprise
59% of families living in poverty. Labour market restructuring hits disadvantaged groups
the hardest as they are stuck in low paying precarious work, unprotected by basic
employment standards and are without pensions . 22
In 2007, Colour of Poverty reported that the highest unemployment rates were found
among Canadianborn men of colour (11.5 per cent) and women of colour (10 per cent).
Barriers to access in Employment Insurance ha also impacted the disadvantaged
groups to succeed . Employment Equity Legislation if implemented in Ontario, will 23
decrease the barriers to access in the labour market by proactive measures taken by
employers and positively impact poverty and income disparities faced by disadvantaged
and racialized groups in Ontario.
21 Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, Priorities – Ontario Election 2011. 22 Ontario’s Backslide into Widening Inequality, Growing Poverty and Cuts to Social Programs Aug 29th 2012 23 Colour of Poverty, Fact Sheet #1 (2007)
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Housing and Homelessness
The rentgap theory by geographer Neil Smith explaining the economic process of
gentrification is prevalent in Ontario today, notably in the case of Regent Park, where
disadvantaged groups associated with living in lowrent and affordable housing, have
been displaced due to gentrification and rise in housing prices, causing them to move
out of the city, increasing their mobility costs and furthering the burden on their income
and ability to obtain gainful employment . Affordable housing is crucial in addressing 24
socioeconomic problems faced by disadvantaged groups that also contribute to
barriers of accessing employment and is also the most important determinant of health 25
according to Wellesley Institute . In Ontario, housing has become less affordable 26
exacerbated by growing income inequality and inflating poverty. Ontario boasts the
highest housing cost over any other province and 1/3 Toronto households spends over
30% of their income on housing, according to Statistics Canada. Ontario has the worst
record among all the provinces in terms of affordable housing investments. In the fiscal
year ending March 31, 2009, Ontario spent $64 per capita on affordable housing, about
half the provincial average of $115 per person . Discrimination on Human Rights Code 27
grounds are prevalent in the housing market, based on race, ethnicity, place of origin,
disability and receipt of public assistance, causing barriers to accessible housing. In
2008, the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) conducted
24 James, Ryan K. 2010. From 'Slum Clearance' to 'Revitalization': Planning, Expertise, and Moral Regulation in Toronto's Regent Park. Planning Perspectives, 25, 1: 6970 25 Agócs, Carol. Employment Equity in Canada: The Legacy of the Abella Report. Buffalo, USA: U of Toronto, 2014 26 http://wellesleyinstitute.com/policyfields/affordablehousing/ 27 Michael Shapcott, Wellesley Institute. Ontarians need a truly comprehensive ‘madeinOntario’ housing plan with real targets, timelines and funding to meet diverse, complex housing needs (March 23, 2011)
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discrimination audits on housing across the City of Toronto and found that for
households receiving social assistance, between South Asians and AfricanAmericans
approximately one in four experience discrimination ranging to severe discrimination
barring their access to housing . In 2005, 261,000 or a fifth of all households living in 28
rental housing in Ontario were in this category, paying 50 per cent or more of their
income on rent. Almost one quarter of single parent families (24 per cent) equalling
43,100 families were paying 50 per cent or more of their income on rent. In addition
142,300 individuals (or 26 per cent of single renters) were paying 50 per cent or more of
their income on rent. As the gap between rent and incomes are growing wider among
disadvantaged groups, they are paying high proportions of their limited incomes on rent
and are forced to forgo other needs and are at the risk of homelessness . To address 29
this issue, Employment Equity Legislation will be a major contributing factor in ensuring
practices of inclusivity of disadvantaged groups in the labour force, especially in
higherpaying and senior level positions that will decrease the incremental income and
rent gap.
Ontario Pay Equity Act and its Failures Ontario Pay Equity Act had succeed in decreasing the wage gap for women but even
today an average woman employee in Ontario earn 71 cents for every dollar earned by
men, stating an income gap of 29% . Canada ranks 17th among 22 OECD countries in 30
gender pay gap ranks. Moreover, racial minority women or women belonging to one or
28 Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation, Sorry It’s Rented: Measuring Discrimination in Toronto’s Rental Housing Market” (July 2009): summary. 29 Falling Behind Ontario’s Backslide into Widening Inequality, Growing Poverty and Cuts to Social Programs. Rep. N.p.: Ontario Common Front, 2012. 30 Cornish, Mary and Faraday, Fay. “Ontario’s gender pay gap cheats women” The Toronto Star, September 17, 2008.
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more disadvantaged groups, earn 54% less, regardless of increasing levels of
education, as female high school graduates earn 27% less than male graduates.
Female university graduates earn 16% less than male graduates. Women are also
constrained to precarious work, such as parttime, seasonal, contract or offmarket,
changes to Employment Insurance benefits requiring 35 hours/week during qualifying
periods, disqualify women further as 7 out of 10 parttime workers are women in Ontario
.Professor Kathleen Lahey of Queen’s University notes that nearly three times as 31
many men qualified for EI during the latest reporting period as did women. Furthermore,
budget cutbacks to Ontario’s Pay Equity Commission and Tribunal have resulted in
further discrimination in the workplace . An Employment Equity legislation, through 32
action plans, annual reporting and compliance audits will fill the gap where The Pay
Equity Act has failed to change in enhancing work opportunity and equal treatment of
women in the labour market.
Case by Case Not the Solution
Recently, the Peel District School Board (PDSB) had announced its ‘Journey Ahead
Action Plan’, encompassing employment equity legislation, following a settlement of
human rights compliant before the Hearings Tribunal of Ontario by a teacher who
condemned PDSB's hiring and promotion practices as systematically discriminating
applicants of racially and culturally diverse backgrounds . However, this is a 33
reactionary policy which arose from an individuals courage of taking a stance and
31 Cornish, Mary and Faraday, Fay. “Ontario’s gender pay gap cheats women” The Toronto Star, September 17, 2008. 32 Lahey, Kathleen, Professor of Law, Queen’s University, “Gender Analysis of Budget 2009” in Progressive Economics Forum 33 Cornish, Mary, Avvy Go, and John Rae. "Employment Equity Laws Ensure Workplace Fairness." Toronto Star 01 Feb. 2013
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pointing out the existing discrimination in one particular field. Tackling the need for
employment equity practices by a case by case basis will bring about a slow process of
change, if ideally thought that every business will succumb to change as a result of
reactionary reasons. Therefore, the need for a comprehensive equity legislation in
Ontario is much needed, especially in this time of changing demographics due to rise in
immigrant population.
The Case of British Columbia
The Public Service Act was passed in 1994 in British Columbia had based its
legislation on the Federal Employment Equity Act and with the human rights policy and
practices. As a proactive legislation, the policy acts to remove all discriminatory barriers
to equity in employment measured by conditions of employment on a regular basis,
based on data on representation and is determined by selfidentification. The 34
legislation is not as comprehensive as the one once enacted in Ontario under Bob
Rae's NDP government, as it only encompasses the public service sector, and is based
on voluntary cooperation with no consequences for noncompliance with a mandatory
reporting process overseen by the BC Public Service Agency. Even with its limitations,
the employment equity policy did succeed in increasing representation in the workforce
in the public sector as illustrated by the graphs below:
34 Bakan, Abigail B., and Audrey Kabayashi. "Backlash Against Employment Equity: The British Columbia Experience." Atlantis 29.1 (2004): 63
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Chart 3(1) Chart 4(1)
However, the success of this legislation has been constrained by ‘corrosive political
backlash’, through political party shifts and cutbacks of jobs in the public sector. 35
The Case of Quebec
The preamble of the Quebec’s Employment Equity legislation called ‘The Act of
Respecting Equal Access to Employment in Public Bodies’, state that it applies to all
public bodies that employ 100 people or more in the municipal sector, educational
institutions, health services and social services, and other bodies such as Crown
corporations. It also includes a new designated group of those consisting of people who
speak neither french or english. Even though it does not recognize individual
discrimination and/or racism that exist, it states to understand the existence of
systematic discrimination that affect equal access to opportunities by disadvantaged
groups. A report issued by Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la
jeunesse, examining the implementation of the act from 20042007, state that of the 255
public bodies, women increased their representation especially in school boards and
private schools at the preschool and elementary levels, however ethnic and/or visible
35 Bakan, Abigail B., and Audrey Kabayashi. "Backlash Against Employment Equity: The British Columbia Experience." Atlantis 29.1 (2004): 61-70.
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minorities, aboriginal peoples and people with disabilities have not succeeded in
increasing representation by any large margin. A recent article in the Montreal Gazette 36
quoted women to consist 75% of the public sector workforce and women working in the
public sector receive 8.4% than a comparable job of the same caliber in the private
sector , however this claim could not be collaborated at the time of this paper, nor 37
could much studies be found made on the progress of employment equity in the public
sector workforce of Quebec. However, a graph in statistics canada determining
population increase in 2017 indicate that visible minorities will expand in numbers, and
therefore the scope of this legislation to include private sector employers should be
taken under consideration to suit the changing demographics.
Chart 4
36 Act Respecting Equal Access Employment in Public Bodies Threeyear Report – 20042007 – Excerpts. Rep. Quebec: Commission Des Droits De La Personne Et Des Droits De La Jeunesse, 2007. 37 Shalom, Francois. "Quebec Government Employees Losing Ground on Pay." Montreal Gazette 27 Nov. 2014
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Proposal for Employment Equity Legislation for Ontario Option 3 as mentioned in the executive summary is suggested in this paper to be the
most viable and necessary proposal for policy in order to mitigate socioeconomic
disparity for disadvantaged groups by increasing the probability of gainful employment,
that will result in better living, income and housing standards, health and wellbeing of
the disadvantaged groups, that will contribute to the overall prosperity of the province
and be representative of the canadian multiculturalism values.
The policy will therefore include and expand the principles and scope of the Federal
Employment Equity Act:
The purpose of this proposal will be to enact legislation to achieve equality in the
workplace so that no person shall be denied employment opportunities or benefits for
reasons unrelated to ability and, in the fulfilment of that goal, to correct the conditions of
disadvantage in employment experienced by women, aboriginal peoples, persons with
disabilities, members of visible minorities and will also include members of the LGBT
community, by giving effect to the principle that employment equity means more than
treating persons in the same way but also requires special measures and the
accommodation of differences.
This proposal suggests the application of such legislation be upon all public sector
employers with 50 or more employees and all private sector employers with 100 or
more employees.
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Obligations
This proposal suggests that every employer shall implement employment and pay
equity by identifying and eliminating barriers against persons in the designated group in
the recruitment, retention and promotion processes. Institute positive policies and
practices and making reasonable accommodations that will ensure that persons in
designated groups achieve a degree of representation in each occupational group in the
employer's workforce, by taking proactive measures of drawing mandatory annual
employment and pay equity action plans and a report at the end of the year to be
submitted to the provincial authority overseeing the implementation of the program.
The employment and pay equity policy will not be applicable to any employer who
taking the measure will face undue hardship, hire or promote persons who do not meet
the essential qualifications and or have to create new positions in the workforce to
accommodate the policy. However, a formal evidencebased letter should be addressed
to the provincial authority overseeing the program by the employer underlying his/her
reasons for being applicable under this exemption and receive approval from the said
authority.
Regulations by the provincial authority of compliance audits should be implemented in
order to establish proactive implementation of the policy in the workforce. All data
collected from mandatory report submissions by employers should be accumulated and
analyzed and a progress reported should also be drafted by the said authority, that
should be available to the public.
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The legislation should also include barriers faced by newcomers and/or new immigrants
who face the double bind of having international work experience but are denied jobs on
the basis of having no canadian experience and can gather no canadian experience for
that fact. Employers should be urged to deregulate access to barriers of employment
faced by new immigrants by checking their international references and merit credibility.
Employers should also promote the understanding of employment equity in the
workplace through seminars and help debunk the myths of ‘reverse discrimination’ and
‘quota systems’ in order to encourage the elimination of personal discrimination and
biases of employees.
The policy should engulf provisions of the Pay Equity Act and the Employment Equity
Act to draw a comprehensive legislation that protects disadvantaged groups against
discrimination of barriers to employment, discriminatory practices of retention and
promotion and and wage/income gap. Moreover, the policy should be revisited and
reviewed every five years in reference to the data collected in order to address any
gaps that still exist.
Advantages
If a comprehensive policy is approved and enacted into legislation, better representation
of disadvantaged groups in the workforce and in nonvulnerable and temporary work,
will result in decreasing the incremental wealth gap between the rich and the poor,
decrease dependency on welfare benefits and EI of these disadvantaged groups,
23
improve housing and living standards. Furthermore, this policy will ensure the rights and
freedoms provided by the Charter and the Human Rights Code.
Disadvantages
Budgetary accommodation needs to be made to enact such a major and
comprehensive legislation as bodies of government entrusted overseeing the program
will have to employ new employees or new ministries or offices set up to collect and
evaluate annual employers employment and pay equity reports, requests for
exemptions and to conduct compliance audits. As Ontario stands to fund Public
Programs and Services the least in all provinces (see chart below), tax increases need
to be made in order to increase the budget. Increasing taxes is always unpopular with
the public, and therefore taking a stance on employment equity may be unfavourable to
any candidate standing for provincial elections.
Chart 4
24
However, as the economy is coming out of recession, personal and corporate tax cuts
should be reversed in order to increase spending on public welfare (See Chart Below)
Chart 5(1)
Chart 5(2)
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Implementation
Even though the time for implementation of an employment equity legislation is now
more than ever, with our changing demographic and growing wealth gap, however
politically speaking, the time will be ripe if previous proponents of employment equity,
such as the NDP would come to power with a majority and revisit the need for this
policy. However, with the 2018 provincial elections approaching, it is plausible to
implement employment equity practices, if the issue is once again bought on the
agenda.
Therefore the first steps of the implementation process would be:
For employment equity groups such as The Alliance for Employment Equity
(AEE), with support of the labour unions, to bring employment equity as a policy
agenda for the upcoming provincial elections. This will require much grassroot
awareness and media attention.
Once on the agenda, political backing of any party should highlight the necessity
and advantages of an employment equity policy and not the tax increases
associated with it, in order to gain public support. Furthermore, active
participation of advocates of equity should promote policy and debunk its myths
on public forums.
Once a bill is put forward and passed. Legislation should be made binding for the
following year.
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An Employment Equity Commission in congruence with Ontario Pay Equity
Commission should be set up and authorized to oversee the policy development
and the provisions of the legislation after implemented.
An Employment Equity Tribunal should be set up in congruence with Pay Equity
Tribunal in order to make binding orders and decisions.
Employment and pay equity advocates must be consulted at all stages of
implementation to help put the best policy forward.
Conclusion
A comprehensive employment equity proposal that would also include provisions for
pay equity will better address issues facing women, and other disadvantaged groups,
through access to wideranging research and information. The changing demographics
and income disparity in Ontario needs to be addressed and represented in the labour
market. Emphasizing on a meritbased, proactive measure of promoting
antidiscriminatory practices in the workforce, this policy will only enhance the mosaic of
cultural diversity of Ontario. However, successful implementation relies heavily on
effective education and public knowledge, to mitigate fears of socalled “reverse
discrimination” and promote understanding of the benefits of employment equity
legislation for society as a whole.
27
Bibliography
1. Agócs, Carol. Employment Equity in Canada: The Legacy of the Abella Report.
Buffalo, USA: U of Toronto, 2014
2. Human Resource and Social Development Canada. Employment Act Review 2012 3. Anand, Raj. Real Change? Reflections on Employment Equity’s Last Quarter
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