Category: Top Stories

OTTAWA – The Auditor General released a scathing report on diversity and inclusion in the federal public service. The report takes serious issue with the failure of leaders in the public service to enforce existing laws, mandates, and requirements relative to diversity, equity, and, inclusion in order to ensure fairness and equality for Black and racialized workers throughout the Federal Public Service.

A major theme emerged from the confidential interviews conducted with racialized employees. They felt there was a lack of commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, and there was a perception that meaningful change was not being achieved. Some employees reported that they did not know the status of initiatives from action plans or what progress toward outcomes had been made. As a result, many believed that equity was an empty word in their organizations, and plans and committees were devoid of the potential to bring about meaningful changes.

The Report found that out of the six organizations reviewed none had established comprehensive reporting mechanisms on progress against specific outcomes relative to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives relative to racialized employees in their organization. As a result, the 6 organizations did not know whether their actions had made or would make a difference in the work lives of racialized employees.

The report further revealed that just 44% of the Black visible minority subgroup felt free to discuss racism without the fear of facing reprisals, in contrast to 55% of its visible minority survey respondents and 67% who felt similarly across the entire organization. This stark disparity underscores the presence of persistent anti-Black racism within the federal public service and highlights the deep-seated mistrust of internal processes by those who have experienced racial discrimination.

A landmark class action brought by Black public service workers against the Government of Canada was launched on December 1, 2020, to address patterns of systemic discrimination and negligence experienced by Black workers within the Federal Public Service and by Applicants who were denied hiring and promotion based on their race.

The claim challenges the visible minority category of the Employment Equity Act as masking disparities contrary to the equality rights and anti-discrimination guarantee to Black people under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The claim further seeks compensation and damages for the significant discrimination, harassment, and barriers experienced by Black applicants and workers throughout the Federal Public Service.

The report of the Auditor General lays clear the truths experienced by Black workers across the Federal Public Service in terms of racist and discriminatory treatment and significant fear of reprisal in circumstances where employees seek to raise these concerns.There is a woeful lack of accountability and measurement of actual outcomes on diversity, equity, and inclusion for Black workers. Despite years of reports and studies rehashing the same concerns, the reality is that Black workers continue to be ghettoised in the lowest levels of the Federal Public Service and excluded from the upper levels of management at consistently higher rates than other workers. This most recent Report is just one in a series that recognises this reality of the experience of Black public service workers. Nicholas Marcus Thompson, Representative Plaintiff

The Black Class Action Secretariat is calling on the Prime Minister, the newly appointed Minister of Justice, and the Court to intervene to ensure that Black Canadians do not continue to experience the same kind of institutional barriers, systemic discrimination, bad faith, and unfair treatment rooted in their race and skin colour, which concerns are validated by the Auditor General’s Report.

These employees deserve better. Canada deserves better, states human rights lawyer Hugh Scher.

Unions representing millions of workers across Canada have united in a collective call for the government to settle the lawsuit on behalf of thousands of Black federal public servants. This united call comes in the wake of findings indicating that the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) discriminated against its Black and racialized employees. We urge the government to consent to certification and engage in meaningful discussions to resolve the landmark class action filed on behalf of Black workers, who continue to face severe and pervasive systemic discrimination and negligence, a matter that is underscored by the Auditor General’s report published today.

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For more information, please visit https://www.blackclassaction.ca/

By Sam Padayachee

Aboriginal people on reservations in Canada, the hardships faced by Blacks in South African Townships, and the population of Gaza may seem disparate, yet their struggles mirror each other. It’s a harsh truth that humanity has yet to fully conquer its historical inequities; instead, they echo around the world, distinct yet strangely alike.

The historical and present-day social and economic conditions of these communities reveal a common story: one of marginalization, discrimination, poverty, and an alarming lack of basic services. Even though these injustices take place thousands of miles apart, this comparison invites us to consider the global resonance of historical and structural inequality.

Invisible walls confine and encapsulate the people of Gaza, similar to the restrictions Aboriginal people face within the boundaries of Canadian reservations. For the Black populations living in South African Townships, there are unseen divides that permeate every facet of their lives, acute reminders of a socio-political system that for years valued separation and subordination.

While on different continents and born into different cultures, the people of Gaza the Aboriginals on Canadian reservations, and Blacks in South African Townships face unfathomable challenges including inadequate healthcare, lack of quality education, systemic poverty, and enforced isolation.

It is this commonality of adversity that serves as a window into the perseverance, resilience, and determined human spirit of these individuals and communities. Yet, to only highlight their resilience misses the point—it distracts us from the fact that they should not have to be resilient to such conditions in the first place.

There is an urgent need to extend compassion, support, and decisive action across geographical borders to these marginalized communities. They have already endured the brunt of human-made barriers and systems of oppression for so long. It’s time we shed the spotlight on these glaring global inequalities, amplifying the voices of those who have historically been silenced, promoting socioeconomic reforms to eradicate poverty, and fostering a culture of inclusivity and recognition of indigenous rights.

In understanding and highlighting these similarities, we create space for empathy, change, and solidarity. Let us remember that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and it is our collective responsibility to challenge and transform these echoes of inequality.

Sam Padayachee is the UNE Regional Representative for Human Rights, Ontario.

Access to basic human rights including water, food, and housing – is increasingly at risk or out of reach for many communities in Canada and countries around the world. As a union, our fight today and every day is to raise the standard of living for all workers, secure decent and safe working conditions, and  help build equitable communities everywhere.  

PSAC’s Social Justice Fund has been supporting the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity since 2013 following the collapse of the Rana Plaza building that killed over 1,200 workers and injured thousands of others.   

Bangladeshi garment workers are the lowest paid garment workers in the world – earning a minumum wage equivalent to 46 cents an hour, hardly enough to live on.   

Under constant pressure to meet production targets, garment workers take on excessive hours while their wages barely allow them to meet their basic needs. Workers are also subjected to physical and mental abuse on the production line.  

Today, we re-commit ourselves to the global fight for workers, human rights and access to basic needs for all.  

PSAC is pleased to see the federal government has committed funding to further study the feasibility of a search of the Prairie Green landfill for the remains of two First Nations women. 

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree announced $740,000 would be used to determine the feasibility of a study on how to store and transport the hazardous materials during the search and the construction costs related to this undertaking. An initial study showed that although the search is possible, toxic materials may be hazardous to workers. The new Premier of Manitoba, Wab Kinew, has said that he hopes to work with the federal government to search the landfill quickly, but safely. 

While this is a step forward, a commitment is not action. Families deserve to mourn their loved ones with respect and dignity, and this country’s commitment towards Truth and Reconciliation is empty if we continue to perpetuate colonial violence towards Indigenous women. Continued inaction disregards the humanity of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran and their families. 

“PSAC welcomes the government’s commitment to a study, but more must be done in support of a full search of the landfill to bring justice to Morgan, Marcedes and their families,” said Sharon DeSousa, PSAC National Executive Vice-President. “We need to ensure that missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and two-spirit people are treated with the utmost respect and dignity, and that all levels of government and the authorities are doing everything in their power to find them.” 

PSAC continues to urge all levels of government and the city of Winnipeg to search the Prairie Green Landfill for these women and will continue to do so until they are found.