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Fostering a Collaborative and Interdependent Approach
| "At the end of the day, the differences we make in our individual workplaces have an enormous collective impact on the world we share, making it more just and more equitable." |
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| Chief Commissioner Lynch speaking on October 27, 2008, during the opening of the Canadian Human Rights Commission’s 2008 Discrimination Prevention Forum. |
Collaboration is integral to influencing a positive shift in the culture of human rights. The Commission fosters and sustains interdependent relationships with Canada’s federally regulated organizations. Human rights advisors, policy experts, and auditors support organizations in their efforts to integrate human rights into everyday practice so that conflicts are prevented.
The Commission works with employers to identify barriers to employment for the four designated groups – women, visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples, and persons with disabilities – and to implement proven practices to eliminate those barriers.
The audit process is designed to gather valuable information on successful strategies and proven practices for increasing representation of the designated groups. This contributes to the Commission’s ability to provide employers with targeted advice, prevention tools and enhanced information for the continuous improvement of the human rights culture in their workplaces.
The Commission continues to streamline and simplify its audit and approval processes so that employers are able to resolve issues faster. Concurrently, employers and union representatives benefit from workshops explaining the Commission’s employment equity audit process, a simplified framework document, and a compliance audit questionnaire. Through this enhanced pre-audit support, the Commission encourages and enables employers to fulfill their responsibilities and take on a greater role in their compliance with the Employment Equity Act before they engage in the audit process.
Efforts continue to be made to increase efficiency and provide greater continuity between the Commission and employers. The Commission is exploring the creation of an employment equity extranet site that would provide employers with a single access point for information on best practices , auditing tools and other resource materials, progress reports, and compliance audit reports. This approach would further streamline the audit process, improve communications between employers and the Commission and make it easier for organizations to take the necessary steps to ensure that they are complying with the Act. Most important, this could facilitate the integration and retention of designated groups in the workplace.
Portrait of the Four Designated Groups in the Canadian Workplace As part of its mandate to ensure compliance with the Employment Equity Act, the Commission tracks progress in the private and public sectors in representation levels of the four designated groups covered by the Act: women, visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities. The goal is to achieve representation for each of the four groups equal to their availability in the workforce. In the public service, women, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities continue to be fully represented. Members of visible minorities continue to be under-represented when compared to their availability in the workforce. In the private sector*, members of visible minorities continue to be fully represented based on 2001 Census availability estimates. Persons with disabilities and Aboriginal peoples continue to benefit the least from employment equity initiatives. See Detailed graphs. * Private sector organizations covered by the Employment Equity Act include banking, communication, transportation and some other federally regulated organizations. |
The Commission facilitates cooperation and learning amongst employers to share best practices and identify emerging challenges and trends through the Employer Advisory Council and various training and learning opportunities.
The Employer Advisory Council is made up of organizations that have signed Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) with the Commission. Members benefit from a close working relationship with the Commission. In turn, the Commission is informed of emerging issues identified by partner organizations. The Employer Advisory Council also facilitates broader communication. Prevention-related matters, proven practices, tools, and resources reach a greater audience throughout various sectors thanks to the diversity of the Council’s membership and the relationships forged by the Commission’s offices across Canada.
The Commission’s 12 MOU partner organizations have enthusiastically embraced making prevention initiatives a priority because they recognize that achieving the vision of the Canadian Human Rights Act will benefit their business and strengthen their reputations. As the Commission continues to successfully promote human rights, more organizations are taking proactive steps to improve their workplaces.
Leading By Example – Workplace Well-being As the Commission encourages employers to promote workplace well-being, it leads by example and has created an internal Workplace Well-being Steering Committee to explore wellness needs, propose initiatives, and engage in opportunities to promote best practices throughout the organization. The Steering Committee – made up of employees, managers and union representatives – develops and oversees the implementation of annual workplace well-being action plans, based on consultation and involvement of branches, employees and employee representatives. The new internal policy on mental health is an integral part of the Commission’s commitment to well-being in the workplace. The release of the policy at the Commission was accompanied by an awareness campaign intended to increase understanding of how to accommodate mental illness and how to promote mental health. |
Leading By Example – Workplace Diversity In its efforts to encourage employers to achieve workplace diversity, the Commission strives to sustain its representation of designated groups to levels above their availability in the workforce. The Commission had 181 employees, of whom:
* by self-identification |
Building on the momentum and knowledge generated by working with the Employer Advisory Council, the Commission is focusing its energy on supporting employers in effecting a cultural shift within their organizations.
To this end, the Commission is developing an Integrated Human Rights Maturity Model that will provide organizations with the tools to promote a self-sustaining human rights culture and monitor their own successes. The Commission garnered support for the initiative through consultations with the Employer Advisory Council, the Canadian Bankers Association, FETCO (Federally Regulated Employers – Transportation and Communications), and several other key organizations.
The Maturity Model will provide a system of defined activities required to reach each level of maturity and will help organizations to measure progress in integrating human rights into the workplace. The data collected by its measurement tool will also provide the Commission with an accurate snapshot of the maturity of human rights culture within Canada’s federally regulated organizations – information that could serve to influence future research.
In addition, the Commission leverages its resources by certifying employees within federally regulated organizations to deliver human rights training. Graduates of the "Train-the-Trainer" initiative train members of their organization on how to respond to issues of discrimination between colleagues, managers and employees, and even between the organizations and the Canadian public.
A partnership with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada resulted in a significant increase in the number of people qualified to deliver training on Commission tools. The Commission also provides Human Rights Investigation training sessions, which enable organizations to perform internal human rights investigations using the same processes as the Commission. These training approaches maximize the impact of Commission resources and empower employers to effect change within their organizations.
The Commission’s fourth annual Discrimination Prevention Forum brought together federally regulated employers and members of civil society from across the country to identify and discuss emerging issues, share knowledge and experience, and develop tools to prevent discrimination. This year’s panel discussions and workshops explored the accommodation of religion, family/marital status, and physical disabilities. Proven practices were shared in the areas related to mental health, return-to-work, and religious accommodation.
Leading By Example – Bilingual Workplace The Commission strives to be a model of good management and is committed to providing a fully bilingual workplace where staff may work in the official language of their choice.
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If an organization’s efforts to prevent discrimination fail, a human rights issue can be brought to the Commission. The Commission is dedicated to resolving disputes in a fair, transparent and effective way. The Commission continues to place increased emphasis on early dispute resolution through mediation and informal dialogue, as these methods allow the parties to craft their own solutions, can help repair the damage to employment relationships and can be quicker. The benefits of mediation can extend beyond the parties resolving their disputes as some settlement terms also provided for systemic and policy changes that benefit Canadian society as a whole.
If a dispute cannot be resolved through dialogue or mediation and the inquirer wishes to pursue the matter, he or she can file a complaint. Once the complaint is accepted, the Commission’s new triage function ensures that each complaint is addressed using the most appropriate and timely process.
In each case, the Commission is required to render a decision on the complaint. The commissioners can dismiss the complaint, appoint a conciliator, or refer the matter to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for further inquiry.
At year-end, the Commission had an active caseload of 568 complaints, down from 576 the previous year. The average age of its active caseload also decreased from 9.1 months in 2007 to 8.9 months in 2008. See the Detailed statistics on the complaints received by the Commission.
A Settlement Through Mediation The Commission continues to place increased emphasis on early dispute resolution. Here is an example of a settlement that was reached through mediation. Ground(s): Sex More examples of settlements in 2008 are available on the Commission’s website. Home » Overview » Resolving » Disputes Settlement » Examples |
Litigation is an important method for establishing precedents, advancing thinking and providing clarity in evolving areas of law.
The Commission continued to represent the public interest by intervening in high impact cases at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and Federal Court in order to further human rights law for all Canadians. The Commission’s involvement in these cases supports its strategic objective of acting as a proactive and influential catalyst for moving forward on human rights issues. Our successes – and those of many other parties engaged in these cases – further jurisprudence to support human rights advances for all. And yet, a next step is always necessary: it is important for employers and service providers to inform themselves of these judicial rulings and adapt their future actions accordingly. The Commission’s future focus will encourage these positive shifts. Descriptions of cases that helped clarify the human rights landscape in 2008 are available.
Distinguishing Between the Commission and the Tribunal The Canadian Human Rights Commission and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal are separate and independent organizations. When the Commission finds that a complaint warrants further inquiry, it refers the case to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. The Tribunal holds public hearings at which both sides can present their arguments and call witnesses. The Tribunal determines whether there has been discrimination based on a prohibited ground. If appropriate, the Tribunal orders a remedy. |
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