2022-23 Departmental Results Report

Catalogue No.: HR2-7E-PDF
ISSN: 2561-1240

Honourable Arif Virani, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

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ISSN: 2561-1240

Interim Chief Commissioner's message

We reaffirmed, both internally and publicly, our own organizational commitment to bring about anti-racism change in all that we do. We remained fastidious in tracking our ongoing progress on our Anti-Racism Action Plan^{Endnote 1 i}. This plan has set in motion a permanent set of actions that are transforming the way we treat our staff and the way we serve people in Canada. Our 2023 Progress Report is underway, under the leadership of a new Director appointed this year who is overseeing our Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Anti-Racism work. She is reporting directly to myself and our Executive Director, as her work spans the entire Commission and is a permanent organizational priority.

As one key example of a milestone in our anti-racism work this past year, we launched an integrated data collection strategy focused on disaggregated demographic data. As we have heard directly from various stakeholders in our Network for Advancing Racial Equality, improving our collection of disaggregated data will allow us to better understand and serve the diverse population of people using our complaints process to seek justice.

This data strategy contributes to our ongoing efforts to modernize our human rights complaints process. Our goal is to provide a simpler, more effective, bias-free, and sustainable process to receive and resolve discrimination complaints that better meets the needs of the people we serve.

The Commission is committed to identifying, removing and preventing barriers for each person in Canada, including our employees, clients, stakeholders and all rights holders. As part of our ongoing commitment to be an accessible and inclusive organization, in 2022–23, the Commission launched our Accessibility Plan. Guided by the key principle of “Nothing Without Us,” it was most important that we consulted with people in a way that is meaningful, accessible and inclusive. As such, we ensured our consultations on the draft Plan were inclusive and accessible. We provided the option for people to participate virtually or through written comments to facilitate participation by those in different geographic regions and those without effective Internet access. We made sure to consult internally with our staff, as well as externally with various stakeholders and people with lived experience. We completed four external reviews, in addition to external consultations with people with disabilities, and with disability organizations. We also invited members of our Network for Advancing Racial Equality to review our Plan to ensure an intersectional lens. All of the invaluable feedback informed this first iteration of our organizational Accessibility Plan. Where possible, we will take immediate action to remove barriers by December 31, 2023.

In addition to all this, with Canada's human rights report card coming soon, we finalized and submitted our written contribution to the 2023 Universal Periodic Review. Our submission calls on Canada to improve conditions for people deprived of their liberty, including those in restricted forms of housing such as prisons, institutions and long-term care facilities.

In our work under the Employment Equity Act, we published a sector-wide audit on the employment of persons with disabilities in the communications sector. We also initiated an audit on the employment of racialized people in the ground transportation sector.

We welcomed Canada's first Accessibility Commissioner who, supported by a dedicated Accessibility Unit, began conducting accessibility inspections under the Accessible Canada Act.

We also welcomed a new Pay Equity Commissioner who, supported by a dedicated Pay Equity Unit, developed and launched several educational tools related to the Pay Equity Act, to help federal workplace parties meet their obligations under this federal law.

And in coordination with the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate, we are developing a shared framework for monitoring Canada's progress in realizing the right to adequate housing for people with disabilities, as outlined in the National Housing Strategy Act.

Amidst these many new and evolving responsibilities, the Commission continues to prevent discrimination through our work in enforcing the Canadian Human Rights Act. Each year, the Commission helps thousands of people address their human rights concerns or find information about their rights. We also represent the public interest by participating before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in cases that raise novel or systemic human rights issues. Many of these cases involved complainants in vulnerable circumstances.

These are just a few of the many activities the Commission carried out this past year. I invite you to read this report thoroughly to gain a deeper understanding of the scope and volume of the work carried out each day by the small and very talented team I am so proud to lead.

Sincerely,

Charlotte-Anne Malischewski
Interim Chief Commissioner

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Results at a glance

The Commission serves as a national voice for equality and for the promotion and protection of human rights in Canada. In 2022–23, the Commission continued to speak out on the human rights of people across Canada through our engagement and advocacy work. Using our various public channels and platforms, we contributed to the national conversation on key human rights issues, including: issues of systemic racism, anti-racism actions, barriers to accessibility, our collective responsibility toward reconciliation, violence against people experiencing homelessness, sexual coercion and violence in federal prisons, and the need for change in Canada's military. To mark the 45th anniversary of the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Commission compiled 45 Calls for Inclusion that highlight 45 human rights issues in Canada and the concrete actions needed to address them.

To continue our work as the National Monitoring Mechanism for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, we held a series of learning circles for people with disabilities, with a focus on the intersection of disability rights and the human right to adequate housing. We also met with UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to discuss key human rights issues, including the human right to adequate housing.

The Commission works to prevent discrimination through our work in enforcing the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Each year, the Commission helps thousands of people address their human rights concerns or find information about their rights. In many cases, the Commission helps people resolve their issues quickly and informally or find the appropriate process to resolve their issues. In 2022–23, the Commission continued to honour our commitment to providing a simpler, more efficient, and user-friendly human rights complaints process. We continued implementing system wide changes to improve access to justice and meet our service commitments. We updated our human rights complaint rules to include new language around inclusion, accessibility and official languages. We launched an expanded online human rights Complaint Form adopting a model that helps guide complainants in telling their stories. The Commission is actively investing in information technology to bolster its capacity and improve client service delivery. And, we were unwavering this past year in communicating to our audiences the various actions we have taken, and continue to take, to improve access to human rights justice for Indigenous, Black and other racialized people.

Also this past year, we continued to represent the public interest by participating before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in cases that raise novel or systemic human rights issues. Many of these cases involved complainants in vulnerable circumstances. We applied public interest criteria in deciding what level our participation would be. Among our considerations were whether the litigation will help to develop anti-racism case law at the federal level.

Under our Proactive Compliance Branch, in 2022–23, we continued to administer and enforce the Employment Equity Act and to support the Accessibility Commissioner and the Pay Equity Commissioner in carrying out their mandates to administer and enforce the Accessible Canada Act and the Pay Equity Act respectively. We did this by providing guidance and service to organizations required to comply with these laws.

To promote compliance with the Employment Equity Act, we published the sector-wide audit report on the employment of persons with disabilities in the communications sector and initiated a horizontal audit of the ground transportation sector regarding the employment of racialized people. The Commission issued individual audit reports on racialized people in management and executive positions in the public sector, to the selected departments and agencies. We also continued our pilot of our new requirement-based audits of more than 200 employers in the private sector.

With the arrival of the Accessibility Commissioner, and in an effort to support inspector training and consistency in carrying out inspection work, the Accessibility Unit started developing a Compliance and Enforcement Program. This included the development of Standard Operating Procedures, and tools and templates for inspectors. To better support regulated entities, the Accessibility Unit also developed self-assessment tools. The newly established Compliance and Enforcement Inspectorate began conducting inspection of accessibility plans and feedback processes.

The Pay Equity Unit released additional online tools and publications to help pay equity stakeholders better understand and meet their obligations. For example, the Pay Equity Portal allows parties to file applications with the Pay Equity Commissioner and exchange documents related to their case. And the Pay Equity Plan Toolkit outlines a simple, functional and systematic process to enable small and medium-sized employers to create meaningful and effective pay equity plans.

Finally, we continued to provide administrative services to Canada's first Federal Housing Advocate. The Federal Housing Advocate submitted and tabled their first Annual report which highlighted the human right to adequate housing along with a serious of recommendations to the Minister responsible for Housing. These recommendations focused on re-examining the National Housing Strategy and refocusing efforts on meeting the needs of disadvantaged groups and those experiencing homelessness. We also supported her visit to British Columbia and Quebec, where she met with key stakeholders and listened to the housing challenges that unhoused and precariously housed people are facing. We helped support her planned visits to Nunavut and Nunatsiavut, where she heard first-hand about systemic housing issues in the North, particularly for Inuit communities. On September 23, 2022, Federal Housing Advocate issued a formal request to the National Housing Council to launch a review panel on the human rights impacts of corporate investment in rental housing, also known as financialization. On February 23, 2023, the Federal Housing Advocate launched a formal review of encampments in Canada, which have become a human rights crisis in cities across the country.

For more information on the Commission's plans, priorities and results achieved, see the “Results: what we achieved” section of this report.

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Results: what we achieved

Core responsibilities

Engagement and Advocacy

Description

Provide a national, credible voice for equality in Canada by raising public awareness of human rights issues; engaging civil society, governments, employers and the public to affect human rights change; and monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the Government of Canada's obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Results

As Canada's national human rights institution, the Commission is a trusted source of human rights expertise. In 2022–23, the Commission continued to shape the human rights agenda and serve as a national voice for human rights in Canada.

Here are some key highlights of our Engagement and Advocacy work in 2022–23:

• The Chief Commissioner and Interim Chief Commissioner attended and participated in 67 meetings and events. Many of these engagements, namely the convening of the Network for Racial Equality, led to new connections and ongoing engagements with stakeholders with whom the Commission had no previous association.
• We raised awareness and understanding of the barriers to equality and access to justice faced by individuals in vulnerable circumstances. In over 30 public statements, 12 news releases and nearly 100 media interviews and requests, we spoke out on issues such as: combating hate and intolerance, systemic racism in Canada, reconciliation, Islamophobia, accessibility, medical assistance in dying, and economic social and cultural rights.
• We also published our first Interim Policy on Stakeholder Compensation, which operationalizes the Guidelines on Ex Gratia Payments in a Commission context so that stakeholders and rights holders who engage with the Commission are fairly compensated.
• We finalized and submitted the Commission's written contribution to the 2023 Universal Periodic Review with a focus on people deprived of their liberty including those in restricted forms of housing such as prisons, institutions and long-term care facilities. We called for Canada's ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture.
• We were accredited A-Status, once again, by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), denoting full compliance with Paris Principles.

Accessibility Commissioner:

• We welcomed the first Accessibility Commissioner in 2022–23.
• As part of his mandate to promote compliance with the Accessible Canada Act and the Accessible Canada Regulations, the Accessibility Commissioner, supported by the Accessibility Unit at the Commission, developed an engagement strategy and supported over 50 stakeholder engagement meetings, events and speaking opportunities.

Pay Equity Commissioner:

• The Pay Equity Commissioner tabled her first Annual Report to Parliament, providing details on her work leading the Pay Equity Unit at the Commission in administering and enforcing the Pay Equity Act.
• As part of her mandate to educate and inform employers, employees and bargaining agents of their rights and obligations under the Pay Equity Act, the Pay Equity Commissioner hosted a Town Hall and delivered speeches at five events, speaking out on the gender wage gap and state of pay equity advancement in Canada. In line with her mandate, she also participated in six activities with provincial and international counterparts.
• The Pay Equity Unit continued to guide and inform workplace parties about their rights and responsibilities under the Act, which involved developing educational and promotional products, talking with our stakeholders and being a knowledge centre for all federal pay equity inquiries.

Federal Housing Advocate:

• We developed a shared framework for monitoring Canada's progress in realizing the right to adequate housing for people with disabilities, in coordination with the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate (OFHA). We also held a series of learning circles, for people with disabilities, with a focus on the intersection of disability rights and the human right to adequate housing.
• The OFHA submitted and tabled their first Annual Report in Parliament in which they highlighted the results of the first active year of the online submission tool that allows the Advocate to engage directly with individuals from across Canada. (Read more under Innovation.) The OFHA also disseminated fact sheets on how to improve the National Housing Strategy and research findings on financialization of housing, on homeless encampments in Canada.
• Since the launch of the housing submission tool, in May 2022, over 220 people who have experienced inadequate housing and homelessness made a submission to the Federal Housing Advocate about their situation. In addition, 36 organizations shared their experiences and observations (Read more under innovation).
• On September 23, 2022, the Advocate issued a formal request to the National Housing Council to launch a review panel on the human rights impacts of the financialization of purpose-built rental housing. This is the first time the Federal Housing Advocate has referred a systemic housing issue to the National Housing Council for further examination by a review panel.
• On February 23, 2023, the Federal Housing Advocate launched a formal review of encampments in Canada, which have become a human rights crisis in cities across the country.
• The Federal Housing Advocate has had over 200 engagement meetings with duty bearers at all levels of government, academics, civil society organizations, non-profit housing providers, financial entities, Indigenous organizations and people with lived experience of housing need and homelessness.
• The Housing Advocate continued to promote their mandate and meet with key stakeholders and people with lived experience, in person and online, including National Indigenous Organizations.
• They continued collaborating with key national networks and met with people with lived experience of housing and homelessness in: St-Jerôme and Montreal (Quebec); Victoria, Prince George and Vancouver (British Columbia); and in Nunavut and Nunatsiavut - to learn more about systemic housing issues in the North, particularly for Inuit communities, in partnership with the Nunatsiavut Kavamanga and Nunavut Tunngavik. A trip report is expected to be launched in the fall of 2023.

Gender-based analysis plus

In all our advocacy work in 2022–23, the Commission continued to take into account how multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination affect the lived experiences of people in Canada. This includes our research on the rights to housing for women, Two-Spirit and Gender Diverse People.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

We continued to explore the use of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in monitoring progress and determining gaps in Canada's implementation of its international human rights obligations. Through our reporting to the United Nations, the Commission has affirmed our support for the SDGs and their implementation in Canada.

We continue to contribute to the achievement on SDG Target 16, and specifically target 16.A on ensuring the existence of independent national human rights institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles. As noted above, and since 1999, the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions has accredited the Commission with A-Status, denoting full compliance with Paris Principles. The Commission was most recently re-accredited with A-Status in 2023.

Innovation

The Commission has continued to maximize our use of available technology to meet with and engage stakeholders on various human rights issues, including the use of virtual events to bring audiences from across Canada together. It has allowed us to reach larger audiences than would have been possible in-person. We have also leveraged technology to launch a submission tool that allows the public to raise systemic housing issues for assessment and review by the OFHA. Since the submission tool launched in May 2022, we have received over 290 submissions. In February 2023, the Federal Housing Advocate launched a formal review of encampments in Canada to address this serious human rights crisis happening in cities across the country and we received over 200 submissions solely on encampments via an online portal specifically dedicated to this review.

Key risks

The uncertainty surrounding the funding for the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate places a strain on the Commission's resources and creates a challenging environment where long-term planning becomes difficult.

Results achieved

The following table shows, for Engagement and Advocacy, the results achieved the performance indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022–23, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Endnote 2 ii}

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for Engagement and Advocacy, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as actual spending for that year.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Endnote 3 iii}

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022–23.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Endnote 4 iv}

Complaints

Description

Provide people in Canada with a mechanism to file and resolve complaints under the Canadian Human Rights Act, Pay Equity Act, and Accessible Canada Act and to represent the public interest in achieving equality in Canada.

Results

Human Rights Complaints

Our goal is to provide a simpler, more effective and sustainable human rights complaints process that better meets the needs of the people we serve. We continued to modernize our human rights complaints process as part of our efforts to meet service commitments and to improve our Service Delivery Model.

Here are some key highlights from the human rights Complaints side of our work in 2022–23:

• We improved our statistics reporting and trend identification, which allows for strategic human rights file management.
• We launched an integrated data collection strategy focused on disaggregated demographic data, in keeping with a key commitment in our Anti Racism Action Plan. Integrating this demographic data survey with our online human rights complaint form will allow us to better understand and serve the diverse population of people using our human rights complaints process to seek justice.

The Commission also focused on strengthening the human rights complaints management infrastructure:

• We published our updated and more inclusive human rights Complaint Rules, as well as an updated and illustrated section of our website that walks the reader through our human rights complaints process, step by step.
• We launched an expanded version of our online human rights Complaint Form in November 2022, after extensive user testing. In it, we have adopted a Pathways Model that makes it easier for complainants to tell us what happened to them and guide them through the different HTML forms. These online forms are fully accessible and will replace the Word versions that were on our website. This provides parties with the option of submitting the online HTML form or of filling out and emailing the PDF version of the forms, which brings the Commission in line with other online government services. User testing continues with testing of the expanded online human rights Complaint Form as well as other forms. We are proactively soliciting stakeholder feedback on changes.
• We moved to an evaluative mediation model to gain significant benefits for all involved and to increase capacity at mediation to help parties resolve their cases, which is of prime importance. Highlighted changes include:
  • offering mediation only after the full exchange of all necessary forms to level the playing field for complainants by ensuring they have the information they need to evaluate the reasonableness of any offer made at mediation while also allowing respondents to be prepared at mediation, having already evaluated the merits of their defence;
  • half-day instead of full-day mediations, to increase the total number of mediations that we can offer; and,
  • introducing a new centralized mediation scheduling model that ensures timely mediation bookings while reducing the administrative burden on our staff.
• We increased our use of conciliation to improve the service delivery model and mitigate the volume of human rights complaints referred to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (Tribunal), which facilitates possible resolutions earlier in our process. Other efficiencies achieved through these changes include reducing the need for resource-intensive investigations into complaints that ultimately warrant further inquiry by the Tribunal, as well as reducing the volume of referred cases to the Tribunal when a settlement can be reached sooner.
• We examined our procedures at the intake stage with the intent of reducing our response time and to process human rights complaints more quickly. By improving our assessment processes to become more effective and efficient while remaining rooted in our screening role, we achieved significant assessment time reductions. These improvements include new or updated assessment tools and processes such as the simplified process, referral decision process, and the expanded use of section 49:
  • The appointment of new decision makers at Commission provided the opportunity to re-initiate the simplified process and allowed us to address between 200 and 300 older files from our inventory.

To maximize the Commission's impact before the Tribunal:

• We provided written submissions to the Tribunal as well as participated in motions and full hearings, many of which involved complainants in vulnerable circumstances. As of the end of 2022-2023, the Commission was participating in 339 cases at the Tribunal, 161 of which were on a full participation basis. Of the 161 full participation cases, 88 cases involved human rights complaints based on one or more of the grounds of race, colour, and national or ethnic origin. In deciding our participation level, we applied public interest criteria, including whether the litigation will help to develop anti-racism case law at the federal level.

Accessibility Complaints:

• In 2022–23, the Accessibility Unit continued to develop the accessibility complaints process.
• The Accessibility Unit also continued to develop administrative procedures for transferring accessibility complaints under the “No Wrong Door” approach so that people who need support find the solutions they need, and to minimize burden and confusion for complainants.
• Furthermore, included in the resources developed to bolster the complaints process are service standards and an operational tool to receive and track complaints under the Accessible Canada Act.

Pay Equity Complaints:

• In 2022–23, the Pay Equity Commissioner received four applications and two complaints related to various sections of the Pay Equity Act.
• The Pay Equity Unit received 390 requests for information about the Pay Equity Act and available recourse mechanisms. Of those, the Unit assisted 26 different workplace parties with early resolution.

Innovation

The Commission is actively investing in information technology to bolster our capacity and improve client service delivery. This includes updating infrastructure and automating some business processes, thereby enhancing access to justice. A key component of investment will take place between 2023 and 2026, with the replacement of the human rights complaints Case Management System, known as Horizon and the creation of new Case Management Systems for Accessibility and Pay Equity Complaints, respectively.

This past year, the Commission continued testing a number of new and innovative strategies and tools to ensure that users of the Commission's human rights complaints process experience the simplest, most effective and sustainable access to human rights justice. Some of the innovations include:

• Extensive user testing ahead of the launch of our HTML versions of our human rights complaints process. These online forms are fully accessible and will replace the Word versions that were on our website. This provides parties with the option of submitting the online HTML form or of filling out and emailing the PDF version of the forms. It finally brings the Commission in line with other online government services

As well, the Pay Equity Unit of the Commission launched the Pay Equity Portal with select users in the fall of 2022. This Portal is a platform that allows parties to file applications and complaints with the Pay Equity Commissioner, as well as exchange documents with other parties and communicate with a Pay Equity Officer about their cases.

Key risks

While we are seeing preliminary benefits of our various innovations in our human rights complaint processing times, there remains the risk that due to insufficient staffing levels, the Commission may not be able to sustain our recent successes in meeting the diverse needs of people in Canada. The additional pressure on staff to maintain operation levels with insufficient staffing may result in retention issues, resulting in an additional risk of deficiencies in client service.

In addition, our strain on resources has had considerable impact on our capacity to develop and implement modern digital services in a timely way across all our mandates, for example providing digital tools in support of our complaints process. To mitigate these risks, the Commission will continue to adjust where necessary and continue to explore and pilot new approaches to our processes.

Results achieved

The following table shows, for Complaints, the results achieved, the performance indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022–23, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Endnote 5 v}

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for Complaints, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as actual spending for that year.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Endnote 6 vi}

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022–23.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Endnote 7 vii}

Proactive Compliance

Description

Ensure federally regulated organizations comply with the requirements set out in the Employment Equity Act, Pay Equity Act, and the Accessible Canada Act, and hold those who do not comply accountable.

Results

In 2022–23, along with the staff supporting the employment equity mandate, Commission staff supporting the Accessibility Commissioner (Accessibility Unit) and the Pay Equity Commissioner (Pay Equity Unit) in carrying out their mandates continued to integrate corporate functions to ensure sustainable and effective proactive compliance regimes.

Here are some key highlights of our Proactive Compliance work in 2022–23:

Employment Equity:

• We continued to conduct audits of federally regulated employers' employment equity programs. Under our conventional, employer-based, employment equity audit approach, we closed all four ongoing audits and launched nine new audits in the fall of 2022. Under our horizontal, issue-based, employment equity approach:
  • we published the sector-wide horizontal audit on the employment of people with disabilities in the communications sector;
  • we issued individual audit reports on racialized people in management and executive positions in the public sector on selected departments and agencies; and
  • we initiated an audit on the employment of racialized people in the ground transportation sector.
• We continued to pilot blitz audits of over 200 employers in the private sector.

Accessibility Commissioner:

• Under the direction of the Accessibility Commissioner, the Accessibility Unit developed a Compliance and Enforcement Program, including: a compliance and enforcement directive, a compliance monitoring plan, a risk-based inspection strategy, a delegation of authority policy instrument, compliance assessment tools, standard operating procedures for inspectors, an inspection database and compliance self-assessment tools for regulated entities.
• We began conducting inspections, with approximately 130 regulated entities notifying the Commissioner that they posted their accessibility plan and feedback processes. Another 21 inspections were undertaken on accessibility plans and feedback processes. We also began conducting in-depth assessments and synthesizing observations to inform reports, resources and tools.
• We continued to work with partners including the Canadian Transportation Agency, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, Accessible Standards Canada and the many other public, private and not-for-profit organizations who are committed to making Canada barrier-free.
• We continued to promote compliance and to encourage organizations to take proactive steps to identify, remove and prevent barriers to accessibility through the Commission's website, various social media platforms, and through targeted letters to public and private sector organizations.

Pay Equity Commissioner:

• Under the direction of the Pay Equity Commissioner, the Pay Equity Unit promoted proactive compliance by providing workplace parties with the tools, guidance and resources they need to develop their pay equity plan and comply with the Pay Equity Act. We developed and launched several educational tools, including: a pay equity webinar that provides an overview of the various steps involved in creating a pay equity plan; a Pay Equity Plan Toolkit for small and medium employers; tailored Technical Briefings providing introductory information as well as answers to complex questions; a bilingual, self-guided online course set to be completed and available free of charge by winter 2023; and various documents to provide interpretation, policies, policy guidance, and guidelines to workplace parties.
• We launched the Pay Equity Newsletter to keep stakeholders updated on the latest guidance and resources to help support pay equity work.
• We also delivered a stakeholder survey focusing on identifying and understanding the pay equity readiness of, and challenges facing federally regulated organizations across Canada.
• We continued to work with the Labour Program of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), in the development of the Pay Equity Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs) regime.

United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals

The Pay Equity Commissioner's mandate in its entirety, aims directly at advancing the following UN Sustainable Development Goals and targets:

• Goal 1: No Poverty;
• Goal 5: Gender Equality;
• Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth; and
• Target 8.5: By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and people with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value.

In addition, our work and activities under all three proactive mandates respond to Target 10.3: “Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome […]”.

Innovation

The Accessibility Unit of the Commission developed a MyAccessibility Portal, which allows to interface directly with employers from across Canada who are subject to new accessibility requirements. As described above, the new Pay Equity Portal offers similar functionality (details above under Complaints section).

Results achieved

The following table shows, for Proactive Compliance, the results achieved, the performance indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2022–23, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Endnote 8 viii}

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for Proactive Compliance, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as actual spending for that year.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Endnote 9 ix}

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2022–23.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Endnote 10 x}

Internal services

Description

Internal services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal services refer to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support program delivery in the organization, regardless of the internal services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are:

• acquisition management services
• communication services
• financial management services
• human resources management services
• information management services
• information technology services
• legal services
• material management services
• management and oversight services
• real property management services

Results

The recent addition of new mandates within the Commission has resulted in high demand and pressure on its internal services.

Over the past year, the Commission took steps to support the move to a hybrid workplace by carrying out some infrastructure upgrades to improve the reliability of the remote access system, to improve connectivity and to allow hybrid meetings.

The Commission continued its work on the development of various case management systems with test cases for Pay Equity and Accessibility being presented by end of March 2023, and testing being carried out for the new Legal Case module at year end.

To advance Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Public Service and at the Commission, we have actively promoted ongoing learning and self-awareness initiatives and activities to support diversity, including by:

• Providing ongoing training and internal learning events to staff and Governor in Council appointees to deepen understanding; increase awareness and discussion about: implicit bias; anti-racism; ableism; Islamophobia; antisemitism; inclusive language; intergenerational and Residential School trauma; and colonialism.
• Providing specialized training and tools for Commission staff responsible for screening, analyzing and assessing discrimination complaints that allege racism, including training on micro-aggressions and ableism.
• Regularly sharing ongoing research by the Commission's Library Services, as well as relevant media scans by the Commission's Communications Division with our staff to provide the most up-to-date anti-racism, inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility literature, and other resources available to enhance staff competencies and support a diverse and inclusive work environment.

To support physical and psychological health and safety at the Commission:

• In November 2022, we held Employee Assistance Services (EAS) information sessions offered to all staff that provided an overview of the EAS and other wellness supports at their disposal such as Life Speak, SOS, Ombuds, Informal Conflict Management and the pocketwealth application available to all Canadians.

Lastly, to maintain support for sustainable pay management at the Commission, in December 2022, we provided managers with interactive refresher sessions on how to use Phoenix and approve employee timesheets.

Contracts awarded to Indigenous businesses

The Commission was a Phase 2 organization and aiming to achieve the minimum 5% target by the end of 2022–23.

The Commission has integrated Indigenous considerations into the departmental planning function for procurement and the Commission exceeded this target for 2022–23. Over 25% of the Commission's contracts were awarded to businesses led by Indigenous peoples.

The Commission will use the Public Services and Procurement Canada's (PSPC) Standing Offers and Supply Arrangements (SOSA) application to view detailed information on existing standing offers or supply arrangements, including the ability to filter results to search for Indigenous businesses.

In selecting suppliers, the Commission has and will use set-asides for professional services under the Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business (e.g., THS, ProServices, SPTS, TBIPS): as an optional set-aside, only qualified Indigenous firms are invited to bid on the contract, and as a conditional set-aside, all qualified firms are invited to bid.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for internal services, budgetary spending for 2022–23, as well as spending for that year.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full-time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to carry out its internal services for 2022–23.

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Spending and human resources

Spending

Spending 2020-21 to 2025-26

The following graph presents planned (voted and statutory spending) over time

The increase starting in 2019–20 and continuing until 2022–23 is mainly due to an increase in funding for three new programs: Accessible Canada Act, Pay Equity Act, and the National Housing Strategy Act. Starting in 2023–24 funding decreases again in line with decreases in the National Housing Strategy Act funding.

Budgetary performance summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

The “Budgetary performance summary for core responsibilities and internal services” table presents the budgetary financial resources allocated for the Commission's core responsibilities and for internal services.

The actual spending of $39.4 million in 2022-23 increased by $3.6 million compared to actual spending of $35.8 million in 2021-22. The increase is attributable to spending related to increased authorities received for 2022-23 and the continued growth in Commission staff to support the Pay Equity Act, the Accessible Canada Act, and the National Housing Strategy Act. Significant investments were also made to modernize the Commission's case management systems and to improve the accessibility of the Commission's office space. The increase in planned spending for 2022-23 is primarily attributable to additional funding received in support of the Accessible Canada Act and the National Housing Strategy Act; and the decrease in 2023- 24 is in line with a decrease in funding for the Federal Housing Advocate.

2022-23 Budgetary actual gross spending summary (dollars)

The following table reconciles gross planned spending with net spending for 2022-23.

The Commission provides internal support services to certain other small government departments and agencies such as finance, human resources, acquisition, and information technology services. These internal support services agreements are recorded as revenues as per section 29.2 of the Financial Administration Act.

Human resources

The “Human resources summary for core responsibilities and internal services” table presents the full-time equivalents (FTEs) allocated to each of the Commission's core responsibilities and to internal services.

The number of FTEs increased significantly from 2020-21 to 2021-22, but has levelled off in 2022–23. FTEs had been increasing over the past three fiscal years because of funding received for three new programs: Accessible Canada Act, Pay Equity Act, and the National Housing Strategy. The number of FTEs is anticipated to remain close to 2022–23 levels for 2023-24, and then gradually decrease as funding for the National Housing Strategy Act declines.

Expenditures by vote

For information on the Commission's, organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada.^{Endnote 11 xi}

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of the Commission's spending with Government of Canada's spending and activities is available in GC InfoBase.^{Endnote 12 xii}

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial statements

The Commission's financial statements (unaudited)^{Endnote 13 xiii} for the year ended March 31, 2023, are available on the Commission's website.

Financial statement highlights

The 2022–23 planned results information is provided in the Commission's 2022–23 Future-Oriented Condensed Statement of Operations^{Endnote 14 xiv}.

The 2022–23 planned results information is provided in the Commission's 2022–23 Future-Oriented Condensed Statement of Operations^{Endnote 15 xv}.

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Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister[s]: The Honourable Arif Virani, P.C., M.P.

Institutional head: (Interim Chief Commissioner) Deputy Chief Commissioner Charlotte-Anne Malischewski

1. Ministerial portfolio: Justice
   Enabling instrument[s]: Canadian Human Rights Act^{Endnote 16 xvi} and the Employment Equity Act^{Endnote 17 xvii}
2. Ministerial portfolio: Labour
   Enabling instrument: Pay Equity Act^{Endnote 18 xviii}
3. Ministerial portfolio: Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages
   Enabling instrument: Accessible Canada Act^{Endnote 19 xix}
4. Ministerial portfolio: Housing
   Enabling instrument: National Housing Strategy Act^{Endnote 20 xx}

Year of incorporation / commencement: 1977

Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

The Canadian Human Rights Commission was established in 1977 under Schedule I.1 of the Financial Administration Act in accordance with the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA). The Commission leads the administration of the CHRA and works with employers to ensure compliance with the Employment Equity Act (EEA). The CHRA prohibits discrimination and the EEA promotes equality in the workplace. Under the leadership of the Pay Equity Commissioner and the Accessibility Commissioner, the Commission is also responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Pay Equity Act (PEA) and the Accessible Canada Act (ACA). These laws apply the principles of equal opportunity and non-discrimination to federal government departments and agencies, Crown corporations, and federally-regulated private sector organizations. Finally, the Commission provides the Federal Housing Advocate with administrative services and facilities to support their duties and functions.

“Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do”^{Endnote 21 xxi} is also available on the Commission's website.

Operating context

Information on the operating context^{Endnote 22 xxii} is available on the Commission's website.

Reporting framework

The Commission's departmental results framework and program inventory of record for 2022–23 are shown below.

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Supporting information on the program inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for the Commission's program inventory is available in GC InfoBase.^{Endnote 23 xxiii}

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Supplementary information tables

• Reporting on Green Procurement^{Endnote 24 xxiv}
• Gender-based analysis plus^{Endnote 25 xxv}
• Response to parliamentary committees and external audits^{Endnote 26 xxvi}

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Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures^{Endnote 27 xxvii}. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs as well as evaluations and GBA Plus of tax expenditures.

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Organizational contact information

Canadian Human Rights Commission
344 Slater Street, 8th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1E1

Telephone: 613-995-1151
Toll Free: 1-888-214-1090
TTY: 1-888-643-3304
Fax: 613-996-9661

Website: https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/en^{Endnote 28 xxviii}
Twitter: @CdnHumanRights^{Endnote 29 xxix}
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CanadianHumanRightsCommission^{Endnote 30 xxx}

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Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3-year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority (priorité)

A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments' immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that connects the department's core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department's actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the full-time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person's collective agreement.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS Plus])

An analytical tool used to support the development of responsive and inclusive policies, programs and other initiatives; and understand how factors such as sex, race, national and ethnic origin, Indigenous origin or identity, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic conditions, geography, culture and disability, impact experiences and outcomes, and can affect access to and experience of government programs.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2022–23 Departmental Results Report, government-wide priorities are the high-level themes outlining the government's agenda in the November 23, 2021, Speech from the Throne: building a healthier today and tomorrow; growing a more resilient economy; bolder climate action; fighter harder for safer communities; standing up for diversity and inclusion; moving faster on the path to reconciliation; and fighting for a secure, just and equitable world.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)

The process of communicating evidence-based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision-making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in Main Estimates.
A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all the department's programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department's core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)

A consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization's influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.

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