Draft Anti-Racism Action Plan

Introducing Our Anti-Racism Action Plan

The Canadian Human Rights Commission (the Commission) is dedicated to meeting the highest standards of equality and non-discrimination, anti-racism, inclusion, dignity and respect. We are committed to listening, learning and taking meaningful action to bring about lasting anti-racist organizational change.

The Anti-Racism Action Plan will guide all aspects of the Commission’s anti-racism work. It is based on suggestions and input from Commission employees and external stakeholders.

The Commission’s Anti-Racism Action Plan is a working document. As we go forward, we will update the plan to reflect the path we chart together.

The Action Plan is built on four commitments:

1. Being open, clear and accountable
2. Advancing equity and inclusion
3. Improving access to justice
4. Advocating for change

In July 2020, the Commission appointed a senior member of the executive leadership team, to steer the development of this Action Plan and to work with staff and other key partners to ensure its implementation.

The Commission is also seeking support from professional anti-racism experts who have experience in assessing and fostering anti-racist, equitable and inclusive workplaces. The Commission also continues to consult with the unions on matters related to the workplace.

Working on anti-racist organizational change is not a single act or decision – it is an ongoing commitment that must continuously shape our thinking, decision-making, and actions.

Four Commitments for Anti-Racist Organizational Change

Commitment: Being open, clear and accountable

We are committed to transparency and accountability in our efforts to bring about anti-racist organizational change.

The Commission will:

• Continue to review, update and amend the Action Plan, on an ongoing basis.
• Establish an Internal Black Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) Consultation Committee to provide input on the Commission’s anti-racism work.
• Establish a national network of anti-racism stakeholder organizations and individuals to inform the Commission’s work.
• Establish an external and independent mechanism to screen discrimination complaints filed against the Commission.
• Require Branch leads to report on Action Plan progress in their portfolios.
• Report publicly on the Commission’s anti-racism work.

Commitment: Advancing equity and inclusion

We are committed to fostering an inclusive and welcoming workplace that represents Canada’s diversity and that promotes a sense of value and belonging for all employees.

The Commission will:

• Adopt measures to identify and remove barriers to full workplace equity for Indigenous, Black, and other racialized employees in all areas including:
  • Hiring
  • Promotion
  • Performance Evaluation
  • Mentoring
  • Training
  • Representation at the managerial and executive levels
• Undertake actions to ensure that the Commission provides and maintains a working environment that promotes dignity, respect and safety for all employees. This work includes, but is not limited to: 
  • Ongoing training on implicit bias, intersectional discrimination, and microaggression.
  • Culturally appropriate supports and health services for Indigenous, Black and racialized employees, with particular emphasis on supports for discrimination related trauma.
  • Work to identify and address gaps in managerial capacity to engage on issues of racism as they arise in the workplace.
• Prioritize the prevention of renewed or re-triggered trauma or alienation, and that we take the steps needed to mediate those discussions appropriately, as needed, within an anti-racism framework.
• Provide resources to ensure organizational awareness of major religious, cultural or spiritual observances. 

Commitment: Improving access to justice

We are committed to improving our complaint screening process, with a focus on complaints from Indigenous, Black and other racialized people. The Commission will take a comprehensive anti-racist approach to the following key access to justice elements:

• Complaint screening processes: Enhance our online complaint form, employee training and complaint screening tools and processes to:
  • Ensure the process is accessible to everyone.
  • Gather comprehensive evidence as early as possible.
  • Incorporate the expertise and lived experience of Indigenous, Black, and other racialized employees.
• Data collection: Improve data collection processes to:
  • Retroactively record and analyse race-based data from past complaints.
  • Capture disaggregated race-based data for all new complaints.
  • Report on the outcomes of complaints based on the ground(s) of race, colour and/or national or ethnic origin.
• Legal support and strategy: Leverage policy and legal resources to:
  • Provide legal and policy support to the complaints screening process.
  • Participate in the litigation of systemic racism cases to the full extent that resources allow.
  • Include a number of areas of intersectional focus within the litigation strategy

Commitment: Advocating for change

We are committed to speaking out on human rights issues and to promoting equality, antiracism, respect and inclusion in all aspects of life in Canada.

The Commission will:

• Advocate for the modernization of the Employment Equity Act and continue to advocate for the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to provide disaggregated employment equity data.
• Participate in public dialogue and initiatives regarding dismantling systemic racism in Canada, including intersectional issues that arise in the fields of pay equity and the right to housing.
• Ensure that the Commission’s monitoring of Canada’s implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities applies an intersectional lens, which includes the perspectives of Indigenous, Black, and other racialized people.
• Release a guide on special programs^{Footnote 1}, which includes consideration of the situations faced by Black, Indigenous or People of Colour (BIPOC) or other groups experiencing socio-economic disadvantage.