Jamie Sarkonak Profile picture
Writing about cultural policy and federal governance in Canada. Opinions: @nationalpost

Jun 11, 2024, 9 tweets

The federal government is consulting Canadians on future revisions to the Employment Equity Act until the end of July. The law mandates identity-based hiring practices in the federal government, its agencies, and its contractors.

I've pulled some highlights:

Consultation documents raise the possibility of defining the identity groups currently covered in the EEA. So, "women" is up for a re-definition (my bet is they'll expressly state that this group includes anyone who self-IDs as a woman).

The resurrected Law Commission of Canada will likely be tasked with pondering more groups to add to the preferred hiring list (Muslims have been raised as a possibility by the task force mentioned).

The Commission also has its own diversity preferences, btw.

And finally, here are the questions being asked in the consultation:
1/4

2/ Point 9 is interesting: There's interest in adopting a flexible approach to defining LGBT, given that the language is always evolving.

3/ Point 11 is also interesting: More hints that some people in the government hope to expand the EEA to include religious preferences in federal hiring.

4/4 These last questions indicate that self-identification forms could become more heavy-handed, and that EEA administrative overhead could grow even more (mandatory, annual surveys).

The consultation documents can be requested from the feds, but they aren't available online.
More info: canada.ca/en/employment-…

When I emailed them, it took a couple of days for them to get back to me with the document. I'm happy to forward my copy to anyone who wants.

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