Statistics Canada

Goal setting

Question 1

Has your organization set goals (for fiscal year 2023-2024 or future fiscal years) for recruiting and promoting Indigenous peoples and Black and other racialized people?

• My organization has set recruitment goals for:
  • Indigenous peoples
  • Racialized people
• My organization has set promotion goals for:
  • Indigenous employees
  • Racialized employees

Please provide details and/or examples, including what your organization is using to set its goals (e.g., operational priorities, labour market availability [LMA], population data, workforce availability [WFA]), and how these goals are communicated to employees, if applicable. What has been the most helpful in advancing towards the goals you have set? What challenges, if any, have you encountered?

Further to the agency’s 2021-2025 Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan, recruitment and promotion goals were aligned with workforce availability (WFA).

A report entitled the Employment Equity (EE) Progress Report is shared on a quarterly basis with all Statistics Canada employees and management, where they can review the progression of EE data at the organizational level. The report includes targets for each of the data points (representation, hires, promotions, etc.) based on WFA numbers provided by the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS). Through a centralized portal, employees and management can access this dynamic report and are able to navigate through the 4 EE groups, in addition to disaggregate the data by sub-EE group and Occupational group.

Statistics Canada executives are provided with an additional report entitled the Diversity Report which shares EE data presented at the divisional level. Executives can review information about their own workforce and targets. This information is refreshed daily.

Note: Since targets are based on WFA, there are currently no targets for Black Employees in these reports.

The agency is working on a product called the Employee Journey Map. It is a storyline with milestones and data points that highlights the areas of progress and areas of improvement all throughout the employee journey, from attraction to recruitment (new hire rate), onboarding (workplace accommodation rate, values and ethics), retention (public service employee survey results, promotion rates), and exit/offboarding (exit survey, public service employee survey results). This product is being produced for the 4 EE groups and Black employees. The aim is to develop the product annually to allow for comparison from year to year.

With respect to challenges, in November 2023, Statistics Canada integrated 1700 employees from the former separate agency Statistical Survey Operations (SSO). With the integration of this workforce, the agency’s population and demographics shifted, in addition to changing the workforce availability rates. As result of this integration, the agency is working on a renewed self-ID campaign and working to address emerging gaps. The agency’s largest gap for visible minorities and persons with disabilities is at the CR-03 level.

Question 2

Has your organization set goals to foster greater inclusion (for fiscal year 2023-2024 or future fiscal years)?

• My organization has set goals to foster greater inclusion.

Please provide details and/or examples, including which metrics or data your organization is using, if applicable (e.g., your Public Service Employee Survey results, pulse surveys, exit interviews, human resources administrative data).

The 2021-2025 Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan, set the following outcomes:

• Outcome 1: A diverse workforce
  • An agency that reflects the identities, abilities, backgrounds, cultures, skills, perspectives, and experiences that are representative of Canada’s current and evolving population.
• Outcome 2: Inclusion  
  • An inclusive work environment that fosters a sense of belonging and is fair, equitable, supportive, welcoming, and respectful. 

As mentioned above, the Employment Equity (EE) Progress Report is a tool that all employees have access to so they can view the updated the demographics of the department. The agency is frequently looking at the reports to understand how the department is represented in relation to workforce availability (WFA) and what actions can be taken to be more inclusive.

The EDI Action Plan has core indicators and goals for diversity and inclusion.

Diversity goals: 

• Representation and hiring rates proportionate to WFA
• Promotion rates for EE groups in comparison to non-EE groups
• Separation rate analysis
• Self-identification response rate

Inclusion goals:

• Drop-off analysis in staffing processes
• Proportion of employees who have completed mandatory awareness training
• Health of the agency (through Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) results and Employee Wellness Survey (EWS) results)

The PSES results are disaggregated and analyzed by EE group informing the agency of trends within the current and previous fiscal years. This information is then shared with the EDI team in addition to all the EE group networks.

Additionally, in 2021 and 2023, the agency launched its Employee Wellness Survey (EWS) covering various themes, where the 2023 version included inclusion related themes such as Workplace incivility, Workgroup inclusion and Team psychological safety. These results are also disaggregated and analyzed by EE group (including for Black employees).

Information from both PSES and EWS inform the development and implementation of programs and services to continuously improve on the health and inclusion within the agency.

Lastly, the agency is exploring the piloting of the Privy Council Office’s (PCO’s) inclusion framework established through the Call to Action working group to which Statistics Canada participates at the Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) and working levels.

Measuring progress

Question 3

Has your organization developed an approach for measuring progress towards your established goals? 

How is the approach being implemented within your organization (e.g., how is it communicated to employees? What are the roles of executive team members including the Chief Data Officer and Head of Audit and Evaluation and regional management if applicable? How are you reporting on results and outcomes both internally and externally?)?

The agency is measuring the progress of the following core indicators and goals for diversity and inclusion which are included in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan:

• Representation and hiring rates proportionate to workforce availability (WFA):
  • Appointments are measured on whether employment equity (EE) candidates are hired in proportion to WFA.
• Promotion rates for EE groups in comparison to non-EE groups:
  • The promotion rate at a minimum should be comparative to non-EE groups members for EX-level appointments.
  • The length of time spent in a substantive position for EE members should be comparative to non-EE group members.
• Separation rate analysis:
  • The Exit Survey responses have shown that the number of EE employees leaving for another department has been reducing.
• Self-identification response rate:
  • Over the last 2 years, representation has increased across all groups and previous gaps were closed. The Agency welcomed 1722 Statistical Survey Operations (SSO) employees in November 2023. Since then, the overall self-identification rate fell from 87.5% to its current position of 79.4%. Self-identification awareness is underway for SSO employees and new hires.
• Drop-off analysis in staffing processes:
  • This is being monitored for recent PE-03, CR-03 and EC-07 processes. This information will allow the agency to modify its processes to ensure inclusion of EE groups applying on jobs.
• Proportion of employees who have completed mandatory awareness training:
  • a mandatory 5-hour training requirement for EDI Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) courses in all employee’s performance agreements.
• Health of the agency:
  • There have been improvements about the health in the agency through the Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) which the agency continues to use as ways to make changes where needed.

The EDI team in collaboration with the Human Resources Business Intelligence (HRBI) team creates Quarterly Employe Equity (EE) progress reports that are shared with all employees. The report is sent out to all staff and to the bargaining agents by the Head of Human Resources (HR) of Statistics Canada.

Executives (EXs) play a critical role in EDI progress as part of the agency’s commitment to advancing employment equity, diversity and inclusion. Statistics Canada’s 5 EE Employee networks are championed by Executives from across the agency. The Chief Statistician (CS) plays an active role in setting direction and communication to executives and employees, by sending out all staff communications on EDI initiatives, integrating his perspectives into the vision of the agency and sharing this vision during all staff meetings, EX townhalls. Both the CS and Assistant Chief Statisticians are active in several Government of Canada (GoC) fora.

As mentioned, Statistics Canada executives are provided with an additional report entitled the Diversity Report which shares EE data presented at the divisional level. Executives can review information about their own workforce and targets which is refreshed daily. This allows them to easily view their divisional progress with EE data.

Consequential accountability

Question 4

How is your organization using performance management and/or talent management processes to establish accountability for results?

• Quantitative goals are part of performance management agreements. 
• Qualitative objectives are in performance management agreements.
• Progress towards representation and inclusion goals is part of the criteria for being considered for talent management.
• A lack of progress towards representation and inclusion goals results in consequences.

Please provide details about how performance management and/or talent management processes are being used to establish accountability for results.

Statistics Canada has developed an Executive Performance Management Scorecard, which leverages quantitative data to inform the performance management process and ratings for executives. The Scorecard includes indicators related to self-identification, representation and hiring of employment equity group members. Scorecard results are available to Executives in a dashboard and are updated monthly to support:

• Executives in tracking against commitments and expectations
• Managers in providing feedback and determining performance ratings

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) goals are included in Executive performance management agreements, expanding on the following common commitment:

• Supporting and actively contributing to the agency’s EDI and accessibility action plans to address barriers, prevent the creation of new ones and foster a culture of bilingualism, accessibility awareness, and inclusion

If there is a lack of progress towards representation and inclusion goals, there are consequences on the executive's individual final score, which may impact their final performance rating.

Specific, tangible actions outlined in the forward direction of the Call to Action

Question 5

Have you, as head of your organization, and/or your executive teams sponsored at least two Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees to prepare them for leadership roles?

• I have sponsored at least two Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees to prepare them for leadership roles.
• My executive team has sponsored at least two Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees to prepare them for leadership roles.

Please provide details about the nature of sponsorship that you and/or your executive team have provided, along with other programs, such as mentorship or leadership development, if applicable.  

To align with the Government of Canada’s Sponsorship initiative, in accordance with the Call to Action and based on TBS’ Mentorship Plus program, Statistics Canada launched the first cohort of the Sponsorship program in August 2023. This first cohort was open to Statistics Canada employees across the country who self-identified as Black and other racialized people, Indigenous persons, and Persons with disabilities.

The goal is to support members of those EE groups by providing advocacy opportunities using the “Take Me with You” approach, to better support leadership development. Deliberately designed as a smaller cohort, 12 matches were made with Director or Director General (DG) level Sponsors, to allow for the agency to learn and adapt the program as it went along.

As the program progressed, the agency wanted to ensure that protégés also had access to Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM) level sponsors, therefore it expanded the program to launch cohort two in February 2024. This cohort resulted in 19 matches and the Chief Statistician is sponsoring two of those employees.

Going forward, both cohorts (total of 31 matches) will benefit from the same programming (events, reference materials, etc..); graduation dates for cohort one will be in December 2024 and cohort two in April 2025.

Question 6

Have you, as head of your organization, personally endorsed at least one recruitment campaign for Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees?

• I have personally endorsed at least one recruitment campaign for:
  • Indigenous employees
  • Black employees
  • Racialized employees

Please provide details.

The agency has endorsed one recruitment campaign for a PE-03 recruitment process for Indigenous employees, Black employees, and other racialized employees. The process launched in March 2024 with the intent of establishing a pool of qualified candidates for future opportunities. There were 22 applicants in total and the pre-screening is currently underway. Here is the breakdown of the applicants:

Additionally, drop-off monitoring will be employed at all assessment milestones to gain insights and to inform immediate and future improvements to our selection processes.

Statistics Canada’s Centre for Indigenous Statistics and Partnerships (CISP) Division has its own strategy for prioritizing the hiring of Indigenous employees for selection processes both internally and externally.

Question 7

Has your organization prioritized official language training for Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees who are ready for advancement?

• My organization has prioritized official language training for:
  • Indigenous employees
  • Black employees
  • Racialized employees

How is your organization prioritizing official language training?

The agency has prioritized official language (OL) training for Indigenous employees, Black employees, and Racialized employees.

The agency has: 

• Enhanced operational planning through Human Resources (HR) business partners and management to identify employees from employment equity (EE) groups who are early in their careers and require language training.
• Reserved spaces in OL training programs for employees from EE groups.
• Dedicated funding to prioritize second language training for EE employees.
• Prioritized employees who self-identified as part of an EE group for 100 training spots available in January 2024.

Employees are provided tools on the agency’s internal website to aid in their learning, in addition to the learning product catalogue on the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) site.

Does your organization offer access to Indigenous language training or have plans to offer access? Please provide details. 

To date, there is no offer of Indigenous language training at Statistics Canada.

Question 8

Has your organization provided support and/or invested resources for organizational employee networks and communities?

• Engagement with employees and employee networks in my organization’s decision-making is meaningful and regular.
• Governance structures are in place to support employee networks and communities (e.g., champions, champions/chairs participate at management tables).
• Material supports are provided for employee networks and communities (e.g., dedicated funding, FTE support, allowing time to engage in activities).

Please provide additional detail about how your organization engages with and supports employee networks and communities.

In the fiscal year 2023-2024, the agency’s Diversity Forum meetings were re-launched. This forum brings the Champions of EE Networks (Visible Minority Consultative Group, Indigenous Advisory Circle, Women’s Subcommittee, Persons with Disabilities Committee, and the Positive Space Committee), their Secretariats and the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) team together on a quarterly basis to enable consultations, collaborate and exchange on new initiatives. This forum serves as the foundation to establish the multi-year EDI action plan. This is one example of how the agency is creating an inclusive environment by involving the agency at various levels of the organization.

The Agency set aside $10,000 in fiscal year 2023-2024 to support initiatives implemented by the Employment Equity networks which included:

1. A presentation and Question and Answer (Q&A) session organized by the Visible Minority Consultative Group (VMCG) with Dr. Helen Ofosu (PhD, MA), career coach and author, on February 13, 2024. She provided career insights and general career coaching. This was open to members of all EE networks.
2. The Indigenous Advisory Circle hosted the Pow wow step groove workshop on June 23, 2023. In this workshop, participants were guided through modern Pow Wow drum music sampled and remixed with techno/house. A mix of traditional dance movements mixed with hip hop and contemporary dance movements. This session allowed employees to experience some First Nations dance and culture.
3. The Women’s sub-committee had a session on November 24, 2023, with 2 representatives from local Ottawa women shelters. They spoke to employees about the work they do, the critical role they play in the lives of women and their children in times of great need. This was in the context of December 6th National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.
4. The budget is also leveraged by the networks for their Official Languages translation requirements to promote their events.

Question 9

Has anti-racism, equity and inclusion work been embedded in your organization’s integrated business plan and/or mental health plan?

• Anti-racism, equity and inclusion work has been embedded in the organizational plan.
• Work is underway on our integrated business plan and/or mental health plan to embed anti-racism, equity and inclusion work.

The agency’s strategic plan (the “one plan”) includes a set of 4 priorities, including the need to shape a healthy, diverse and skilled workforce to meet the current and future needs of Canadians.

The strategic plan also outlines a key objective to help achieve this priority – the creation of a diverse workplace that is inclusive and respectful, accommodating and that leverages our differences.

The agency’s 2021-2025 Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan further outlines the specific actions that will be taken to address anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion.

Further to the agency’s latest 2023 Employee Wellness Survey (EWS) results, the agency is also in the process of developing an updated mental health strategy to address the survey results and any gaps.  

Question 10

Does your organization have a calendar to avoid holding major meetings and events during significant religious, spiritual, and cultural periods?

• Work is underway to develop this calendar at my organization.

If the calendar already exists, please provide additional details on how this calendar is communicated or promoted within your organization.  

The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) team is leveraging a Multicultural Calendar shared with departments at the Human Resources Council (HRC) meeting in April 2024. The agency is creating a similar calendar in collaboration with counterparts in Communications and through consultation with the Employment Equity (EE) networks. The calendar will inform management on upcoming significant religious, spiritual, and cultural periods and which times to avoid holding major events. This calendar will be hosted on the internal website to ensure visibility and accessibility for all employees. At the beginning of each month, a message will go to all staff outlining the EDI commemorative dates and highlighting the dates to avoid scheduling large meetings or events.

Lastly, the team is exploring the integration of this cultural calendar within the organization's Outlook calendar system, ensuring visibility and accessibility for all employees.

Additional information about your organization’s ongoing initiatives 

Question 11

What are two or three specific barriers that you have faced in advancing work on the Call to Action?

Please provide two or three examples.

While the agency has made great progress on a number of initiatives, some barriers do exist.

1. For Official Language (OL) requirements, there are concerns about language as a structural barrier for employment equity (EE) groups (specifically indigenous and visible minority groups) and the lack of available training opportunities. As the modernization of the OL Act includes the CBC requirement for supervisory positions, this can be a barrier for EE groups.
    
   The agency has a plan for 2024-25 and 2025-26 which articulates its OL landscape and communicates its prioritization of access to language training in accordance with OCHRO'S considerations when planning access to language training guidance. The OL team will launch a new OL policy and multi-year plan which will provide consistent direction on the use of BBB vs CBC positions, use of non-imperative appointments, impact on EE groups and how training priorities are implemented.
2. A lack of data for certain groups, such as 2SLGBTQIA+ and religious minorities, creates challenges and potential barriers. Without knowing the number of employees who identify as part of these groups, it is difficult to understand their unique lived realities, and put forward actions to support them.

Question 12

Recognizing that employees often have multiple identities, what actions is your organization undertaking to support Indigenous employees and Black and other racialized employees who are also members of other communities, such as persons with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and religious minorities who face compounding barriers of discrimination?

Please provide details.

The agency has several networks and committees that welcome Statistics Canada employees to volunteer and become a member. The committees available are:

• The Indigenous Advisory Committee
• Visible Minorities Consultative Group
• Women’s Subcommittee
• 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion – Positive Space Initiative
• Persons with Disabilities Committee
• Gender Based Analysis (GBA) Plus

Employees are also encouraged to become members of the many diversity and inclusion networks available in the public service, such as:

• Public Service Pride Network
• Network of Asian Federal Employees
• Muslim Federal Employees Network
• Jewish Public Servants Network
• Network for Neurodivergent Public Servants

Additionally, the Agency has:

• Implemented a centralized point of contact for accommodations.
• Encouraged employees to identify pronouns in email signatures.
• Shared communications about the importance of using gender-inclusive language.
• Given multiple sessions on inclusive writing, using power point live.
• Opened EE networks to any employee.

The agency is a key partner in enabling GBA Plus for the Government of Canada. GBA Plus data accessibility and availability has been enhanced through the Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics Hub. As well, many portals shedding perspective on the ‘Plus’ are now integrated within the Hub. These portals include Accessibility and Disability, Immigration Statistics, Social Inclusion, Care economy, etc. This is a great starting point that provides a wide range of indicators, research, and analytical reports on diverse population groups to promote intersectional analyses.

The Agency is continuously working to improve and expand data collection allowing for greater opportunities for disaggregation within key population groups using flagship surveys:

• The Labour Force Survey (LFS) - monthly employment and unemployment rates for Canadians in addition to information about Canada's working-age population such as hours of work, industry, occupation, and wages;
• The Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) - perception of physical and mental health state, on chronic conditions, the use of health care services, and behaviors related to health such as smoking, physical activity, consumption of fruits and vegetables and alcohol use in addition to a variety of socio-demographics that allow for health analysis for specific population groups (by age groups, geography, etc.), and;
• The General Social Survey - highlights the experiences of women, indigenous peoples, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, visible minorities, and Canadians with disabilities.

This data helps build a more equitable Canada by bringing fairness and inclusivity to decision making.

Question 13

In your first year of implementing the forward direction of the Call to Action, what impact has this work had on the culture of your organization?

Please provide the two or three most important impacts. 

The implementation of the forward direction of the Call to Action has made an impact on the employee workforce in several ways, namely:

1. Creating meaningful opportunities for engagement and dialogue with senior leaders
   • Implementation of Cohort 1 & 2 of the Sponsorship program: The agency deliberately started with a small cohort to inform future cohorts with their feedback, most agreed they were already making progress towards their goals thanks to their sponsor’s advice.  
   • In addition to the direct relationship with their sponsors, protégés have also been afforded the opportunity to participate in special events such as an Ask Me Anything session with the former Chief Statistician Anil Arora in the month before his retirement. Many participants shared how meaningful it was to have an event organized for them and to have such direct contact with their Deputy Head and senior executives.
   • Testimonial: One participant shared “I would like to start by thanking the Team for putting (the Matching Event) together. It is really appreciated. Certainly, this is not an everyday opportunity to have such dedicated time with senior colleagues to discuss at length.”
2. Leveraging and sharing data
   • Leveraging EE data through the Executive Scorecard, the Employment Equity Progress Report, and the Diversity Report, and making this information widely accessible to Directors and/or all employees, has increased transparency, encouraged dialogue, and reinforced the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion as a critical part of our organization’s strategy and our organizational culture