Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
Letter on Implementation of the Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion

Summer 2021 update

Dear Ms. Charette:

It is with great pleasure that I address this letter to you outlining the response of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to the Privy Council’s Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service.

We know that diversity and inclusion are fundamental to everything we do at the CNSC – strengthening safety culture, spurring innovation and collaboration, and supporting better decision making. We are all better when diverse voices are a part of the conversation. At the CNSC, greater diversity will ensure that we are equipped to achieve regulatory excellence and deliver on our mandate. As a result, we have taken a multifaceted approach in our efforts to foster and maintain an equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace. It is vital that we all play an active role and are allies to marginalized groups.

Reflecting on the past year, there have been many learning opportunities for us as an organization as we continue to navigate these unprecedented times. I could not be more proud of our organization and the work we are doing. Yet we know there is always more to do to ensure that our employees and leadership represent the broader Canadian population and we will not lose sight of this.

Our journey to create a safe, healthy and respectful organization has taken many paths. There have been many tangible changes across the organization that I am pleased to share with you. Below is a brief look at what we have achieved together, what we have learned and what is next for our organization.

What we have done

• We have enabled and advanced the work of grassroots networks within the public service by facilitating the launch of 3 employee-led networks. The Black Employees Network, the Indigenous Network and the Women in STEM Network aim to create a safe and inclusive environment where everyone feels free to voice their opinions, while contributing to organizational priorities. These networks have been welcoming to all, providing a safe space for deep learning and, at times, provocative conversations that are both inspirational and groundbreaking within the CNSC culture.
• We have enabled and encouraged our staff to learn about racism, reconciliation, accessibility, equity and inclusion by incorporating these elements into our organizational learning activities and all-staff events, as well as by highlighting available training. Our leadership team has led by example by actively participating in these activities, while leaving space for staff to learn and grow.
• We lead by example within the nuclear sector, the federal public service and beyond. We are spearheading initiatives at the national and international levels to improve equity, diversity and inclusion, and leveraging opportunities at speaking engagements and events to highlight the work we are doing and the paramount importance of equity, diversity and inclusion within the nuclear sector. Nationally, we became the first government agency to take the BlackNorth pledge against anti-Black systemic racism. Internationally, we have teamed up with other leaders in the nuclear community to convene the Driving Advancement of Women in Nuclear group, which strives to empower women to establish and grow their careers in the nuclear sector.
• We have transformed our recruitment tactics to combat all forms of racism, discrimination and other barriers to inclusive hiring at the CNSC. We have also led and continue to actively participate in initiatives that drive change.
• We have tools in place to measure progress and drive improvements in the employee workplace experience by capitalizing on data received from the Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) as well as our own internal surveys. 
• We have greatly increased our internal and external communications to raise awareness and promote government-wide initiatives. Our social media platforms have highlighted many of the activities taking place at the CNSC as well as important commemorative days, such as Black History Month, National Indigenous Peoples Day, National AccessAbility Week, and International Women’s Day, to name only a few.
• We have used tools such as Gender-Based Analysis Plus, and we continue to apply this lens to all of our work in our ongoing efforts towards creating and maintaining inclusive and accessible programs, policies and services. This includes our efforts to support employees while they work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic and our plans for returning to and reimagining our workplaces. 

What we have learned

Our commitment to having an inclusive workplace means that we must ask questions respectfully, listen to responses without interrupting, and genuinely seek to understand the perspectives of others, recognizing that our own perspective is only one part of the story.

Last year, the 2020 PSES allowed us to seek feedback from our staff on a variety of topics, including diversity and inclusion. The survey featured 6 questions on diversity and inclusion, and 4 new questions on anti-racism. The addition of these new questions provided further insight as to how our staff perceive our culture and actions. The results were, for the most part, positive, demonstrating that our staff feel valued, respected, and empowered to speak about discrimination and racism in the workplace without fear of reprisal. The results also revealed that we need to improve how we support victims of discrimination, which is something our senior management team is actively addressing.

As we continue to combat racism in the workplace and champion equity and inclusion, we have identified the following challenges:

• reaching those who are more resistant to change and, therefore, not likely to participate in awareness activities or training
• addressing the belief that to promote diversity and inclusion means to favour certain groups and neglect others
• effectively communicating the difference between employment equity hiring goals vs. quotas – and why we focus on the former
• helping staff to understand the importance of self-identification
• keeping staff engaged and informed on anti-racism, equity, diversity and inclusion issues in a remote work environment in which they already feel overwhelmed with emails, meetings, surveys, and personal challenges at home

Where we are headed

As we continue to move our organization forward and prepare for the future, it is clear that we must put our people at the heart of our approach.

We have identified 5 key pillars to help drive our efforts:

• Inclusive leadership – clarify expectations, commit to recruitment strategies to close gaps, and continue to create safe spaces for conversations.
• Workplace design – apply a gender-based analysis plus lens and approach, which includes consulting employee networks to inform decision making.
• Diversity and inclusion capability – enhance racial literacy, challenge assumptions, reflect on bias, and develop skills to identify and address microaggressions in the moment.
• Empowerment and accountability – ensure that employees and managers are equipped to navigate situations that create mistrust and undermine an inclusive workplace.
• Leadership – influence and drive change.

With these pillars in mind, we are committed to:

• attracting and retaining a diverse and capable workforce that is reflective of Canadian society. We continue to work to eliminate any systemic barriers that could prevent the CNSC from providing equitable opportunities for everyone, including those who have historically experienced discrimination.
• working diligently to maintain policies and directives that protect staff and use gender-inclusive language. We firmly believe that the policies we have in place and the new policies that are on the horizon will not only help us maintain a safe workplace, but also provide added protection for victims of racism or discrimination.
• developing tools for our management team. For example, we are developing reference materials for leaders in our organization to help them better understand equity, diversity and inclusion. These materials will also provide suggestions on how to engage staff and will explain the do’s and don’ts of fostering an equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace.

In addition, we will continue all of the important work outlined earlier. Our ongoing support, engagement, and empowerment of staff to help our organization evolve will not stop.

As an organization, we remain committed to building on the momentum we have established towards creating a workplace that is inclusive and free from harassment and discrimination, one where all employees feel their best at work, can contribute using the full range of their talents, and are comfortable raising issues. 

For myself, I continue to listen and learn. As a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of colour) female – especially in a male-dominated sector – I have had my own experiences with discrimination. I recognize that each perspective is different and only one part of the larger picture. I recently shared my thoughts with staff on the importance of education, noting that this is the best action we can take to combat racism and bigotry that is rooted in ignorance.

It feels to me as though the stars are aligning to effect real, sustainable change. While I believe we need to be realistic about the challenges that exist and those that lie ahead, we should still be bold in our aspirations. Now is the time to push forward and to bring a sense of urgency to our goals. We must continue to take concreteaction.

I thank the Privy Council Office for taking the initiative to challenge the Canadian public service in such an important way, a challenge that the CNSC is excited and ready to accept.

Rumina Velshi

Annex

What we have done, what we have learned, where we are headed

Our approach is rooted in the goals and objectives laid out in the CNSC Diversity and Inclusion Plan 2019–22. This plan was put in place to guide us in our response to the statutory requirements of the Employment Equity Act, as well as to help us reach higher with new commitments related to building an inclusive workplace that welcomes a diverse, representative and capable workforce. The plan was developed in consultation with CNSC staff and with the CNSC’s union representatives through the Nuclear Regulatory Group (NUREG) President, and was approved by our Executive Committee. It presents the following goals for our workplace:

• Maintain a diverse workforce that enables innovation.
• Create a safe, healthy and respectful workplace that is free from harassment, violence and discrimination.
• Ensure that employees feel respected, valued, safe, and empowered to contribute and grow.
• Foster inclusion through the behaviours of management and employees. 

Learning and ongoing communication

The launch of 3 employee-led networks – the Black Employees Network, the Indigenous Network and the Women in STEM Network – as well as our organizational learning activities and resources, have helped us move forward in our efforts to create a safe and inclusive work environment.

• Our Human Resources Directorate has supported the networks in the development of their governance frameworks, helping them clearly define their objectives, conceptualize supporting activities, and secure funding to support their efforts.
• We have involved each employee network in targeted focus group sessions as part of our Reimagine the Workplace initiative in order to support our efforts to be inclusive by design.
• Shortly after its inception, the Black Employees Network launched its Safe Space Speaker Series, which has become a standard across the organization for tackling difficult conversations about diversity and inclusion. The Safe Space Speaker Series has maintained exceptional employee interest, with attendance averaging between 115 and 175 participants per session, and has covered various topics such as anti-Black racism, systemic racism, policing in Canada, understanding microaggressions, and the long-term impacts of discrimination.
• Our organizational learning activities have also provided staff with the opportunity to hear from a variety of guest speakers, who have helped us learn more about such topics as the Historic Saugeen Métis, creating LGBTQ2+ inclusive work environments, working with Indigenous knowledge, and understanding neurodiversity in the workplace, to name just a few.
• Both the Safe Space Speaker Series and our organizational learning activities have provided staff with an open forum to ask questions, hear from guest speakers, and learn more about the challenges that equity-seeking groups face in Canadian society.
• The President’s Office has organized regular virtual town hall meetings throughout the pandemic to ensure that we are keeping our staff informed in these uncertain times and that we are connecting with them on a regular basis.
  • These meetings have been widely successful, with over 600 employees attending each session and with positive feedback from participants.
  • They have enabled staff to connect and interact while working remotely.
  • They have provided us with another method to measure employee concerns through polling.
• We have made countless resources available to staff through our organization’s intranet and have supported the employee networks in the development of their own internal web pages.
• In November 2020, we became an employer partner with the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. This national not-for-profit organization provides our staff with unlimited access to countless resources, including webinars, research, reports and toolkits, with a focus on issues related to diversity, inclusion, equity and human rights management.
• As part of our training and employee development strategy, the CNSC has made available the following resources:
  • Fierce Conversations: a program that teaches staff how to have respectful dialogue that questions assumptions, provokes learning, tackles tough challenges and enriches relationships.
  • Working Mind training: a program that helps staff learn skills to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health in the workplace, offers resources and a strong support network, provides tools and develops skills on how to prevent stress, and promotes good mental health.
  • Canada School of Public Service courses: we have made a number of courses mandatory for staff and management – Understanding Unconscious Bias, Overcoming Unconscious Bias in the Workplace, Harassment and Violence Prevention for Employees, and Harassment and Violence Prevention for Managers and Committees/Representatives.
• In September 2020, the CNSC Library made a selection of diversity and inclusion resources available to staff through the Cloud Library online platform, including both e-books and audiobooks in both English and French.

Initiatives and pledges

• In February 2021, we became the first federal agency to sign the BlackNorth pledge. The BlackNorth Initiative is led by the Canadian Council of Business Leaders Against Anti-Black Systemic Racism, and its goal is to help Canada move towards an equitable future, where Black Canadians and other under-represented groups can achieve their full potential free from systemic racial barriers.
• In September 2020, President Velshi hosted the inaugural meeting of the International Gender Champions Impact Group on Gender Equality in Nuclear Regulatory Agencies, working with international partners to improve gender equality in the nuclear sector. Being part of a community of heads of regulatory agencies committed to working on gender issues is an important pursuit for the CNSC.
• In 2020–21, President Velshi, along with other executive leaders in the nuclear community, convened the Driving Advancement of Women in Nuclear group, which strives to empower women to establish and grow their careers in the nuclear sector. The group is undertaking 3 actions to support this objective:
  • Address the confidence gap to allow women to thrive.
  • Increase the number of women in licensed positions at nuclear power plants.
  • Gain male allies to promote gender equity.
• In February 2021, President Velshi called for action on gender equity at the Nuclear Energy Agency’s second meeting on improving gender balance in the nuclear sector. She continues to speak to various groups to advocate for gender equity in nuclear, and mentors young women considering a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) career.
• In 2020–21, we developed a reconciliation strategy to support our commitment to building and strengthening trust and to advancing reconciliation with Indigenous communities. This strategy consists of 5 strategic pillars:
  • modernizing our approach to consultation, engagement and long-term relationship building
  • strengthening management and governance for Indigenous consultation and engagement
  • enhancing our cultural competency and leadership
  • integrating Indigenous knowledge into our regulatory practices
  • reducing financial and capacity barriers in order to enhance the participation of Indigenous groups in our regulatory processes, when possible
• As part of the reconciliation strategy, we have developed a policy and approach to rights impact assessments and have finalized our Indigenous Knowledge Policy Framework. In 2020–21, we continued to implement our long-term Indigenous engagement strategy and signed terms of reference for long-term engagement with Curve Lake First Nation. Further actions are anticipated in the longer term pending feedback from Indigenous groups, proposals from CNSC staff and management, and input from lessons learned.
• We joined the Equal by 30 campaign to advance the participation of women in the clean energy transition and close the gender gap.

Hiring

• We have added new clauses to our job posters to facilitate candidate accommodations and to promote self-declaration among members of employment equity (EE) groups.
• CNSC management have also been encouraged to diversify their hiring/interview panels and are notified of self-identification or declaration data when available.
• In 2020, we launched the Director Collective, an internal recruitment campaign to fill open management positions at the CNSC and create a pool of qualified candidates for future positions. We used this as an opportunity explore new ways to promote diversity and inclusion. These included:
  • a blind application screening process – candidates used their employee numbers instead of names when submitting their applications to ensure that the hiring panel did not screen candidates in or out as a result of bias.
  • a hiring panel comprising directors general (DGs) from various backgrounds – where possible, hiring panels were purposely created with diversity in mind (e.g., DGs from corporate and operations, male or female, experienced and less experienced) for the simulation and interview portion of the assessment. This was done with the intention of limiting biases throughout the assessment of the candidates.
  • employment equity self-declaration data shared at an aggregate level – only the EE group’s data as a whole, and not specific candidate information, was shared with the DGs to ensure that the assessment tools were not disadvantaging any EE group in particular.
• In April 2021, our Human Resources Directorate put a call out to employees who wished to volunteer as members of the Employment Equity Hiring Goals Advisory Group. The purpose of this group is to provide recommendations on proposed hiring goal adjustments and generate ideas on the implementation and communication of these hiring goals to the rest of the organization.
  • This was done in an effort to improve our workforce representation across all occupational categories and the 4 EE groups.
  • Of the numerous volunteers, 10 members were selected to participate in 4 sessions facilitated by Ipsos, a third-party consultant, between April and May.
• A consulting firm, QMR Consulting and Professional Staffing, was engaged to conduct an employment systems review (ESR) in accordance with the Employment Equity Act in order to identify potential systemic barriers and provide recommendations on how to improve the work environment for EE designated group members and for CNSC employees as a whole. We received the final ESR report on January 30, 2021, and the Human Resources Directorate, in close collaboration with our Executive Committee, is working on a management action plan to address its findings.

Data

• We have administered periodic online surveys since April 2020 to understand the impacts of COVID-19 across the organization. These Pulse Surveys have allowed our staff to anonymously answer questions on their overall morale, indicate key stressors and share subjects of immediate concern.
  • A set of baseline questions are used on all Pulse Surveys to allow for trending analysis, but new questions are sometimes added to adapt to current events and shift the survey’s focus to matters important to the CNSC work plan.
  • These additional questions address mental health, fear of reprisal, workload and return to the workplace, and include follow-up questions to better understand Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) results.
  • The data from these surveys has helped senior management make decisions with staff’s well-being in mind, assess how employees are coping, take corrective action where needed, and stay connected to staff in a remote work environment.

Public Service Employee Survey results

• We continue to be a leader within the federal public service, with an overall PSES participation rate of 82.6%.
  • We encourage staff to participate annually by using targeted communications campaigns and by encouraging direct line managers to engage with their teams.
  • We closely monitor the results each year and use them to guide senior management as they set organizational objectives. The results are also used as a benchmark to measure our progress in each category.  
• The 2020 PSES results provided us with valuable insight into how we are doing in the areas of diversity and inclusion, and anti-racism:
  1. Staff are confident that the CNSC celebrates diversity and inclusion
     1. 78% of staff felt that every individual is accepted as an equal member of the team in their work unit.
     2. 82% of staff felt that individuals behave in a respectful manner in their work unit.
     3. 83% of staff felt that the people they work with value their ideas and opinions.
     4. 81% of staff felt that the CNSC respects individual differences.
     5. 85% of staff felt that the CNSC implements activities and practices that support a diverse workplace.
     6. 82% of staff felt free to speak about racism in the workplace without fear of reprisal.
     7. 89% of staff felt that the CNSC implements initiatives that promote anti-racism in the workplace.
     8. 81% of staff felt comfortable sharing concerns about issues related to racism in the workplace with a person of authority.
  2. We need to improve how we support victims of discrimination. Of those who indicated that they were a victim of race-based discrimination, only 7% were satisfied with how concerns or complaints about racism in the workplace are resolved at the CNSC.

Employee systems review and gender-based analysis plus assessment

Because COVID-19 affects diverse groups of people differently, we undertook a gender-based analysis plus assessment in our efforts to support employees working from home and as part of our planning for the return to the workplace. The goal of the assessment was to ensure that we have policies and plans that are tailored to support everyone so that they are safe, healthy and comfortable during this period. This was the first gender-based analysis plus initiative of this magnitude for the CNSC. Through surveys, online forms and focus groups, CNSC staff had the opportunity to share their individual experiences anonymously.

The employment systems review (ESR) identified 4 areas in which we are doing well:

• Workforce analysis: for the 2019–20 fiscal year, we met our employment equity (EE) targets with respect to the representation of women in the organization. Promotion data from 2018–19 indicates that women obtained over 61% of all promotions, while representing 50.3% of the population. 
• Education and awareness: training, employee development, and awareness activities are a priority at the CNSC and are integral parts of our overall safety culture. Such activities include constant promotion of training, all-staff events, and the assessment of inclusive leadership behaviours as part of management performance reviews.
• Human resources management policies: these policies do not appear to pose barriers to members of any of the EE groups. 
• Employee networks: these networks are growing and gaining momentum, and are mostly well received by staff and management. We built on the momentum and conversations created following the murder of George Floyd, and by the end of the summer of 2020, had facilitated the creation of 2 new employee networks – the Black Employees Network and the Indigenous Network.

The results of the ESR and gender-based analysis plus survey on the return to the workplace identified areas in which we could improve:

• Workforce representation: we are currently under-represented in 3 of the 4 EE designated groups – Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and visible minorities.  
• Low awareness and understanding of employment equity: some employees have inaccurate and negative views about EE, and many hiring managers are not proactively informing themselves of the EE gaps.
• Workplace environment: employees consulted in the ESR process reported inappropriate behaviours from colleagues and managers and a fear of speaking up, which does not appear to be related to membership in an equity-seeking group. However, the presence of this experience and this fear affects employees’ sense of safety and belonging.
• Lack of knowledge of accommodation processes and reluctance to self-identify: persons identifying as having both physical and cognitive disabilities shared a reluctance to self-identify/declare for fear that this would have negative impacts on their career progression. Some also reported that there were challenges with the requirements and processes related to accommodation, while others were unaware of them entirely.