WRITING A NEW CHAPTER FOR EMPLOYMENT EQUITY

By Julia Dyck

“When we discuss diversity-related issues, it’s easy to lose sight of how much we have in common,” according to Professor Adelle Blackett, FRSC, Ad E, BCL’94, LLB’94. A steadfast leader of change throughout her career, she has cultivated the art of bringing people together around shared values.

Blackett is Canada Research Chair in Transnational Labour Law at McGill. In 2021, she was appointed chair of Canada’s Employment Equity Act Review Task Force by the federal Minister of Labour Filomena Tassi. The 12-strong group was tasked with conducting a comprehensive review of the Employment Equity Act; the first since the landmark legislation was adopted in 1986, based on the report of the sole commissioner of the Royal Commission on Equality in Employment, the Hon. Rosalie Abella, FRSC, LLD’99.

“It was a huge undertaking,” Blackett acknowledges. During the pandemic, the task force team met virtually with hundreds of constituents across the country, along with undertaking months of research. The government mandated the task force to identify systemic barriers that exist in the recruitment, promotion and retention of individuals in four designated groups women, Indigenous people, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities. The task force was also mandated to seek input from 2SLGBTQI+ communities, who are not currently designated under the Employment Equity Act, and to consider whether Black communities should be designated a distinct employment equity group rather than included in the visible minority category.

When we discuss diversity-related issues, it’s easy to lose sight of how much we have in common.

In recent years, many workplaces have established Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion working groups and policies, but these efforts are often on a voluntary basis. However, in Canada, the concept of employment equity is given a constitutional foundation in substantive equality, grounded in a key principle: equity does not mean treating everyone the same, but rather working to address the barriers that different individuals face. “Thinking carefully about the framework, and how to strengthen it was a huge part of the mandate,” Blackett says.

In her role as chair of the task force, she drew from her recent contributions to a Canada-wide initiative chaired by Vice President of the University of Toronto and Principal of the University of Toronto, Scarborough, Wisdom Tettey, where she served as principal drafter of the Scarborough Charter on anti-Black racism and Black Inclusion. The Charter, which provides a framework for promoting Black flourishing and redressing anti-Black racism in the Canadian post-secondary sector, has been signed by nearly 60 Canadian institutions, including McGill. When addressing equitable inclusion, Blackett frames her work around principles that seek to bring people together and create space for voice in the spirit of “nothing about us without us.” The task force heard both that equitable inclusion is important for historically marginalized groups, and that it helps to transform workplaces in ways that can benefit us all.

Internationally, Canada tends to be held up as an example of what is achievable in terms of equity, Blackett points out. “We have a responsibility to demonstrate that equitable inclusion is indeed possible.”