Employment Equity Coalition writes to Harper

The Employment Equity Coalition, made up of several labour and community organizaitons and individuals, has written in open letter, dated August 03, 2010, to Prime Minister Stephen Harper pointing out the fallacies being propagated by the Ministers in the Federal Government in attacking Canada’s Employment Equity Program.  The letter points out that, contrary to the claims made by some Ministers including Hon. Stockwell Day, the President of the Treasury Board, and Hon. Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, “(e)mployment equity guarantees merit-based hiring because it removes artificial barriers to employment.  All too often, qualified candidates from racialized communities do not get hired because of their race or ethnicity.”

And the letter goes on to point out that the, “…current legislative framework that supports employment in the federal public service is found in the Employment Equity Act, 1995, s. 15 (2) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and provincial human rights legislation and policies. The purpose of this framework is to ameliorate the historical and current marginalization of members of designated groups not only in hiring practices, but in promotion and retention practices as well. Yet despite nearly 25 years since the Employment Equity Act was first put in place, there continues to be serious under-representation of workers from the Aboriginal communities, visible minorities, women, and people with disabilities in the federal public service, the single largest employer in Canada”.

To read the full letter, visit: http://equityaction.ca