Privy Council to continue anti-racism efforts, clerk says after report release

OTTAWA — The head of the federal public service says he is personally committed to “continuous action” to address racism and discrimination in the workplace, following the public release of an internal report that details employees’ troubling experiences on the job.

Privy Council clerk John Hannaford says the department has put a number of initiatives in place, including an office led by a chief diversity officer, which is developing an anti-racism and equity plan.

His comments come after the Coalition Against Workplace Discrimination publicly released a report Monday that details discrimination and racism faced by employees in the Privy Council Office.

The coalition obtained the report through the Access to Information Act.

The report shows Black and racialized employees described being passed over for opportunities given to white colleagues, and cites the example of Black employees who said they had to intervene with managers who used the N-word in their presence.

Hannaford says in a statement the report was part of an anti-racism and equity effort launched in 2021 and was shared internally last year.

The coalition has called for Deputy Clerk Nathalie Drouin, who it said has been in charge of the discrimination file since 2021, and Matthew Shea, assistant secretary to the cabinet, ministerial services and corporate affairs, to resign.

“We are particularly concerned about the lack of accountability measures against leaders who were at the helm while widespread discrimination was a regular occurrence,” Nicholas Marcus Thompson, president of the Black Class Action Secretariat, which leads the coalition, said at a press conference Monday.

Hannaford said the government won’t be asking them to step down.

He has “full confidence” in Drouin and Shea, he said in a statement Tuesday.

“The entire management team and I are committed to taking continuous action to identify and address any barriers that may exist in the federal public service,” he said.

The office has instituted an ombudsman “to help foster trust and psychological safety,” anti-bias training, support for employee-led networks and professional growth programs for Black, Indigenous and racialized employees, he said.

The government has improved representation in the department, he said including boosting the number of racialized employees in its executive ranks from 10.1 per cent to 27.3 per cent since 2020.

But Thompson said Monday many key recommendations from the report still haven’t been addressed, and pointed to equitable hiring practices, such as name-blind screening and third-party hiring, as one example.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2024.

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press