My name is Zabuumba and I'll be designing the new highway.
Posted on 11/19/2005 10:13:08 AM PST by fanfan
A major federal department has temporarily banned the hiring of able-bodied white men in an unusual move critics say could spark a backlash against the very disadvantaged groups it is meant to help.
Managers in the Public Works department must hire only visible minorities, women, aboriginals and the disabled, except with written permission from their superiors, David Marshall, the deputy minister, ordered in an e-mail circulated yesterday.
The policy, designed to address shortfalls in the department's employment-equity goals, will last at least until the end of next March and be reviewed then, the memo said.
"As executives and managers, our role includes ensuring that the public service is representative," Mr. Marshall said in the memo. "This involves providing direction and leadership by example, and demonstrating a firm commitment to an inclusive workplace."
Pierre Teotonio, a department spokesman, said last night the order was prompted in part by a precipitous drop in the number of employees hired from the designated groups this year. The proportion of female, disabled, aboriginal and non-white new hires fell from one in eight this March to only one in 20 by September, he said. The federal benchmark just for the hiring of visible minorities is one in five.
Still, a veteran labour lawyer said yesterday he had never heard of an edict actually barring the recruitment of large numbers of people. And even a federal civil service union that strongly supports employment equity questioned the wisdom of the policy.
"I think it's creating a possible backlash against equity groups and then it's not helping these people to get into government," said Nycole Turmel, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
"It's even creating more frustration or anger from the workforce as well as from the population ... I am quite sure the people they hire will be competent and good employees, but that is not the point here. They will be seen as targets, and then people will question their hiring, and I don't think it will help them."
She also charged that many of those hired over the next few months may well be laid off once the department reaches its targets by the end of the fiscal year in March.
Ms. Turmel said a more effective strategy would be simply to encourage managers to consider members of the designated groups, and provide help to those people to find work in the federal government.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms does allow some discrimination by government to aid groups it identifies as being disadvantaged, said Robb Macpherson, a labour lawyer with the firm McCarthy Tetrault.
However, that usually means implementing equity programs that promote the hiring of qualified people from those groups. The Public Works order appears to take the idea a step further, he said. "They are in effect cutting off a significant portion of the workforce from these opportunities," Mr. Macpherson said. "It sounds like a pretty extreme measure that they're contemplating."
Federal statistics for 2003-04 show that the representation of women, aboriginal people and the disabled in the government was actually greater than in the Canadian workforce as a whole. But the percentage of visible minorities -- 7.8% -- was less than the 10.4% in the overall workforce.
Mr. Teotonio said the move was taken as part of the department's efforts under the six-year-old "Embracing Change" program, designed to bring more members of visible minorities into the federal government.
The percentage of visible minorities and the three other designated groups hired by Public Works over the past year dropped in part because there was relatively little recruitment of any kind, he said.
"All persons recruited externally must be from designated groups (persons who are visible minorities, aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and women), except for cases having received ADM/CEO written approval," the memo said.
"This measure will be in force until March 31, 2006, at which time we will re-assess our progress."
Canada Ping.
Please FReepmail me to get on or off this Canada ping list.
Might it be that members of the designated groups have little interest in working?
Maybe they were already soaked up by other similiarly racist organizations.
How much longer can this insanity be sustained before Canada breaks apart? They may not make it to the end of the decade, at this rate.
My name is Zabuumba and I'll be designing the new highway.
"Oh Canada, you get what you deserve..."
So, Public Works is both sexist and racist. How interesting.
Walk into just about any government agency and tell me what you see. It certainly won't be a majority of white males.
When I walk into my local DMV, it looks like you're walking into an international airport in Lisbon. The last time I did, I noted two whites in a room with about 250 people in it.
Ah yes, the blessings of diversity. Surrender today... LOL
LOL.
Just give him a parka, and he'll be ready for work.
Oh, wait....does he speak French?
Public Works is a living entity which is racist, sexist, and homophobic. I thought everyone knew this.
All this time I thought it was us conservatives who were supposed to be sexist and racist.
Who knew it was the liberals?
LOL! LOL! LOL! and LOL!
And he even has a "model city" just like an engineer!
He doesn't need to. They assigned him to Lethbridge, Alberta. Unfortunately he doesn't speak English either.
Aboriginals??!?
Thank you, Goerge H.W. Bush.
I think in Canada that's the PC word for Eskimos.
Here they are discussing the location of Ottawa's new water treatment facility.
The one on the second-from-left does not look happy.
Another triumph for the socialist-imposed alleged 'Charter of Rights & Freedoms'!
Another mockery of our forbearers' many sacrifices - especially laying down their lives for freedom's cause!
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