Fed race-based hiring rolling on
By BRIAN LILLEY, PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU
OTTAWA — The federal government is continuing to set aside jobs for specific groups based on race, gender and ability, more than a year after it pledged to end such practices.
In November 2010, Stockwell Day, the treasury board president at the time, told the House of Commons that he was instructing departments to end the practice of setting aside jobs for specific groups, such as women, aboriginals, visible minorities and the disabled.
“We have also communicated that all department postings must not shut out any specific groups and must be open to all qualified candidates.
“Final decisions must be based on merit and on qualifications,” Day said at the time.
The move was in response to a QMI Agency story about an Ottawa-area woman denied a job because she was white. Whi le applying onl ine for a position with Citizenship and Immigration Canada the woman was asked to reveal her race.
Once she selected Caucasian the application process was shut down and she was unable to proceed with the application.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney was quick to call for a review in 2010, telling QMI that jobs should be awarded based on equality of opportunity and merit.
“I was very concerned to read the report of a position only being open to people from an identifiable group,” Kenney said at the time.
Those concerns have given way to the status quo, however, with both the Treasury Board and the Public Service Commission saying that discriminatory hiring practices will remain in force.
“For there to be changes, the law would have to change”, said the commission spokesman Annie Trepanier.
And, Sean Osmar, a spokes-m an for Treasury Board President Tony Clement, said the Public Service Employment Act won’t be changed as the government has found “no amendments are required.”
Osmar told QMI Agency that the government’s hiring practices were “fair and based on merit.”
Canada’s employment equity legislation was passed in 1986 by Brian Mulroney’s Conservative government.
Article posted in Affirmative action, Multiculturalism2 Responses to “Race-based hiring practices still a hurdle for White federal job candidates”
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Every time the Federal Government has a job posting in my area it’s for visible minorities only and I am intentionally not saying what dept and where because why would I promote this reverse discrimination by advertising it. I have lost count as to how many times I have applied. I applied for the same position two years ago and ten years ago and I never qualify for an entry level position because I am white.
I complained to the Human Rights Commission and they basically said they can and will do it.
Honestly, as a born and raised local am I supposed to treat a newcomer to the area with open arms and respect when I am a second class citizen to him in my own country.
Its complete BS. Everybody should be treated equally but since the federal government is giving racial preference, this pipe dream of one big happy “multicultural” family will never happen.
Further to my comment;
On two separate occasions EI Canada offered a training program for “visible minorities” only and the person telling me I didn’t qualify was an East Indian with poor English. OK fine, twice I didn’t get the training I wanted, life goes on. On two separate occasions the person deciding if I qualify for social assistance (Welfare) was a Korean and an African. Once again I get to struggle with their English deficiencies.
When I was young and naive I actually thought everybody was treated equally in Canada, then I grew up. My travels in 5 countries where I was the visible minority have taught me that as a Canadian tourist in a foreign land I was “put on a pedestal” so to speak because I am Canadian but as a Canadian in Canada I get to stand behind the so hard done by immigrants.
Palliative care nurses went on strike in my area wanting to make more than $12.63 an hour(twelve dollars) and the provincial government responded by recruiting directly from Philipino training facilities because apparently nobody in Canada wants to work. I could cite more examples but whats the point.
Canada is a joke. The Canadian government caters to Canadian businesses by overpopulating the country with cheap immigrant labor. Ten people for every job and then responds to the apparent hardships of immigrants by reserving federal jobs for them.
SO, which “disadvantaged visible minority” should I roll out the red carpet for on my way to the welfare office to ask the Korean if I qualify yet.