Employment Equity Survey FAQs

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We welcome your inquiries so do not hesitate to contact the Equity and Human Rights Office at 250-721-8488 or email eqhr@uvic.ca. You may also want to review UVic's Employment Equity Policy or the Canadian Federal Contractors Program and Employment Equity Act.

Part 1: Employment Equity in Canada

Part 1: Employment Equity in Canada

What is Employment Equity?

Employment Equity is the term developed by Judge Rosalie Silberman Abella, Commissioner of the Royal Commission on Equality in Employment (1984), to describe a distinct Canadian process for achieving equality in all aspects of employment.

Recognizing that "systemic discrimination" was responsible for most of the inequality found in employment, the Commission outlined a systemic response and chose the term "Employment Equity" to describe the process.

What does the survey have to do with Employment Equity?

From year to year, federal funding assists the University of Victoria with its activities (for example,  science and technology upgrades and research).  As a recipient of federal funding, UVic is required to comply with Canada’s Employment Equity Act and the survey is a component of a series of statutory requirements of the Act.

The Act requires employers who receive government funding to collect and analyze workforce data. This analysis concerns the four designated groups identified by the Act because of the well-documented history of systemic discrimination (which they have faced) in the workplace. The four designated groups are: women, Aboriginal persons, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities.

The collection of workforce data is fundamental to the employer’s ability to identify and dismantle systemic barriers to employment equity and implement the principle that employment equity means more than treating people in the same way; it also requires special measures and the accommodation of differences.

Is employment equity a form of reverse discrimination?

No. Employment equity seeks to remove barriers faced by all employees. It provides opportunity to equally qualified candidates who have been denied opportunities in the past for reasons other than their abilities. The goal of the university's employment equity program is a discrimination-free workplace where all employees and job applicants receive equitable hiring, training and promotion opportunities.

Does employment equity mean hiring unqualified people?

No. UVic’s commitment to employment equity does not mean the university will hire or promote unqualified people. The goal of selection is always to find the candidate who best meets the criteria specific to that position.

Who is an Indigenous person? Why doesn’t UVic use the word Aboriginal?

At UVic we have consulted members of our Indigenous community to find language that is acceptable to most and now use the term Indigenous to describe peoples who may also be described as Aboriginal.

Guideline 4 (Collection of Workforce Information) for the Employment Equity Act states:

With respect to Aboriginal peoples, the definition indicates that this group includes people of Indian, Inuit, or Métis descent. Since Aboriginal peoples are historically- and culturally-defined, there is no "blood" or racial criterion as such for self-identification as Aboriginal. However, this does not mean that it is acceptable for individuals to check off ‘aboriginal peoples’ simply because they were born in Canada.

‘Indian’ includes people of North American Indian ancestry, whether or not they live on a reserve, and whether or not they are registered.

Only those Aboriginal persons who come from Canada and the United States should identify themselves as belonging to this designated group. In this way the survey results will be comparable to Statistics Canada census data, which are based on a question asking whether the person is a North American Indian, Métis, or Inuit. Other Aboriginal peoples, such as those from Mexico, Central and South America, Australia or elsewhere, should identify themselves as members of visible minorities.

I identify as an Indigenous person and a visible minority, so what box do I check?

If you self-indentify as a member of more than one of the designated groups please indicate this on the questionnaire (for example you might be an Aboriginal person with a disability or a woman of African descent.) Each designated group faces different kinds of employment barriers and membership in more than one group often means facing multiple barriers.

It is also possible that a person of mixed ancestry, both Aboriginal and visible minority could self-identify as both a member of a visible minority and an Aboriginal person.

Section 3 of the Act defines members of visible minorities as 'persons other than Aboriginal peoples...' This would indicate that only people of mixed heritage would self-identify in both groups. Section 3 indicates that Aboriginal persons who do not have a visible minority heritage should self-identify only as an Aboriginal person.

Where does the “visible minority” category definition come from and how is it helpful?

With respect to members of the four designated groups, in order to determine if UVic’s employee population reflects the available workforce in the wider community, it must compare its designated group statistics with statistics provided by Statistics Canada. As a result, the UVic survey uses the same terminology and definitions as the Canadian census which is established in the Employment Equity Act.

Guideline 4 (Collection of Workforce Information) for the Employment Equity Act states:

The definition of ‘visible minority’ in the Employment Equity Act speaks of those who are ‘non-Caucasian in race or nonwhite in colour’. This group is not based on place of birth, citizenship or religion. This definition does not mean that anyone believes that ‘race’ is a valid scientific category. The rationale is that people who are visibly in a minority because of their skin colour or identifiable ‘racial’ background may face various types of employment barriers.

Below are the “visible minority” population groups listed on the 2006 Canada census questionnaire.

  • Arab
  • Black
  • Chinese 
  • Filipino
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Latin American
  • South Asian (“East Indian,” “Pakistani,” “Sri Lankan,” etc)
  • Southeast Asian (“Vietnamese,” “Cambodian,” “Malaysian,” “Laotian,” etc)
  • Visible Minority n.i.e. or Not Included Elsewhere (“Guyanese,” “West Indian,” “Kurd,” “Tibetan,” “Polynesian”, “Pacific Islander”, etc)
  • West Asian (“Iranian”, “Afghan”, etc)
  • Multiple Visible Minority (includes individuals who would self-identify with two or more of the visible minority categories listed)

Who is a person with a disability?

Convention 159 of the International Labour Organization states that persons with disabilities means every "individual whose prospects of securing, retaining and advancing in suitable employment are substantially reduced as a result of a duly recognized physical or mental impairment."

Guideline 4 (Collection of Workforce Information) for the Employment Equity Act states:

Included under the definition are disabilities which have already been accommodated in the workplace. In other words, even if the immediate disadvantage has been reduced or eliminated because of accommodation by the employer, the employee should still self-identify for the purposes of employment equity. Otherwise, the employer's statistics on persons with disabilities will not accurately reflect their presence in the workforce just because the needs of these individuals have been accommodated.

The following self-identification information is from Guideline 4 (Collection of Workforce Information) for the Employment Equity Act.

Self-Identification Categories

  • coordination/dexterity impairment (eg. cerebral palsy)
  • mobility impairment (eg. paraplegia)
  • non-visible physical impairment (eg. hemophilia)
  • deafness/hearing impairment (eg. hard of hearing, deafness)
  • blindness/visual impairment (eg. glaucoma)
  • muteness/speech impairment (eg. inability to generate or emit verbal messages, such as aphasia)

Physical disabilities can be visible or non-visible and can include any degree of paralysis, amputation, lack of physical coordination, blindness or visual impairment, deafness or hearing impairment, muteness or speech impairment, or physical reliance on a guide dog, on a wheelchair or other appliances or devices.

Self-Identification Categories

  • developmental/mental impairment (eg. Down’s syndrome)
  • psychiatric impairment (eg. a previous mental illness, or one which is under control, such as schizophrenia)

Self-Identification Categories

  • learning impairment (eg. dyslexia)
  • other impairment

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Part 2: Survey Procedure and Privacy

What if I don’t want to answer the questions?

While submitting the survey is mandatory, the decision to answer the questions is voluntary. You can indicate your choice to not answer the questions on the survey and then submit it electronically or by mail.

What about privacy?

The University of Victoria collects, uses, discloses and retains personal information only in compliance with the BC Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The University of Victoria collects the personal information on this form pursuant to section 26 (a) and (c) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. 

The university collects and maintains equity information on its employees as required by the Government of Canada through the Federal Contractors Program under the authority of section 9 of the Employment Equity Act and section 3(1) of the Regulations to the Employment Equity Act.  The information will be used for the purpose of monitoring the implementation of the University’s Employment Equity program.

For further privacy information you may review the Privacy and Information Security Code.

Why is the survey confidential, but my employee number is connected to my responses?

The survey responses are treated confidentially, but are not anonymous.  In accordance with Section 4 of the Employment Equity Regulations, survey responses are connected to employee numbers. This serves two purposes. Primarily, it allows for employees to update their survey information at any time. Secondly, it allows UVic to monitor representation of designated group members in each job category over time and subsequently, identify barriers to employment equity.  In order to maintain the accuracy and completeness of the data over time, we to be able to add new employees to the database, remove employees from the database when they leave the university or change their status when promoted or transferred.

Who can see my responses?

The survey data can only be accessed by: 1) select continuing employees in the Equity and Human Rights Office and 2) select systems employees granted access for maintenance and troubleshooting purposes only or 3) designated agents of Equity and Human Rights. 

Could this information be used by Human Resources or my supervisor in a way that will affect pay or opportunities for promotion or other employment decisions?

No. The information is completely confidential and does not form part of the human resource records and is not accessible by Human Resources staff, supervisors or managers.

What will be done with the individual employment equity information?

The information will only be used to maintain an employment equity database showing designated group representation in UVic’s workforce, and to produce statistics to assist in the development of UVic’s employment equity program.  When creating reports, all data is automatically aggregated and stripped of indentifying information. Employment Equity Reports on UVic’s 5,000 employees show summaries based on Employment Equity Occupational Groups and other broad categories which makes it very nearly impossible to identify individuals.  These reports are published annually and may be provided to the Federal Contractor’s Program.

Should I submit my survey response if I’m not a member of a designated group?

Yes. It is important for all employees to submit  a survey response. UVic needs an accurate picture of its workforce. Plus, Employment Equity is something we’re all in together - policies and programs that support members of designated groups like best practices for hiring, flexible work hours, family-friendly measures and accommodation of persons with disabilities, support and benefit all employees.

Can I change my answers to the survey?

Yes. If your circumstances change, you are encouraged to update your survey responses. Please contact the Equity and Human Rights Office to arrange access to your survey.

How can I get more information?

We welcome your inquiries so do not hesitate to contact the Equity and Human Rights Office at 250-721-8488 or email eqhr@uvic.ca. You may also want to review UVic’s Employment Equity Policy (PDF) or the Canadian Federal Contractors Program and Employment Equity Act

 

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