Minister O’Regan recognizes employers excellence in employment equity

OTTAWA, ON, May 27, 2024 /CNW/ – Dynamic and inclusive workplaces don’t happen without good employers. Since 2016, the Government of Canada has recognized their efforts through the Employment Equity Achievement Awards. These awards recognize employers breaking down barriers to create more diverse and respectful workplaces for the four designated groups under the Employment Equity Act: women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities.

Today, Minister of Labour, Seamus O’Regan Jr., announced the recipients of the 2024 Employment Equity Achievement Awards at a ceremony held at the National Arts Centre. Minister O’Regan presented 13 awards to 11 deserving employers across five categories: sector distinction, outstanding commitment to employment equity, innovation, employment equity champion and Indigenous reconciliation.

Today’s event also served as a platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration. A panel discussion explored employment equity, offering insights into federal perspectives, sharing best practices, addressing challenges, and examining innovative solutions alongside representatives from the private sector. The Minister also spoke about initiatives that advance equity and inclusion in federally regulated workplaces, such as the modernization of the Employment Equity Act, projects funded through the Workplace Opportunities: Removing Barriers to Equity program, and the government’s first of its kind pay transparency website, Equi’Vision. 

If you’re not including everyone in your workplace, you’re not getting the best. Working together as employers, workers and governments, we can create workplaces where everyone’s talents and contributions are leveraged, and where everyone has an equal and fair chance to succeed.

“When you include everyone, you get the best. The winners of these awards represent the best of the best.”
– Minister of Labour and Seniors, Seamus O’Regan Jr.

Through the Employment Equity Achievement Awards, the Government acknowledges the accomplishments of federally regulated private-sector employers and federal contractors in advancing employment equity within their organizations. In 2023, it introduced the Indigenous Reconciliation Award to recognize outstanding commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. Since 2016, the Government has recognized more than 80 employers, and each year since then, employers learn and get inspired by their peers.In February 2024, the Government launched the Equi’Vision website, which provides user-friendly, easily comparable data on workforce representation rates and the pay gaps that affect the members of the four designated groups under the Employment Equity Act. With Equi’Vision, the Government aims to draw attention to the persistent issues in Canadian workplaces that are maintaining pay gaps and preventing representation, so that businesses are encouraged to act upon them.In December 2023, Minister O’Regan and Professor Adelle Blackett released the Employment Equity Act Review Task Force’s final report, A Transformative Framework to Achieve and Sustain Employment Equity. In response, the Government announced its initial commitments to modernize the Act, including the creation of two new designated groups under the Act—Black people and 2SLGBTQI+ people—and replacing the term “Aboriginal Peoples” with “Indigenous Peoples.” Legislation will be introduced at a later date following targeted consultations. Consult the news release for more information.

Backgrounder: Employment Equity Achievements Awards 2024

How to improve workplace equity: Evidence-based actions for employersEmployment equity in federally regulated workplacesList of federally regulated industries and workplaces

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SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada