Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Canada (Ratification: 1964)

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Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. Discrimination on the grounds of political opinion and social origin. For a number of years, the Committee has been drawing the Government’s attention to the fact that the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA) does not give full expression to the principle of the Convention, as it does not prohibit discrimination based on social origin (or social condition) and political opinion in employment and occupation. It has also repeatedly urged the Government to take the necessary measures to amend the legislation applicable to specific provinces and territories, since: (1) the legislation in Alberta,British Columbia, Nova Scotia,Nunavut,Ontario,Prince Edward Island,Saskatchewan and Yukon does not include “social origin” (or “social condition”) as a prohibited ground of discrimination in employment and occupation (in Manitoba, it is the ground of “social disadvantage” that is prohibited); and (2) the legislation in Alberta,Nunavut,Ontario and Saskatchewan does not prohibit discrimination on the ground of “political opinion” in employment and occupation. The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report still provides no information on any initiatives undertaken, at the federal or the provincial level, to give full legislative expression to the principle of the Convention. The Committee once again urges the Government to take, without delay, the necessary steps to amend the CHRA with a view to including both social origin (or social condition) and political opinion as prohibited grounds of discrimination in employment and occupation, as required under Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention.It further urges the Government to indicate the steps taken to this effect in the provinces and territories that have not yet included them as prohibited grounds of discrimination in their legislation, and to report on the progress made. It also again asks the Government to provide information on the manner in which workers are protected in practice against discrimination on the grounds of social origin and political opinion.

Article 2. National equality policy. The Committee recalls the Government’s indication that the federal Government is not in a position to develop and implement laws, regulations, policies and programmes at the federal level with respect to matters such as employment discrimination, where the provinces and territories exercise jurisdiction. The Committee encourages the Government to cooperate with employers’ and workers’ organizations with a view to promoting the development of a coherent national policy on equality in employment and occupation at the provincial and territorial level. Please provide information on the steps taken in this regard and on the results achieved.

Articles 2 and 3. Occupational gender segregation. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that, in 2018, it introduced the Gender Results Framework (GRF), which represents Canada’s vision for gender equality and measures the country’s ability to meet various objectives regarding this issue. One of the general goals set by the GRF is “economic participation and prosperity [for women]”, mainly through: (1) increased labour market opportunities for women, especially women in under-represented groups; (2) better gender balance across occupations; and (3) more women in higher-quality jobs, such as permanent and well-paid jobs. The Committee further notes the information provided by the Government on the measures undertaken and the investments made at the provincial level to advance women’s representation in skilled trades and technical professions. In Alberta, for example, the Government has recently invested 2.9 million dollars to support skills development training for women in Information Technology (IT) and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Despite these developments, the Committee observes from the data available on the website of Statistics Canada that the participation rate of women has remained stagnant since 2017 (61.5 per cent) and that the employment rate has only slightly increased (58.3 per cent in 2022 compared to 57.9 per cent in 2017). The data also show that women are still over-represented in certain lower-paid occupations, such as health occupations (79.6 per cent women), while they remain significantly under-represented in management occupations (35.3 per cent women). In this regard, the Committee notes that, according to a study entitled “A Labour Market Snapshot of Black Canadians during the Pandemic”, published by Statistics Canada in February 2021, almost one third of employed Black women (31.7 per cent) worked in health care and social assistance in January 2021, and over four-fifths (81.2 per cent) of these women were immigrants. The same study also shows that employed Black women were also under-represented in management occupations (4.3 per cent), compared with non-visible minority women (6.9 per cent). Consequently, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on the specific measures undertaken, within the framework of the Gender Results Framework as well as at the provincial level, to effectively address gender-based occupationalsegregation (both horizontal and vertical), and urges the Government to take all necessary measures to promote the access of women, especially Afro-Canadian women, to a wider range of employment and training opportunities in areas traditionally dominated by men, and to report on the results achieved.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.