Humber’s Employment Equity Program - Frequently Asked Questions
Humber College has identified in its 2018-2023 Strategic Plan, Pillar 3 that it will “Continue to build a diverse and inclusive community of exceptional students, faculty and staff.” One of the deliverables in meeting this strategic priority is to reestablish Humber’s Employment Equity Program (EEP).
Humber voluntarily complies with the Employment Equity Act. The Act has been in existence for approximately 40 years and is intended to remove barriers to full participation in employment for four designated groups: Women, Aboriginal Peoples, Persons with Disabilities, Visible Minorities/Racialized people and Humber has included Sexual and Gender Diversity.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Employment Equity?
Employment Equity is an on-going planning process used by an employer to:
- identify and eliminate barriers in an organization's employment policies and procedures;
- put into place positive policies and practices to ensure the effects of systemic barriers are eliminated; and
- ensure appropriate representation of identified group members throughout their workforce.
2. Why is Employment Equity necessary?
The federal government has identified four designated groups that have experienced historical and current barriers to full employment opportunities and therefore are under-represented in the Canadian workforce. The identified groups experience high unemployment rates, lower than average salaries as well as a concentration in low-status jobs. Employment Equity measures are necessary to facilitate the removal of systemic barriers that may prevent members of the identified groups from full participation in the workplace.
3. Do questions on race or disability contravene human rights legislations?
Section 16 of the Canadian Human Rights Act and Section 14 of the Ontario Human Rights Code stipulates that it is not a discriminatory practice to collect information if it is intended to be used in adopting or carrying out a special program, plan or arrangement designed to eliminate discrimination of certain groups of individuals.
4. Who can complete the Employment Equity Questionnaire?
All full-time, part-time, contract and sessional employees are invited to complete the Employment Equity Questionnaire. Completion of Humber’s Employment Equity Questionnaire is voluntary.
5. Why do I have to include my employee number on the questionnaire?
The Employment Equity Act and its Regulations requires the Employment Equity Questionnaire have a unique employee identifier. Centre staff will conduct a workforce analysis based on the information provided. Every position at Humber is coded with a National Occupational Classification (NOC) code. In order for us to develop aggregate statistics based on NOC codes, Humber needs to be able to link employees’ equity data using the employee number to the NOC code. Once the workforce analysis process is completed, a report will be prepared to show the representation of designated groups in each Employment Equity Occupational Group.
6. Who will have access to the information that I provide on the questionnaire?
Completed Employment Equity Questionnaires are confidential and are only accessible by the Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Diversity at Humber College. To ensure confidentiality, the Employment Equity data is reported in an aggregate format and never on an individual basis.
7. How will the information be used?
The information that you provide in the Employment Equity Questionnaire will be kept confidential and will only be reported in aggregate form for Employment Equity purposes. In other words, the reported data will not contain any personal identification. The information will provide up-to-date knowledge of Humber’s workforce representation and will allow the College to identify where under-representation exists. It will also help Humber to target its efforts toward removing barriers that may exist in the College’s employment systems.
If you have questions pertaining to Humber's Employment Equity Program, please contact: Bharat Saini at 416.665.6622 x5160 or bharat.saini@humber.ca.
The Centre for Human Rights, Equity & Diversity thanks you for helping to build a more inclusive Humber.
