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Message from the Chief Commissioner

The Canadian Human Rights Commission was created by Parliament to ensure that all people in Canada have an equal opportunity to make the lives that they are able and wish to have, free from discrimination.

The Commission is responsible for the administration of the Canadian Human Rights Act and for ensuring compliance with the Employment Equity Act. Both laws apply to federal government departments and agencies, Crown corporations and federally regulated private sector organizations.

Over the past year, the Commission has focused on raising awareness of the Canadian Human Rights Act among federally regulated employers and the public they serve. In doing so, the Commission has been providing organizations with resources and tools to prevent discrimination and address potential complaints when and where they occur.

The Human Rights Knowledge Development and Dissemination Program produced a series of clear language publications to help federally regulated employers and service providers understand their obligations under the Act. Work has also been undertaken to create research tools to improve our understanding of issues related to rights and equality in Canada.

This work will be increasingly important in the coming years, as 2011 marks the full repeal of section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. This change means that people affected by the Indian Act have the same human rights protection as everyone else in Canada and can now file discrimination complaints against the Government of Canada and First Nations governments.

Through the National Aboriginal Initiative, the Commission worked with First Nations governments to strengthen their capacity to prevent, manage and resolve discrimination complaints in their own communities.

The Discrimination Prevention Program worked with eight public and private organizations to pilot test the Commission’s Human Rights Maturity Model. The Model helps federally regulated organizations create and sustain workplace cultures based on equality, dignity and respect. The results of the pilot tests are expected later in 2011.

The Commission has experienced a significant increase in the number of discrimination complaints that it receives. In response, the Human Rights Dispute Resolution Program increased its capacity to deal with complaints by significantly re-engineering the dispute resolution process.

By ensuring that federally regulated organizations comply with the Employment Equity Act, the Commission also promotes equality in the workplace. The Commission modernized its employment equity audit program in 2010-11. In doing so, the Commission worked with 82 employers - twice as many as the year before.

All of these accomplishments were made possible thanks to the encouragement of our many partners, the guidance of the Commissioners, and the passion, perseverance and commitment of Commission employees. Through continued cooperation and hard work, the Commission is realizing Parliament's vision of a Canada free from discrimination.

Section I: Organizational Overview

Raison d’être

The Canadian Human Rights Commission's founding legislation inspires a vision for Canada in which "all individuals should have an opportunity equal with other individuals to make for themselves the lives that they are able and wish to have," free from discrimination.

The Commission leads the administration of the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA) and ensures compliance with the Employment Equity Act (EEA). The CHRA prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability, and conviction for which a pardon has been granted. The EEA promotes equality in the workplace for four designated groups: women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities.

Both laws apply the principles of equal opportunity and non-discrimination to federal government departments and agencies, Crown corporations, and federally regulated private sector organizations. The provinces and territories have laws similar to the CHRA that address discrimination within their jurisdiction.

Responsibilities

The Commission promotes the core principle of equal opportunity and works to prevent discrimination in Canada. As a result its services include discrimination prevention, dispute resolution, and regulatory, policy and knowledge development.

It works with federally regulated employers and service providers, individuals, unions, and provincial/territorial and international human rights bodies to foster understanding of human rights and promote the development of human rights cultures.

The Commission's mandate includes protecting human rights through effective case and complaint management. At times, this role also involves representing the public interest to advance human rights for all Canadians.

The Commission is responsible for ensuring compliance with the Employment Equity Act. This involves auditing federally regulated employers to ensure that they are providing equal opportunities to the four designated groups: women, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities.

 

Strategic Outcome and Program Activity Architecture (PAA)

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Status Legend

Throughout this report, a performance status will be assigned to each priority and performance indicator. To ensure consistency and general understanding of the performance status rating, a single status legend was developed and applied by each Program Activity.

• Exceeded: More than 100 percent of the expected level of performance identified in the corresponding RPP was achieved during the fiscal year.
• Met All: 100 percent of the expected level of performance.
• Mostly Met: 80 to 99 percent of the expected level of performance.
• Somewhat Met: 60 to 79 percent of the expected level of performance.
• Not Met: Less than 60 percent of the expected level of performance.

Organizational Priorities

Priority	Type1	Strategic Outcome
Increased capacity of First Nations to address human rights issues within their own communities.	New	Equality, respect for human rights and protection from discrimination.
Status: Met All
1) Enhance understanding of collective rights in the application of the CHRA; Expanding on research undertaken in 2009-10, the Commission applied a culturally based gender analysis to collective rights and shared the results with external stakeholders at events such as the Indigenous Bar Association's Annual General Assembly and the Commission's November 2010 Discrimination Prevention Forum. Operational guidance was developed and formal training was delivered to Commission members to encourage an appreciation for the central role of customary laws and legal traditions in the daily lives of Aboriginal people in anticipation of potential complaints involving First Nations governments. Employee training will begin in 2011-12. 2) Invest in learning programs and events to help First Nations and other Aboriginal organizations prevent discrimination; In April 2010, the Commission entered into an agreement with the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba and the Manitoba Human Rights Commission to collaborate on raising awareness of human and treaty rights issues facing Aboriginal people in Manitoba. The Commission also collaborated on learning events with the Indigenous Bar Association in October 2010, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations in January 2011, the Aboriginal Financial Officers Association of Canada in February 2011, and the Council of Yukon First Nations in March 2011. In collaboration with the Native Women's Association of Canada, the Commission developed a clear language human rights guide to help people understand the CHRA and the complaint process. Launched in November 2010, the guide has already achieved wide circulation (over 3,500 distributed at the end of March 2011) and is being distributed by national organizations. The Commission hosted a Discrimination Prevention Forum in November 2010 and brought together more than 150 representatives from 61 different employer organizations including industry, unions and Aboriginal communities. When asked if they were satisfied with the event and impressed with the speakers, panellists, moderators and organization, 88 percent of forum participants agreed or strongly agreed. In collaboration with Algonquin College and other stakeholders, the Commission is working to develop a certificate program in human rights in an Aboriginal context, aimed at building community capacity in the area of human rights. 3) Facilitate the development of internal redress processes in First Nations communities. The Commission initiated dialogue with a number of First Nations and Aboriginal organizations to learn traditional approaches to dispute resolution and to promote discussion on the development of community based processes. A Human Rights Handbook for First Nations was developed for release in June 2011. The Southern First Nations Secretariat (a council of seven First Nations) agreed to pilot a First Nations led project to develop community dispute resolution processes, aimed at helping to resolve human rights concerns within the communities themselves. The Commission started the development of a roster of alternative dispute resolution practitioners with experience in an Aboriginal context.

Priority	Type	Strategic Outcome
Federally regulated organizations demonstrate progress toward developing a self-sustaining human rights culture.	New	Equality, respect for human rights and protection from discrimination.
Status: Met All
1) Pilot the Integrated Human Rights Maturity Model (HRMM); The Commission began pilot tests with eight private and public sector organizations. The results of the pilot test are expected in fall 2011, with a launch later in 2011. 2) Develop more model policies on key human rights issues for use by federally regulated organizations; and The Commission developed two model policies for use by federally regulated organizations: the Employer policy template - Accommodation in the Workplace and the Employer policy template - Anti-Harassment in the Workplace. These tools were designed to assist employers in meeting their human rights obligations and fostering an environment that is respectful of human rights. 3) Define the characteristics of effective internal redress processes and facilitate implementation. The Commission developed the "Guiding Principles for Internal Dispute Resolution Processes in a Human Rights Context". These principles define the characteristics of effective and procedurally fair internal dispute resolution processes, and have been designed to provide guidance to federally regulated organizations in the planning, development and refinement of these processes.

¹ Type is defined as follows: New—newly committed to in the reporting year of the DPR or Ongoing—committed to at least three fiscal years before the subject year of the report.

Risk Analysis

The Commission's Corporate Risk Profile for 2010-11 identified a number of factors that could have an impact on the ability to achieve expected results. The following four risks were identified as most likely to occur and mitigation measures were developed to reduce their potential impact on the Commission's work to implement the CHRA and ensure compliance with the EEA.

1) Risk that the Commission's reputation may be damaged by misinformation and misperceptions about its role and mandate, resulting in reduced public confidence.

In 2010-11, the Commission mitigated the effects of misinformation and misperceptions by concentrating efforts on raising awareness of the CHRA and the Commission's mandated role. To do so, the Commission undertook a review of its communications and outreach structure to assess its effectiveness. A 2009 strategic alignment exercise identified measures that the Commission put in place during 2010-11 to bolster its communications capacity by incorporating existing structures into a separate Communications branch. Further, there was the creation of a new director position, reporting directly to the Secretary General, to oversee the development and implementation of the organizational strategic communications plan. This was achieved within existing resources by improving and streamlining the existing structure.

2) Risk that existing capacity and resource levels may not be sufficient for appropriately meeting service demands, resulting in program delivery shortfalls and perceived performance issues.

During the reporting period, the Commission experienced a rapidly increasing volume and complexity of human rights complaints. To mitigate the risk of not meeting service demands within existing resources in the short term, management recognized the need to redistribute resources based on operational requirements and reassigned employees from other responsibility centres to assist principally with the intake of complaints and preliminary legal issues. The reengineering of screening processes maximized efficiency and effectiveness including through early referrals to alternative redress mechanisms. While the complaints processed in 2010-11 met performance targets, the impact of a potential secondary swell in complaints in 2011-12 arising from the repeal of section 67 may challenge the Commission.

The Resolution Services Division is the first point of contact for individuals who believe they have been subject to discrimination. Parties are encouraged to try to settle matters by means of the employer's internal redress mechanism. The Commission has focused its priorities on increasing the capacity of First Nations to address human rights issues within their own communities and developing self-sustaining human rights cultures in all federally regulated organizations with the provision of tools, delivery of training and training materials, and guidance such as the Guiding Principles for Internal Dispute Resolution Processes in a Human Rights Context.

3) Risk that the scope of its program activities will limit the potential reach and impact of the Commission.

To better understand and anticipate how issues might affect human rights, the Commission analyzes Canadian social and demographic trends and the complaints it receives. Analysis has identified that discrimination complaints are often systemic in nature. Systemic discrimination refers to situations where people are treated differently and adversely because of an established policy or practice. Proactively recognizing and resolving systemic human rights issues has a positive impact on all Canadians who may have been affected, even unintentionally, by the potential discrimination. The processing of complaints will remain the focus of the Dispute Resolution Program in meeting the requirements of the Act. Under the Human Rights Knowledge Development and Dissemination Program, the Commission will increase the scope of its program activities by addressing the systems and programs that create inequalities. It should be noted that these inequalities are often brought to the attention of the Commission via complaints.

To ensure a sustainable and integrated approach that will minimize the risk of a limited program reach and impact in future years and using fixed program resources, the Commission developed a "Framework to Better Address Systemic Discrimination" in 2010-11. This provides guidance for determining which systemic issues the Commission will take on based on the potential to make a difference. Partnerships with key stakeholders have been established to both better focus and expand the impact of the Commission's work, such as partnering with the Mental Health Commission of Canada to remove barriers at the workplace for Canadians with mental health issues. Progress on mitigating this risk will be measured through performance indicators and monitored in subsequent Departmental Performance Reports.

4) Risk that too many staff positions remain vacant for prolonged periods of time.

For the past three years, the Commission has focused efforts on progressively reducing its turnover rate from 26 percent in 2006-07 to the current rate in 2010-11 of 15 percent, through collective staffing, pre-qualified pools of candidates and anticipatory processes. While many processes were initiated as anticipatory in nature, the intended positions became vacant prior to completion and indeterminate appointments were made. As a further challenge, the Commission's pre-qualified pools were often exhausted prior to appointment through attrition and candidates receiving offers from other departments.

The Commission's human resources experience does not seem to be unique in the federal government and the short-term spike experienced in the turnover rate of 2006 has been addressed. However, long-term staffing challenges will continue as succession and learning plans mature. Developmental opportunities are encouraged to increase staff capacity and knowledge. Since potential turnover rates are considered when developing the Commission's integrated business and human resources plan, the Human Resources Division will continue to maximize opportunities for collective staffing processes. To reduce the perception that positions remain vacant for prolonged periods of time, service standards for staffing processes (internal and external, advertised and non-advertised) were established and communicated to all delegated managers.

Summary of Performance

2010-11 Financial Resources ($ thousands)

Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
22,475	24,224	23,067

2010-11 Human Resources (FTEs)

Planned	Actual	Difference
197	183	14

• The tables on page 9 demonstrate that the Commission's actual program spending varied from our total authorities by less than $0.5 million or 3 percent.
• While 14 fewer human resources (FTEs) were utilized than originally planned, the Commission converted the equivalent salary dollars to fund Operations and Maintenance (O & M) spending in order to engage temporary professional services and provide surge capacity resources while staffing processes were finalized.
• Further details to explain the variance between Main Estimates and Total Authorities are elaborated on page 10 with the use of a Spending Trends chart.

Strategic Outcome: Equality, respect for human rights and protection from discrimination by fostering understanding of, and compliance with, the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Employment Equity Act by federally regulated employers and service providers, as well as the public they serve.

Performance Indicators	Targets	2010-11 Performance
Percentage of public service employees who indicated they were not a victim of discrimination on the job.	84% by 2011	As a Public Service Employee survey was not conducted in 2010, this performance indicator could not be measured during 2010-11. This Performance Indicator was amended in 2011 and expanded to include measurement criteria beyond the public service. The new indicator will be implemented prior to the next reporting cycle.

Program Activity	2009-10 Actual Spending ($ thousands)	2010-112 ($ thousands)				Alignment to Government of Canada Outcomes
		Main Estimates	Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
Human Rights Knowledge Development and Dissemination Program	3,442	3,789	3,789	3,515	3,331	A diverse society that promotes linguistic duality and social inclusion.
Discrimination Prevention Program	4,475	4,515	4,515	5,177	4,987	A diverse society that promotes linguistic duality and social inclusion.
Human Rights Dispute Resolution Program	8,555	8,109	8,109	8,775	8,660	A diverse society that promotes linguistic duality and social inclusion.
Total	16,472	16,413	16,413	17,467	16,978

Program Activity	2009-10 Actual Spending ($ thousands)	2010-11 ($ thousands)
		Main Estimates	Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending
Internal Services	6,157	6,062	6,062	6,757	6,089

² Commencing in the 2009-10 Estimates cycle, the resources for Program Activity: Internal Service displayed seperately from other program activities; they are no longer distributed among the program activities, as was the case in previous Main Estimates. This has affected the comparability of spending and FTE information by Program Activity between fiscal years.

Expenditure Profile

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The increase of $2.3 million in 2008-09 and $3.0 million in 2009-10 between Main Estimates and Total Authorities is mainly due to temporary funding. One reason was a carry forward of the operating budget of $0.5 million in 2008-09 and of $0.4 millions in 2009-10. A reimbursement of eligible pay list expenditures for severance pay and parental benefits of $0.5 million for each of the two first fiscal years accounts for another variance. The salary increases resulting from the collective bargaining agreements also increased the amounts by $1.3 million in 2008-09 and $0.9 million in 2009-10. Finally, the repeal of section 67 of the CHRA generated an increase of $0.7 million in 2009-10.

For 2010-11, the increase of $1.7 million between Main Estimates and Total Authorities was mainly due to temporary funding received because of a carry forward of the operating budget of $0.8 million, the reimbursement of $0.4 million for eligible pay list expenditures related to severance pay and parental benefits and a $0.2 million salary increase resulting from the signed collective bargaining agreements.

The increase of $1.8 million between 2009-10 and 2010-11 Main Estimates was mainly due to funding of $1 million for the repeal of section 67 of the CHRA and $0.8 million to cover salary increases generated by the signed collective bargaining agreements.

Estimates by Vote

For information on our organizational votes and/or statutory expenditures, please see the 2010-11 Public Accounts of Canada (Volume II) publication. An electronic version of the Public Accounts is available at http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/recgen/txt/72-eng.html.

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