Strategic Human Resources Plan
2008/2011

Strategy 2 - Improve the Diversity of our Workforce

Where We Are

Coast Guard is committed to being a more representative organization. Our efforts to build a respectful and welcoming workplace that employs people as diverse and representative as the population we serve are continuous. Employment equity initiatives help us meet business needs while ensuring that we employ the best talent available.

Thanks to recruitment and retention efforts, the composition of CCG's workforce, while not yet representative, is improving relative to labour market availability. While representation trends are positive, there are still significant gaps, and management commitment will be key to our success.

To achieve representation equal to labour market availability across the country, Coast Guard needs to recruit a total of 186 employees from the four employment equity groups: Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities, visible minorities and women. The most significant representation gap is women in the SC category, at -126. It should also be noted that recruiting and maintaining a diverse workforce can be particularly challenging in small communities.

Table I shows designated group representation at CCG compared to labour market availability.

As part of DFO, CCG conducts reviews of employment policies, systems and practices every three years to identify barriers that adversely affect members of designated groups and to propose possible solutions. Past reviews have found that Coast Guard has to improve management accountability, better analyze occupational category issues to reduce gaps, and enhance efforts to foster a welcoming and diverse workplace.

What We Will Do

Concerted efforts will be required to improve the diversity of the Coast Guard workforce. It is crucial that CCG adopts a more proactive approach to recruiting if it is to make the most of existing and future labour market possibilities.

CCG will continue to support individual managers in improving the participation of Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities, visible minorities and women in the workforce. Recruitment efforts will be in line with public service staffing values of fairness, access and transparency.

Coast Guard will also implement qualitative and quantitative commitments under the DFO Employment Equity Management Action Plan that will address outreach recommendations. The Commissioner's role, as departmental Employment Equity champion, will be key in ensuring adequate senior management engagement in action plan implementation.

CCG will need to study the possibility of eliminating the second language requirement of its Ships' Officer Cadet Training Program, the main source for development of SOs. The requirement is seen as a significant barrier to recruitment of visible minorities. Given that CCG must maintain its capacity to serve in both official languages, any adjustment to the second language requirement for recruitment purposes would have to be accompanied by enhanced language training to ensure that we continue to meet our language requirements.

Our efforts to implement all of the Employment Equity Management Action Plan commitments will be ongoing. DFO will deliver training to CCG employees on diversity, employment equity and official languages (over a two-year period).