Employment Equity (Canada) - Coverage

Coverage

The Employment Equity Act is federal legislation, and as such, applies to certain industries that are federally regulated under the Canadian constitution, namely banks, broadcasters, telecommunication companies, railroads, airlines,private businesses necessary to the operation of a federal act, maritime transportation companies, other transportation companies if inter-provincial in nature, uranium-related organizations, federal crown corporations (companies where the federal government owns the majority of shares), and corporations controlled by two or more provincial governments. A Human Resources and Skills Development Canada web page states that 6% of the Canadian workforce was covered by federal employment equity legislation. Thus the scope of the Employment Equity Act is quite limited, and the vast majority of employers, including nearly all retailers and manufacturing companies, fall outside its jurisdiction.

The Canadian federal government also administers the Federal Contractors’ Program (FCP). This is not part of the Employment Equity Act, but rather is a non-legislated program that extends employment equity to organizations beyond the scope of the Act. The FCP states that suppliers of goods and services to the federal government (with some specified exceptions) must have an employment equity program in place.

Some provinces use the term employment equity in conjunction with their enforcement of provincial-level human rights legislation (for example, British Columbia), but no province has a law that is an analogue to the federal Employment Equity Act. The government of Quebec requires that employers show preference to people with disabilities, which could be considered a form of employment equity legislation.