Vancouver (Canada)

A City’s good practice towards the elimination of discrimination

Within the framework of the Canadian Coalition’s Ten Point Plan of Action, the City of Vancouver has created an Equal Employment Opportunity Programme.

The Programme provides assistance to staff members and departments at the City of Vancouver on issues related to human rights. The project supports departments in recruiting and retaining a qualified workforce that reflects the diversity of Vancouver. The services provided are: community outreach, provision on city’s practices related to justice, inclusion and diversity, collaboration with departments to eliminate systemic barriers, support on resolving issues of discrimination and promotion of the  ‘best practices’ within departments. The Equal Employment Opportunities Programme is a good example of how a city can use an employment programme to ensure that the workforce reflects the composition of the population and also experiences, perspectives and talents of its employees.

In support Vancouver’s Equal Employment Opportunity Policy that encourages the hiring of people who are under-represented in the workforce, the project released a set of guidelines for hiring a diverse workforce. The guidelines want to help at reaching a wider pool of qualified candidates, giving equal consideration to applicants and creating a welcoming work environment for all. The guidelines were prepared in 1997 by the Employment Equity Committee and were updated in 2005.

The Programme is particularly effective because it offers a supported means to implement the employment policies of the City. Releasing guidelines is an effective way to share information across the city government and to promote common techniques and standards in hiring practices. Since individual departments rarely have personnel with expertise in equitable hiring practices, the advising services of the programme are especially applicable.

City Information
The City of Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents. The city proper has more than 640,000 people. The city is ethnically and linguistically diverse, with 52% for whom English is not their first language. With its location on the Pacific Rim and at the western terminus of Canada's transcontinental highway and rail routes, Vancouver is one of the nation's largest industrial centres. The Port of Vancouver is Canada's largest and most diversified.

Vancouver has been a member of the Canadian Coalition of Municipalities against Racism and Discrimination since March 2003.

For more information, please visit: http://vancouver.ca