The objective of Treasury Board policy on employment equity is to enable the equitable representation and distribution in the public service of groups of individuals that have traditionally been under-represented: women, members of visible minorities, aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities.

The first employment-equity targets established by the Correctional Service of Canada and approved by Treasury Board covered the period 1985-1988. These targets were quite specific, stating the percentage of the work force to be made up of each of the target groups. At the end of the three-year period, government departments were held accountable for their progress, or lack thereof, in meeting these targets.

The second three-year period has almost ended, and the Correctional Service of Canada received its report card on how well it progressed toward meeting its employment-equity targets. Overall, the results are extremely positive: all targets have been met and, in many cases, surpassed.

Figure 1 shows the target representation rates that were established by the Correctional Service of Canada and the actual representation rates that were achieved in each of the group categories as of October 1991. It also presents the availability rates for each target group. Availability rates are based on 1986 census data from Statistics Canada; they reflect the percentage of all persons who are available to work (i.e., who are of an appropriate age with appropriate skills) and who fall into an employment-equity target group.

Women make up the largest employment-equity target group. Currently, about one third (33.2%) of the Correctional Service of Canada's employees are women, while our target was 31.6%. The Correctional Service of Canada continues to progress by employing more women in the management category and in non-traditional positions.

Figure 2 shows that the Correctional Service of Canada has steadily increased female representation in the management category, doubling the representation rate from 7.3% in 1986-87 to 14.7% in 1990-91. Despite such substantial progress, only about 15% of the Correctional Service of Canada's managers are women.

Another way of examining an organization's progress toward employment equity is to consider the rate of departure of persons in certain designated groups. Rate of departure refers to the percentage of members of the designated employment-equity groups who leave the Correctional Service of Canada. High rates of departure may signal problems somewhere in an organization - for example, how it deals with individuals in target groups or in the work environment.

Figure 3 shows the rates of departure from the Correctional Service of Canada for persons in each of the designated groups, as well as the rates for the public service overall. In 1990, for every designated group, the rate of departure from the Correctional Service of Canada was lower than the rate of departure from the public service as a whole. In some cases, the differences were substantial: the rate of departure of aboriginal employees from our organization was 11.8% while the rate for the public service was much higher at 18.7%; the rate of departure of members of visible minorities from the Correctional Service of Canada was almost half that found in the public service (6.2% versus 11.9%). The point is made, though, that even if our performance in this area is better than that of the overall public service, efforts are still needed to slow or decrease the departure of persons in employment-equity groups.

New employment-equity targets for the Correctional Service of Canada have been established to cover the next three-year period. These targets are subdivided into targets for recruitment, targets for promotions and targets for discretionary separations. Recruitment targets are based on the external availability of persons in the designated groups and on the organization' 5 recent recruitment experience. Promotion targets are based on internal availability (current availability in the organization of persons in the designated groups). The separation targets are set so that the separation rates for the designated groups are no greater than those for the non-designated groups.

Further, targets have been set specific to the non-management category and to the management category.

For women, the targets have been even further subdivided by occupational category: scientific and professional, administrative and foreign service, technical, administrative support and operational. The highest recruitment target, at 82.9%, has been set for women in scientific and professional occupations. The highest promotion target, at 84.6%, has been set for women in administrative support positions.

Each region translates these targets into specific targets for each regional headquarters, institution and parole office. The accountability of line managers for employment equity is reinforced through the use of accountability contracts specific to employment-equity targets and through the use of performance appraisals that take into consideration managers performance in meeting their employment-equity targets. A commitment has also been made to increase the work-force representation of women in the management cadre and to develop a national strategy to increase the participation of aboriginal peoples in the organization. Further, initiatives are being developed to enhance training and career-development opportunities for persons in the designated groups. Efforts will be made to ensure that employment equity is integrated into all processes that affect human-resource planning, including initiatives such as institutional construction. Further, support groups and regional and national advisory groups are being established to help employees, to provide a forum for target-group members to express their views and to make recommendations to senior management.