Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, the number that appears as the benchmark in the departmental plan is indeed that: a benchmark. It's a floor. It's not necessarily a ceiling, and it actually is prescribed by—

Government Operations committee  Yes, thank you, Minister. Very briefly, I have some elaborations on your remarks. When it comes to the Employment Equity Act review, certainly we are supporting our colleagues at Labour Canada, but we're also, in a sense, not waiting for any changes to the Employment Equity Act, both to, as we've already discussed, release disaggregated data, but also to offer opportunities for public servants to self-identify at the subgroup level.

Government Operations committee  Yes, Minister. Thank you. You mentioned the importance of self-identification. Our data is really only as good as the degree to which individuals feel safe and comfortable self-identifying with one of the equity-seeking groups. We are currently working within Treasury Board Secretariat to develop an approach that will be more inclusive in the way in which it seeks that data from public servants, allowing them to, in effect, more completely and more accurately express their identity and demystifying and sharing with them information on the reasons for which that data is disclosed and how it can benefit them.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, the situation as it continues in the pandemic day to day, with the developments we see when it comes to new variants and changes, is obviously is something we're studying very carefully. We're taking into account all the different considerations that would need to inform the support we provide deputy heads in the administration of their organizations as one looks forward to what the future could look like for the public service.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, the way we normally function when it comes to the work we do with deputy heads is that they have authorities and accountabilities for the administration of their organizations under the FAA and other legislation as well. For our part at the Treasury Board Secretariat, we provide guidance, support and direction in some cases, in the form of policies and instruments for the core public administration.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, what I can say at the outset is that obviously right now departments, and we at Treasury Board Secretariat as well, are very focused on ensuring that the proper measures are still in place to protect the health and safety of the public servants who are currently working in the context of the pandemic—

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, like many organizations—private sector, public sector and not-for-profit—we are watching the situation as it evolves, and we are considering how it may evolve going forward and what implications that may have for a return to work. What I can assure the members of the committee of, Mr.

Government Operations committee  In advance of the pandemic, there was a telework directive in place, which was really based upon a different paradigm. It was based upon a notion of ad hoc and typically sporadic telework that was really employee driven. Since the pandemic, we've seen that paradigm challenged with the massive shift in remote work that we've seen across the public service, so that we can comply with public health advisories while at the same time ensuring continuity of operations and also of the services that Canadians rely on across the country and, indeed, around the globe.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, I can respond to that question. In the context of the virtual shift to work that we saw with the advent of COVID, we took measures almost immediately to ensure that public servants could work in the official language of their choice. As committee members know, individuals who occupy bilingual positions in bilingual regions have language of work rights.

Government Operations committee  I can tell you that when it comes to public servants' language of work rights, we maintain that there should be parity of access to resources, training, guidance and so on. I can speak as a manager too, I suppose, within my own organization. Whenever we provide such resources to public servants, we always take pains to make sure that the resources are available in both official languages, so that folks can work and read and understand material in the language of their choice.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, it's a very interesting question, one I know that colleagues at Public Services and Procurement Canada would be far better placed than I am to comment on, since they are the lead department when it comes to advancing GCcoworking.

Government Operations committee  There are a number of ways, and I'm sure Madame Girard would be equally well placed to speak to how we engage various stakeholders and how we have engaged various stakeholders over the course of the pandemic as we've been evolving the guidance and approaches we've taken. I can perhaps speak to my experience of engaging directly with many of the stakeholders, for example, bargaining agents, from whom the committee will hear in short order, who have shown themselves to be very helpful partners in informing the evolution of our approaches.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, I'd be happy to take that question. There are, obviously, a number of different ways in which Treasury Board Secretariat has supported deputy heads who have the authority and are accountable for the administration of their organizations. For example, on the issue of equipment, a number of questions were raised early in the pandemic as to how and under what circumstances deputy heads should be considering the elaboration of policies for equipping their public servants in a pandemic.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Chair, as I said, I don't have a pinpoint date for its release. Before we convened for this meeting, we conferred with our colleagues who are analyzing the results that were collected over the period that this survey was provided to public servants, and it should be fairly shortly.

Government Operations committee  The results of the survey will be out in fairly short order. I don't have a pinpoint—