Thank you so much, Madam Chair.
I'm joining you today from Newfoundland. It's great to be back, making regular appearances before the committee.
Let me begin by saying that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, has zero tolerance for racism, discrimination or harassment of any kind. However, we know that these problems exist throughout the public service and in our department.
If we really want to make a lasting difference, we must first acknowledge this reality. That's why creating safe spaces and an inclusive, healthy workplace is a priority for me, for IRCC's deputy ministers, and for the entire department.
We have an obligation to listen and to act. Our diversity in Canada is a major strength, and we all benefit, in my opinion, when we reflect that diversity in our public service. This is true for all federal agencies, and especially for IRCC, given its mandate to welcome new Canadians.
The department is committed to diversity and inclusion, not only regarding its employees, but in the work that we do as well, including the fair and non-discriminatory processing of applications that we receive from people of a wide variety of backgrounds.
I'd like to outline a few of the actions we're taking to address this ongoing commitment.
The first major step towards this commitment was to create, in 2020, our anti-racism task force. This task force guides the department's strategy to eliminate racism and applies an anti-racism lens to all of the work, policies and programs we're responsible for.
Overall, IRCC has been actively reviewing its human resource systems so that indigenous, Black, racialized peoples and persons with disabilities are better represented across IRCC at every level.
To this end, we have made 12 departmental commitments to make IRCC a fairer and more diverse place to work, to hold the department to account for its progress in this regard, and to change the composition of our workforce by 2024.
We have also made six commitments on anti-racism service delivery to measure, analyze and evaluate the impact of bias on service delivery, including a review of the services we provide to our African clients.
These commitments are important because only by measuring these parameters can we make changes.
Also, to deliver on our commitments, we've put in place numerous initiatives and training programs to support decision-makers across our various lines of business. Just a few examples follow.
We've set up a service delivery anti-racism working group that has mandated training to support decision-makers' understanding of procedural fairness and impartiality in the decision-making process.
The department's overseas quality assurance program has been expanded to conduct an annual review of application refusals.
We're mapping available race-related client data to identify possible bias, systemic racism and other barriers.
We're reviewing policies and programs to identify systemic racism or barriers in program and service delivery.
As we modernize and adopt new technologies, we are also developing guidance and implementing measures to mitigate bias and unintended negative consequences.
I would like to stress that we are committed to the fair application of immigration laws. As such, all immigration applications received by IRCC are assessed individually, based on the documentation provided by clients.
IRCC also has taken a number of steps to make real and lasting changes within the department to ensure that our actions support our commitments.
We've established the three-year anti-racism strategy, which includes in its plans mandatory bias training, mentoring and sponsorship programs; anti-racism work and training objectives included in their performance agreements; leadership programs for under-represented groups; trauma coaching sessions for Black employees and managers to enable them to recognize the impacts of racism on mental health; employee trust circles; racial impact assessment tools for policy development; and other initiatives to support workplace cultural change.
We're also focused on targeted recruitment processes to help meet higher representation levels. We are implementing anti-racism commitments in our leader performance agreements. To this end, IRCC is initiating a new three-year hiring and retention strategy to address the diversity of our workforce.
We are also preparing a talent management bank, where employees can register to be considered for employment opportunities within IRCC. Through such initiatives, we are beginning to see encouraging trends in employment equity, particularly at the entry level.
However, we need to make more progress in the middle and senior management ranks to make our workforce more representative of the Canadian population.
We need to develop a diverse workforce so that racialized individuals can contribute to our department, especially as leaders, and can inspire others to pursue leadership roles.
Madam Chair, is that the end of my time, or is that a signal that there's a little time left?