Mr. Speaker, I was appalled at the President of the Treasury Board's response to my question concerning racism in society at large, and in the federal government in particular. She had a choice. On behalf of the government, she could have addressed issues of racial discrimination. Instead she chose to play partisan political games, but it gets worse. She then proceeded to say that the government is addressing the problem by setting up an advisory board.
Black Canadians and other visible minorities have been studied to death. What we need are solutions. The Canadian Human Rights Commission's analysis of the government's performance in 1998 shows an abysmal record. Out of 12,420 term staff positions filled last year, only 418 were visible minorities. That is only 3%. Out of 2,800 permanent jobs filled, only 184 were visible minorities, but with 685 visible minority positions lost, the Liberals had a net loss of 501 employees, or a decrease of 18%.
I am sure the government is well aware that it has been over two years since the commission released the study carried out by Dr. John Samuel entitled “Visible Minorities and the Public Service”. In February 1998 a forum on racial discrimination in the federal public service and federal agencies in Canada looked at the issues of systemic racism.
The Canadian Human Rights Commission states in its 1998 annual report:
The public service's record regarding the employment of visible minorities is worse than its record for the other designated groups. For 1997-98, the representation of visible minorities was 5.1 per cent, about half of what could be expected based on the number of people qualified and available for work. There were ample opportunities to remedy this situation, since more than 15,000 people were hired, but the number of visible minority candidates recruited was less than half of those qualified and available. Given the continuing difficulties that federal government departments seem to be experiencing in hiring and promoting visible minorities, it is hard to conclude that they have taken to heart the recommendations made by Dr. Samuel.
I also raised in my question to the President of the Treasury Board the government's inexcusable act of failing to appoint Judge Corrine Sparks who was passed over and ignored in a conscious decision by the government to appoint judges who have sat on the bench in Nova Scotia for less time. Judge Sparks was appointed in 1987. The government overlooked her in favour of judges appointed in 1995, 1993 and 1991, among others. As Lincoln Alexander, chairperson of the Canada Race Relations Foundation stated, this is a “major slap in the face to the black community” and he suggested the government's actions “smack of racism”.
I first raised the issue in the House of Commons on April 14. The government buried its head in the sand and hoped the problem would go away, as governments in the country have so often hoped when it comes to issues of fairness for blacks and other Canadians of colour.
The figures speak for themselves. Representation of Canada's visible minority population in the government's public service is abysmal and offensive.
I sincerely hope the government representative will not respond with platitudes, with comments of look how well they have done, and with vague references to future reports of advisory boards or task forces.
I hope the Liberal government will now respond with an action plan including targets, funding and dates.