2020-21 Departmental Results Report – Supplementary Information Tables

Responses to Parliamentary Committees and External Audits

Response to parliamentary committees

There were no parliamentary committee reports requiring a response in 2020-21.

Response to audits conducted by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (including audits conducted by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development)

There were no audits in 2020-21 requiring a response.

Response to audits conducted by the Public Service Commission of Canada or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages

Public Service Commission Audit of Employment Equity Representation in Recruitment

This audit was undertaken as part of the Public Service Commission’s oversight mandate to assess the integrity of the public service staffing system. It is part of a series of initiatives that looks at the performance of the staffing system with respect to the representation of employment equity groups. The audit sample consisted of 15,285 applications derived from a selection of 181 completed external advertised appointment processes, which closed between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017, from 30 federal departments and agencies, including Justice Canada.

The audit found that employment equity groups (women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities) did not remain proportionately represented throughout the external appointment process. Of the four employment equity groups, three are represented at or above workforce availability; persons with disabilities are currently underrepresented in the federal government. These results show that more work and a sustained focus on diversity are required.

This audit report was completed in January 2021 and contains three recommendations intended to address the lower success rate experienced by some employment equity groups in external advertised recruitment processes. The development and implementation of concrete corrective measures will require collaboration between multiple stakeholders including deputy heads, the Public Service Commission, other central agencies and employment equity groups. Deputy heads are responsible for reviewing their staffing framework and practices to ensure barrier-free appointment processes for all employment equity groups, including visible minority sub-groups.

While the first recommendation was addressed to all departments, there were no recommendations specifically addressed to the Department of Justice Canada. The Department has developed a management action plan to address the first recommendation.