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May 19, 1999

To:Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee

From:Chief Administrative Officer

Subject:Resources for Access and Equity Functions

Purpose:

This report:

-summarizes the resource implications of the recommendations contained in the draft final report of the Task Force on Community Access and Equity; and

-presents an approach to the organization of administrative structures for access and equity functions in the City that accommodate the aspirations of the Task Force within the financial constraints of the corporation.

Financial Implications:

The organizational structures defined in this report can be achieved within the approved 1999 Operating Budget but require the transfer of funds for corporate access and equity services between departments as recommended in the report.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1)the corporate Access and Equity Unit work with each commissioner to define the functions and reporting relationships for the assignment of dedicated corporate access and equity staff resources to assist individual departments in meeting access and equity objectives;

(2)the staff positions that were reassigned from the pool of corporate access and equity resources to the human resources business units in 1998 be explicitly defined and function as employment equity and human rights consultants, and the Executive Director of Human Resources report to the Administration Committee on how the expertise and skills of these employment equity and human rights consultants are being used to enhance the activities of the human resources business units;

(3)the 1999 approved budget of $1,501,000 total gross expenditures ($1,471,000.00 total net expenditures) and 21.3 equivalent funded staff positions for Access and Equity services be transferred from the Human Resources Division in the Corporate Services Department to the Strategic and Corporate Policy Division in the Chief Administrator's Office to facilitate the transfer of program management and administration of the corporate Access and Equity Unit from the Corporate Services Department to the Chief Administrator's Office, and the 1999 Operating Budget be adjusted accordingly;

(4)once in each term of Council, the City Auditor oversee an internal audit of the performance by the corporation as a whole in achieving its access, equity and human rights goals;

(5)in order to ensure that there is a an external community perspective on the City's progress towards access, equity and human rights goals, the City organize an annual community consultation on access, equity and human rights issues that will provide input to planning, policy and program development in subsequent years;

(6)the Task Force on Community Access and Equity be requested to take this report into consideration during the preparation of its final report to Council; and

(7)the appropriate City Officials be authorized and directed to take the necessary action to give effect thereto.

Council Reference:

On January 2, 6, 8 and 9, 1998, City Council adopted Report No. 1 of the Striking Committee, which established a Task Force on Community Access and Equity and appointed Councillor Joe Mihevc as its chair.

The Task Force's terms of reference were adopted as amended by Council on March 4, 5 and 6, 1998 (Special Committee to Review the Final Report of the Toronto Transition Team Report 3 (6)). The terms of reference described the goals and objectives of the Task Force as identifying the necessary policies, structural functions, program priorities and evaluation processes by which the City of Toronto can:

i.strengthen civic society, and in particular empower those members of the community who face barriers to full participation in the life of the community;

ii.take a more effective role in addressing the barriers faced by women, people of colour, Aboriginal people, people with disabilities, lesbians and gays, immigrants/refugees, different religious/faith communities;

iii.strengthen community involvement and public participation in the decision-making processes of the municipality, particularly for equity seeking communities;

iv.continue the City's proactive role in linking and partnering with other institutions and agencies, as well as with the community, in engaging in initiatives in support of access and equity;

v.ensure that the contributions, interests and needs of all sectors of Toronto's diverse population are reflected in the City's mission, operation and service delivery; and

vi.continue the City's leadership in the community as a model employer with a workforce that reflects the diversity of its residents and follows fair and equitable employment practices.

The chair of the Task Force submitted a draft final report to the Strategic Policies and Priorities Committee on January 26, 1999. The committee referred the report from the Task Force chair to the CAO and requested him to report back to the committee on the financial implications of the report.

On February 2, 3 and 4, 1999, Council extended the mandate of the Task Force to enable it to consider the CAO's report in the finalization of the Task Force report.

This report responds to the request by the SPPC. During the preparation of this report, staff:

-surveyed departments in regard to the implications of the Task Force's draft recommendations;

-interviewed a large sample of staff involved in access and equity activities;

-reviewed various written materials provided by the departments and the interim Access and Equity Unit;

-met with the chair of the Task Force throughout the process; and

-retained the services of a general management consultant to assist with the review of options for the administrative organization of access and equity functions.

Background:

Task Force Draft Recommendations:

The Draft Report of the Task Force on Community Access and Equity contains 82 recommendations. The majority of the recommendations pertain to the City's policies and programs. They propose development of specific corporate policies and positions, development or review of operational policies, and development or review of specific programs and initiatives. The primary impact of such recommendations is on the commitment of human and financial resources and on the establishment of priorities in program plans.

A number of recommendations have implications for organizational structures and processes. Recommendation 82 in the report suggests that "the City establish organizational structures and resources for access, equity and human rights:

-to provide policy development;

-to facilitate community advisory processes including committees relating to the human rights protected groups and other Committees of Council as required;

-to administer anti-racism, access and equity grants;

-to investigate human rights issues at arms length;

-to implement awareness and public education programs on access, equity and human rights issues;

-to act as resources for departments and agencies in developing and implementing action plans;

-to liaise with community organizations regarding emerging issues and to assist them with civic involvement;

-to conduct research on the needs of the human rights protected groups and to provide results to departments to use in delivering services;

-to monitor legislative proposals that impact on the human rights protected groups;

-to implement communication strategies to increase involvement and access to services;

-to promote the City's position to other levels of government and external bodies; and

-to provide advice and research to Council Committees."

Other recommendations propose that the City:

-establish seven city-wide community advisory committees to address priorities faced by human rights protected groups (recommendation 1);

-permit community councils to establish geographically based access, equity and human rights working groups (recommendation 2);

-establish an Office of Aboriginal Affairs (recommendation 11);

-establish an Office of Disability Issues (recommendation 13); and

-establish a Human Rights Office (recommendation 57).

Discussion:

Current Resources for Access and Equity:

(a)Corporate Resources:

Prior to amalgamation, the former municipalities applied corporate resources to access and equity activities in different ways. The former Metro had dedicated staff in a corporate Access and Equity Centre. The former City of Toronto employed dedicated staff in its Equal Opportunity Program. Although the titles and precise job descriptions varied, the former North York, Scarborough and Etobicoke each had a full or part-time dedicated coordinator of race relations. Other staff, whose primary functions were not in the area of access and equity, may have provided support to access and equity activities, for example, in supporting the work of an advisory committee or by having employment equity and human rights responsibilities incorporated into their overall position.

Because of the varied organizational approaches in the former municipalities to the provision of access and equity services, achieving an accurate count of dedicated access and equity resources at the time of amalgamation was difficult. However, based on the description of staff's primary functions, it is calculated that, at the time of amalgamation, there were 36 positions whose primary purpose was the performance of corporate access, equity and human rights functions. They comprised the pool of corporate access and equity staff resources.

During 1998, a number of these positions were redeployed. Five professional staff and two administrative support staff were assigned to the Staffing, Workforce Transition, Equity and Human Rights Unit in the Human Resources Division to provide specialized employment equity and human rights services.

A further four professional staff were assigned to work as Human Resource Consultants in business units within the Human Resources Division that provide dedicated support to specific departments. These staff are able to add specialized knowledge and expertise in the area of access, equity and human rights to the business units. In addition, two administrative support staff were also redeployed from the original pool of access and equity staff to work in business units in Human Resources.

The remaining staff in the original access and equity pool were assigned to work in an interim corporate Access and Equity Unit which was also located in the Human Resources Division. During the past year 1.7 FTE positions have been deleted from this unit through attrition. The corporate Access and Equity Unit provides programs to address barriers faced by all human rights protected groups, and to assist departments in delivering programs which eliminate these barriers. It provides corporate coordination of Council's anti-discrimination policies and programs and implements awareness regarding these. The unit conducts policy development and research programs in support of the elimination of barriers faced by human rights protected groups. The unit also provides support to various advisory committees and staff working groups.

Two of the staff in the unit are dedicated to Aboriginal affairs and effectively perform the functions of an Aboriginal Affairs Office as contemplated in recommendation 11 in the Task Force's draft final report. Another staff person carries a disabilities issues portfolio, which includes the responsibilities envisaged in recommendation 13 in the draft final report. Other staff also carry portfolios including immigrant and refugee issues, gay and lesbian issues and issues regarding the status of women.

In 1999, the approved budget for the corporate Access and Equity Unit includes total net expenditures of $1.471 million ($1.501 million total gross expenditures). The approved staffing complement is 21.3 positions.

(b)Departmental Resources:

The work of the corporate access and equity staff is bolstered by staff in operating departments who are performing access and equity functions in the course of departmental delivery of programs and services. Some examples follow.

The Department of Economic Development, Culture and Tourism has a number of full-time positions dedicated to providing integrated recreational programs and services. The department estimates that approximately four full-time equivalents spread over seven positions currently are developing and coordinating adapted and integrated recreational services. Three of the positions (two in the West District and one in the North District) are full-time. Their core functions are:

-to provide required supports and/or adapt recreational programs to integrate persons with special needs or develop specialized programs where appropriate;

-to arrange for the supports required by individuals;

-to undertake special projects to increase access; and

-to train staff and volunteers.

The full-time staff are also able to act as access and equity resources and advocates - for example, reviewing and advising on program and facility design, consulting and liaising with the community and agencies, mediating conflicts and potential human rights disputes, providing training and organizing and hosting special events which showcase and promote integration and participation. Additional program staff are hired as needed to provide the supports required to integrate persons with disabilities into recreational programs and to work in specialized programs.

In the Finance department, part of the job function of the Manager of Client and Support Services in the Purchasing and Materials Management Division is to provide administrative, training and outreach support to the division and its clients with respect to access issues.

The Urban Planning and Development Services Department employs an Accessibility Planner. This position assesses proposals for consistency with legislation, by-laws and City policies with respect to accessibility for elderly and disabled persons. The position has also served as a resource to other departments through the coordination of interdepartmental working groups and provision of advice.

With the exception of its Public Health Division, the Community and Neighbourhood Services Department does not identify staff positions dedicated solely to access and equity work. Rather, access and equity are integrated into all considerations and delivery of services by the department. This is reflected in the criteria for the community grants programs for which the department is responsible, the operating policies, publications, training and consultation initiatives undertaken by the various divisions. The department's five Community Development Officers work closely with community groups and agencies to develop community capacity and accessible human services.

Equal access is a general standard in the "Mandatory Services Guideline" pursuant to Section 7 of the Health Promotion and Protection Act. This standard requires Boards of Health to reduce barriers to accessing mandatory public health programs. The Board of Health is also required to integrate equal access strategies into all programs. There are approximately 2.5 full time equivalent specialized staff positions to support program staff in this regard.

Resource Implications of the Task Force Draft Recommendations:

In the course of preparing this report, staff requested each department to comment on the implications of any of the Task Force's recommendations that were relevant to them. All departments provided detailed feedback. This material is being provided to the Task Force to assist it in completing its final report.

The comments from departments indicate general support for the overall direction in which the Task Force wants the City to move. The departmental comments reveal that some of what is recommended in the Task Force's Draft Final Report is already underway. The Task Force recommendations in these instances serve to reinforce the importance of the initiatives or to ensure their continuation.

The departments' feedback also suggests, however, that implementation of recommendations, if they are adopted by Council, will have to be moderated by the availability of resources. The package of recommendations contained in the draft final report cannot be implemented immediately within current resource constraints.

The Task Force's draft final report includes various recommendations to undertake policy reviews and also to make specific program changes. Departments have pointed out that implementation would have to be phased in over time. The recommended initiatives can be built into departments' multi-year business plans to form part of a longer term work program.

Administrative Organization for Access and Equity Functions:

The extent to which the City moves successfully and willingly in the direction proposed by the Task Force will be influenced by how well equipped administratively the City is to perform access and equity functions. Simply creating a specific structure to deal with each topic area covered in the Task Force report is not the way to proceed. It is essential that the administrative organization for access and equity be approached thoughtfully and from first principles. Why should the City be interested in access and equity in the first place? Resources are scarce and there is competition among priorities. The organization of access and equity functions needs to make wise use of these scarce resources.

In reviewing the work of the Task Force on Community Access and Equity, it is important to begin by establishing broad principles and guidelines, which should influence the City's organization structures for delivering access and equity services. These principles and guidelines are drawn from two main sources - the work of the Task Force itself, and what others in the field are doing (the so-called "best practices").

General Principles and Guidelines Contained in the Task Force Report:

Throughout its consultation process, the Task Force heard that municipal government has access and equity responsibilities in four areas:

-as an employer;

-as a provider of services and programs;

-as a purchaser of goods and services; and

-as a grant giving agency.

In addition, based on an assessment of the information contained in the Task Force's Draft Report, the City government has a further responsibility:

-as a civic leader in the area of community access and equity.

Each of these above-noted areas of municipal responsibility has a number of guiding principles as outlined below.

1.The City as Employer:

The Task Force's Draft Report sets out the following policy principle:

"The diverse population of the City of Toronto shall be reflected and represented throughout every level of the municipal workforce, including its Agencies, Boards, Commissions and Special Purpose Bodies.

"The dignity, worth and contribution of each person shall be respected in an equitable municipal work environment."

This overall policy principle translates into the following guidelines:

-being a "good" employer with fair and consistent work practices;

-being a model employer for others to learn from; and

-being a leader by setting an example of excellence in the workplace in terms of access and equity practices.

2.The City as Provider of Services and Programs:

The policy principle proposed by the Task Force is:

"All residents shall be entitled to municipal services and programs which are racially sensitive, culturally and linguistically appropriate, gender appropriate, accommodate disability, and are adequately resourced to ensure equitable access and outcomes."

This overall policy principle translates into the following guidelines:

-services and programs that are accessible;

-services and programs that are sensitive; and

-services and programs that meet identified needs.

3.The City as Purchaser of Goods and Services:

The policy principle outlined in the Draft Report is:

"The municipality shall ensure equitable access and allocation to providers of goods and services; ensure that organizations which supply goods and services to the municipality through contractual agreements implement and maintain employment equity; and adopt anti-discrimination and anti-harassment practices."

This overall policy principle translates into the following guidelines:

-contracts are open to all to bid;

-there should be outreach to businesses owned and operated by members of human rights protected groups;

-purchasing policies should address the issues of diversity and equity; and

-size of contracts should be established which enable small businesses to compete.

4.The City as Grant Giving Body:

The policy principle set out by the Task Force requires that:

"The municipality shall ensure that its financing and grants are equitably allocated to reflect the changing and differential needs of all sectors of the community in order to achieve equitable outcomes."

This overall policy principle translates into the following guidelines:

-grant applications should include the City's anti-racism, access and equity policy as part of the evaluation process;

-grants should reflect the demographics of the City; and

-grants should be designed to encourage access and equity groups to apply and be eligible.

5.The City as Civic Leader:

In 1998, Council adopted the declaration "Diversity our Strength" as the City's motto. The motto represents a fundamental value held by Council that has to permeate the entire organization. The City is faced with the task of making the motto real. How do we live up to our motto?

A commitment to the value of strength in diversity requires the municipal government to look outward to the community. This emphasizes the responsibility of the government to exercise civic leadership by facilitating and strengthening community capacity and civil society.

This responsibility is explicitly recognized by the Task Force on Community Access and Equity's discussion of principles. The Draft Report states:

"The municipality, in concerning itself with the social well-being of all its residents, shall assert a proactive role in responding to community issues, influencing public opinion and pursuing broad-based efforts in partnership with the community and other institutional sectors to address diversity issues."

"The municipality shall support community-based voluntary organizations to make sure that all sectors of Toronto's diverse communities are able to effectively participate in and influence the decisions that affect their lives."

This overall policy principle translates into the following guidelines:

-community development to be a window into the City of Toronto and out to the community;

-advocacy initiatives;

-education on diversity and community access and equity - what it means and how it works; and

-partnerships wherever possible to take advantage of the skills and experience in the community.

From Policy Principles to Organizational Effectiveness:

The policy principles and guidelines contained in the Task Force's Draft Report provide a framework of values and corporate goals. The challenge for Toronto's municipal government lies in incorporating the idea of strength in diversity and a commitment to community access and equity as core values in all of its functions and activities.

The expression of core values and the achievement of goals lie in outcomes defined by the policy principles and guidelines described above. The principles and guidelines should be seamless and integrated into the City's operations, not isolated or marginalized. They should help to shape:

-the implementation of corporate and departmental policies;

-the design of programs and services; and

-the manner in which programs and services are delivered.

The way in which access and equity guidelines are built into the City's organizational structure will influence how this happens.

The Experience of Others in Organizational Best Practices:

All of the former municipalities that are now part of the City of Toronto were committed to access and equity. The Toronto Transition Team commended the former municipalities for their leadership in the provision of access and equity services. The amalgamated City of Toronto can build on this legacy. It can also learn from the experiences in other jurisdictions.

As part of the background research for the Task Force, staff in the City's interim Access and Equity Unit compiled information on the organizational approaches to access and equity taken by jurisdictions in the United States and Great Britain. A review of this material reveals the following reasons for municipal governments to provide explicit access and equity services:

-enhancing local democracy and accountability;

-enhancing customer satisfaction;

-understanding customers' needs;

-using people's talents to the full;

-becoming an "employer of choice";

-enhancing partnership with the private sector;

-enhancing the relationship with other levels of government; and

-avoiding the costs of discrimination.

In addition, in a study of 41 municipalities, the Commission for Racial Equality in Britain identified the following six essential organizational conditions for effective implementation of equity policies within municipal government:

-Commitment. Both councillors and senior managers must bring the strongest commitment to equity, a commitment that goes beyond the generalities of policy statements on "core values" to set specific, measurable and timetabled equity objectives.

-Corporate advice and guidance. Specialist advice and guidance should be provided from the centre.

-Resources. All departments should get the resources they need to frame effective action plans.

-Delegation. Managers should have the power to decide on the steps they need to take to achieve their targets.

-Equity objectives at all levels. The achievement of equity objectives should be integral to the service or business plans of all departments, and to all service agreements and contracts with the private sector and other bodies.

-Effective monitoring. All key areas of municipal practice should be monitored at both corporate and departmental levels, using accurate and reliable systems, and according to clear definitions of responsibility.

A Framework for Organizing Access and Equity Functions in the City of Toronto:

When the general policy principles and lessons from other jurisdictions are taken into account, three functional areas, each with a discrete set of activities, need to be incorporated into Toronto's administrative organization. The three areas of activity are:

1.Departmental Activities:

This means that each department should:

-take responsibility for integrating access and equity core values, objectives and policies into their normal business activities;

-commit resources and develop explicit action plans to meet access and equity objectives; and

-be held accountable for integrating core values and corporate policies on diversity and equity into their services to the public and their practices as employers and purchasers and users of services.

2.Corporate Support Functions:

Corporate resources must be available to support departments in their implementation of access and equity policies, programs and practices. This means:

-setting the corporate policies and standards for the City's access and equity activities;

-providing a focal point for internal advocacy for access and equity issues within the municipal government, including building awareness within the corporation of what access and equity means and how it is practised;

-undertaking specialized research and policy development;

-providing advice, education and training support;

-providing a window through which to maintain a connection to the state of access and equity in the community; and

-ensuring the availability of specialized supports in the areas of employment equity, human rights standards and investigations and corporate training around diversity and access and equity issues.

3.Monitoring Functions:

This means:

-having in place objective mechanisms to monitor and evaluate how well the municipal government is meeting access and equity goals and objectives;

-monitoring and assessing the relevance of corporate activities to the state of diversity and equity in the community; and

-having appropriate checks and balances in place by ensuring that the monitoring function is objective and independent of both departments and providers of corporate support functions.

The foregoing three sets of activities were in place to varying degrees in the former municipalities.

Organizational Design Principles:

The following basic organizational design principles can be used to guide consideration of organizational forms to accommodate departmental, corporate support and monitoring functions with respect to the City's access and equity activities:

1.Accountability:

-applies corporately and within departments;

-must be strong and visible to the public;

-must be based on agreed upon performance measures; and

-monitoring and evaluation must be undertaken by an objective third party.

2.Expertise:

-staff must be experienced in the provision of access and equity functions; and

-the organization must be able to explain access and equity clearly.

3.Consistency:

-this is related to how the public receives services across departments and in the City's different service districts.

4.Accessibility:

-in terms of physical accessibility to the City's programs and services;

-in terms of the absence of cultural and linguistic barriers to programs and services; and

-geographical accessibility as issues often relate to cultural communities of interest.

5.Building on existing networks:

-build on partnerships with existing community organizations and groups representing community access and equity interests.

6.Profile:

-community access and equity must be visible within the Council and the civic public service;

-profile is required to demonstrate the importance and priority of access and equity; and

-profile is required to demonstrate to the community the value placed by the City on community access and equity.

7.Broad direction setting:

-any corporate support functions should be responsible for establishing policies and directions and not for operationalizing them; and

-corporate support staff are not service providers but facilitators to those with direct service responsibility.

8.Recognizing fiscal realities:

-staffing levels must be accommodated within available resources and take budget reductions into account; and

-must use the scarce and skilled resources of access and equity staff effectively.

These organizational design principles are consistent with the above-noted essential organizational conditions for effective implementation of access and equity policies that were identified by the Commission for Racial Equality in Britain

Organizational Structures for the City's Access and Equity Functions:

Structure for Departmental Functions:

In June 1998, the Task Force interviewed the commissioners and senior managers in each of the City's six departments about the role of access and equity. A review of the notes from these meetings shows that the commissioners' consistent advice to the Task Force was that access and equity must be grounded organizationally:

"¼within program operations and service delivery levels for it to be meaningful. This is key in gaining ownership of these issues. Access and equity should rest with line departments which should play an active role in setting realistic performance measures."

"Access and Equity has to be part of the fabric of the way we do business. It has to be part of everyone's job in terms of how we treat staff and how we provide services."

Locating responsibility for access and equity in departments means that departments must ensure that access and equity values and goals are part and parcel of the services they provide. Departmental responsibility for access and equity entails:

-developing explicit access and equity action plans;

-being a good employer;

-providing accessible services; and

-holding staff accountable for the effective delivery of access and equity services.

Exercising these responsibilities successfully requires:

-staff to possess specific skills and knowledge in the area of access and equity; and

-departmental resources and programs dedicated to access and equity initiatives.

In an ideal, stable and mature organization, in which access and equity core values have been internalized successfully into day-to-day operations, departmental and program staff would all possess the necessary skills and knowledge to meet access and equity objectives.

In reality, organizationally, the City of Toronto is in the midst of a period of major change. Amalgamation, service harmonization, the accommodation of provincial downloading of service and financial responsibilities, the process of staffing up new administrative structures and the many other changes that accompany the transition from seven municipal administrations to one have presented departments with many competing challenges and priorities.

In such an environment, it is possible for access and equity objectives to fall between the cracks of change. Therefore, to ensure that access and equity policies are practised, a dedicated corporate access and equity staff resource should be assigned to work with each department. These staff will:

-provide general information and assistance to other staff within the department;

-serve as a link to other corporate access and equity resources; and

-help coordinate the preparation of access and equity action plans within the department.

Full-time, dedicated specialists should staff these positions. They will be drawn from the pool of 21.3 corporate access and equity funded equivalent positions that were approved in the 1999 Operating Budget. These resources should not be used by departments to replace other departmental staff who may be performing access and equity functions. Rather, their role as an internal advocate within the respective department to which they are assigned should be to focus the department on access and equity issues and objectives, coordinate access and equity activities across the department and facilitate linkages to other supports.

While the general nature of the support provided to departments by these staff should be consistent, the specific needs and capacity of each department are unique. Therefore it is recommended that the corporate Access and Equity Unit work with each commissioner to define the functions and reporting relationships for the assignment of dedicated corporate access and equity staff resources to meet the needs of individual departments.

Structure for Corporate Support Functions:

While the commissioners are consistent in their view that access and equity must be grounded in the departments and their own operations, they also agree on the need for corporate access and equity activities.

"Corporate functions can enable departments to understand and move ahead by providing supportive services such as training, human rights management, policy support [and] links to the community. There has to be a group within the organization charged with making sure awareness and action are taking place in all departments¼The corporate function should be to build linkages to make things happen with departments, communities and Council. It should enhance the expertise and be a catalyst and have the time and resources to dedicate to this. In an ideal world, the corporate function should not be needed at all; however, it is a transitional requirement to ensure we adapt appropriately to the many changes within our community."

There are two general types of corporate support functions: those that relate to the corporation's responsibilities as an employer; and those that provide policy, research and linkages to community issues, and a coordinating role within the City in terms of initiatives in the area of access and equity.

Structure for Corporate Employment Equity and Human Rights Support:

The corporation's Human Resources Division in the Corporate Services Department provides support to all departments through the development of human resource hiring and management policies and practices, assistance with the recruitment process and assistance with conflict resolution. It is appropriate that access and equity objectives and values should be integrated fully into the activities of this division.

Management of employment equity and human rights enquiries and investigations are currently incorporated into the mandate of the Staffing, Workforce Transition, Equity and Human Rights unit within the Human Resources Division. Two employment equity specialists, three human rights specialists and two program administrative assistants are located in the unit to perform these functions.

The focus of these positions is internal to the activities of the corporation as an employer. They are appropriately located. Human rights, as they are defined in the legislation go beyond access and equity to include all manner of activities relative to workplace employment. The location of employment equity and human rights specialists within the staffing unit is also consistent with the principle of having departments take responsibility for access and equity. Their location is designed to ensure that the unit focuses on these issues in its provision of support to the departments.

In addition, as noted earlier in this report, in 1998 four professional staff and two program administrative assistants were reassigned from the original pool of corporate access and equity staff resources to add an employment equity and human rights focus to the human resources business units. In order to ensure that the value of the assignment of these staff positions is maintained, it is recommended that the staff positions that were reassigned from the original pool of corporate access and equity staff resources to the human resources business units in 1998 be explicitly defined and function as employment equity and human rights consultants. It is further recommended that the Executive Director of Human Resources report to the Administration Committee on how the expertise and skills of these employment equity and human rights consultants are being used to enhance the activities of the human resources business units.

There are two potential weaknesses with the current organization for human rights enquiries and investigations. While the function's present location is satisfactory from an administrative point of view, there is concern that it is buried within a broader range of activities and therefore lacks profile. This could limit employees' and managers' use of the specialists. The second concern is that people need to feel that it is safe to approach the human rights specialists for information, advice, conflict resolution or to lodge a formal complaint. For this to happen, the human rights specialists must be able and perceived to provide unbiased advice and conduct independent and objective investigations.

To address these issues, a Human Rights Office will be created comprised of the existing human rights specialists and a program administrative assistant. The office will be identified as a distinct unit in all corporate directories. For administrative purposes, the office will continue to report to the Manager of Staffing, Workforce Transition, Equity and Human Rights. However the sole focus of the office will be on human rights. The staff will provide advice, respond to enquiries and conduct investigations. The Human Rights Office will monitor the incidence of complaints against the corporation. This activity will include monitoring complaints lodged externally with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. As part of their management of the human rights file, staff in the Human Rights Office must have the competence to develop corporate human rights policies. They will work closely with the corporate Access and Equity Unit on the development of corporate human rights policies. They will also work closely with employment equity and human rights consultants in the human resources business units and with dedicated access and equity specialists assigned to work with individual departments.

Reports on human rights investigations will be sent directly to the CAO as well as to the relevant commissioner to ensure that the highest priority is attached to acting upon the findings.

Structure for a Corporate Access and Equity Office:

There is agreement by the Task Force and the Commissioners that a corporate access and equity function is necessary at this stage in the evolution of the corporation and the City. As already described, the function would provide specialist advice and guidance to departments, conduct specialized research and policy development, be an advocate within the corporation and present a corporate window to the community.

One organizational option would be to locate the corporate access and equity function within an operating department for administrative purposes. For example, the social development mandate and activities of the Community and Neighbourhood Services Department converge somewhat with corporate access and equity objectives and functions.

However, housing these support functions in an operating department would give the appearance of ownership of the functions by one particular department. There needs to be a much more visible demonstration of corporate commitment consistent with the conclusions drawn from the experience in other jurisdictions. The function provides a corporate resource and therefore must be located in a corporate department.

Three options were considered:

-creating an arms length organization;

-locating the function in the Corporate Services Department; or

-locating it in the Chief Administrator's Office.

An Arms Length Access and Equity Office:

This approach runs the risk of separating the function from its importance relative to the civic administration. The corporate access and equity function must be firmly entrenched in the corporation to achieve staff buy-in at all levels. A separate, arms length function flies in the face of lessons learned from best practices in other jurisdictions. The Commission for Racial Equality in Britain concluded that specialist advice and guidance must come from the very centre of the organization.

In addition, in performing its role as a civic leader, there is value in the City being directly involved in the provision of access and equity services.

Locating an Access and Equity Office in the Corporate Services Department:

The current, interim Access and Equity Unit is housed in the Human Resources Division of the Corporate Services Department. A rationale for this approach is that access and equity affects the workforce. The Human Resources Division is already providing an employment and training function. There is a link to the CAO because the Executive Director of Human Resources and Amalgamation reports directly to the CAO on human resource matters.

The main disadvantage of the current location is that the emphasis in the host division is on employment. Therefore, there is the risk that the purpose of the function will come to be seen primarily in terms of employment equity. Thus key responsibilities, including community outreach and liaison, civic leadership and community education and the focus on access and equity issues in general may receive less profile or attention.

In addition, the organization is undergoing a major transformation and is in the midst of staffing up departments. In such an environment, it is difficult for the Human Resources Division to afford the access and equity function the priority, profile and attention it requires.

This problem would not be overcome even if the function reported directly to the Commissioner of Corporate Services. The Commissioner, too, has a fairly broad set of responsibilities with many competing priorities and interests. These are accentuated by the amalgamation process as it relates to staffing, facilities and technology for the new City, without adding another direct reporting relationship.

Finally, maintaining the corporate access and equity function in the Corporate Services Department serves to bury the importance of the function. The profile of the function, its support of a core corporate value, its orientation both internally to the activities of the corporation and externally to the community and its embodiment of the City's motto will all be enhanced if the function is located in the Chief Administrator's Office.

Locating an Access and Equity Office in the Chief Administrator's Office:

Consideration was given to creating a stand alone Access and Equity Office that reports directly to the CAO. The disadvantage of this approach is the difficulty gaining the time and attention required to direct this critical corporate function. The CAO has responsibility for overseeing the work of six commissioners responsible for large departments and has little available time to manage a small organizational function like access and equity.

The preferred option is to locate the function within an existing division in the Chief Administrator's Office. The appropriate location is the Strategic and Corporate Policy Division. The advantages of placing the function in this division are:

-it meets the Task Force's expectation that the function should be in a high profile location;

-it complements and can support other functions, skill sets and responsibilities of the division; and

-it begins to make access and equity a truly corporate initiative by positioning it as a strategic resource to departments, Council and the community.

The Strategic and Corporate Policy Division currently houses the corporate policy function and the Healthy City Office. The corporate access and equity function fits well into the overall mandate of the division. The division:

-comprises highly skilled and conceptual thinkers in their respective areas of expertise;

-exists as a resource to the corporation by providing:

(a)overall policy coordination corporately; and

(b)assisting departments in the provision of programs and services that are the best they can be;

-is a point of access for other governments; it is a window into and out of the corporation;

-deals with high profile, sensitive issues that involve diverse, sometimes conflicting interests and sets precedents by its recommendations;

-articulates and disseminates overall corporate strategies and core corporate values; and

-sets corporate directions.

The access and equity and Healthy City Office functions overlap with respect to community outreach and community capacity building activities. The access and equity and corporate policy functions overlap, too. These overlaps present opportunities within the division for capacity building, cross training, and reinforcement of corporate initiatives, corporate coordination and corporate policy development.

The result will be a Strategic and Corporate Policy Division with a strengthened corporate focus that will have an impact on how Council sets priorities and strategic directions for the corporation, and sets the framework of values and practices against which the city government wants to be viewed and judged. The placement of access and equity within this division will clearly establish these functions as part of the City's core values.

Organizing the Access and Equity Function within the Strategic and Corporate Policy Division:

Given the functional overlaps and the potential for rationalization, consideration was given to thoroughly integrating the access and equity function into the rest of the Strategic and Corporate Policy Division. Consideration was also paid to merging the Healthy City Office and current interim Access and Equity Unit to create a new unit within the division.

Rationalization of functions along one or other of those lines may be appropriate when the corporation is more stable and mature. At present it is important to retain an identifiable and focused set of access and equity functions and an identifiable set of healthy city functions and corporate policy functions. Therefore an Access and Equity Unit will be created within the Strategic and Corporate Policy Division. This unit will report to the Director of Strategic and Corporate Policy, who in turn will be accountable for its performance to the CAO.

The Access and Equity Unit will replace the interim Access and Equity Unit in the Corporate Services Department. It will be responsible for:

-specialized advice, guidance and support to the CAO, Council and departments;

-specialized research and policy development;

-monitoring legislative proposals that impact on human rights protected groups;

-internal advocacy for access and equity objectives and policies;

-coordination of City-wide access and equity information;

-Aboriginal affairs;

-coordination of portfolios related to equity seeking groups;

-community liaison, outreach and development;

-implementation of awareness and public education programs on access, equity and human rights issues;

-coordination of support to community advisory committees on access and equity; and

-administration of specialized access and equity grants.

In adopting the 1999 Operating Budget, Council approved an appropriation of $1,501,000 total gross expenditures ($1,471,000.00 total net expenditures) and 21.3 equivalent funded staff positions for the Access and Equity Unit. It is recommended that this appropriation and the positions be transferred from the Human Resources Division in the Corporate Services Department to the Strategic and Corporate Policy Division in the Chief Administrator's Office to facilitate the transfer of program management and administration of the corporate Access and Equity unit from the Corporate Services Department to the Chief Administrator's Office, and the 1999 Operating Budget be adjusted accordingly.

Structure for Monitoring Functions:

When they were interviewed by Task Force members in June 1998, the commissioners indicated that departments had to be held accountable for delivering their access and equity commitments. However, they did not believe that it should be the role of the corporate access and equity function to evaluate their performance. There needs to be a more level playing field where one part of the organization does not sit in judgement over the other. The corporate access and equity unit is an enabler, supporter and expert in the field. A policing function would compromise its role as a facilitator.

To ensure that departments are held accountable and to ensure that there is objective assessment of the corporation's performance in the area of access and equity, monitoring and evaluation will occur at three levels:

(a)Annual Performance Reviews:

Departments will demonstrate how they are meeting their commitments and implementing their access and equity action plans through the regular cycle of annual performance reviews.

A template has been developed for departments to use in preparing their multi-year business plans. Access and equity considerations have been incorporated into the template. Thus program areas will have to describe explicitly:

-how they will integrate access and equity objectives and policies into normal business activities;

-what resources have been committed and action plans developed to meet access and equity objectives; and

-how access and equity objectives will be reflected in staff composition, training and development.

Within the Corporate Management Framework, which Council approved in 1998, multi-year business plans form the basis for annual program budgets and performance reviews. The foundation for the Corporate Management Framework is the City's Strategic Plan, which is currently being developed. Access and equity goals and objectives should be incorporated into the Strategic Plan.

(b)Internal Audit:

Although it is not reflected in the Task Force's list of draft recommendations, the Task Force's draft final report proposes that, "for each term of Council (every 3 years), an external access, equity and human rights evaluation/audit will be conducted on the City's progress in achieving its goals."

It is appropriate to conduct the type of focused audit proposed by the Task Force. However, such an audit falls within the mandate and competence of the City Auditor and need not be managed by an external party. The City Auditor is independent of the programs, activities and parties that would be subject to the proposed audit.

Therefore, it is recommended that, once in each term of Council, the City Auditor oversee an internal audit of the performance by the corporation as a whole. The purpose the audit will be to monitor the City's overall achievement in meeting its access and equity goals.

(c)Annual Community Consultation:

Part of the intent of the Task Force's proposal that there be an externally conducted audit is to ensure that there is a community perspective in the evaluation of the City's access and equity efforts. In order to receive an external community perspective on the progress being made by the City and its relevance to issues in the community, it would be appropriate to convene an annual consultation with a report card that would provide input to planning, policy and program development in subsequent years. It is recommended that the City convene such an annual community consultation on access, equity and human rights issues. This process could form part of a more general initiative to report on the State of the City. It could also contribute to the purpose of the biannual joint meetings of community advisory committees contemplated in recommendation 76 in the Task Force's draft final report.

Conclusions:

The organizational approach described in this report is based on the premise that the City wants to embrace access and equity as cornerstones of its activities and relationship with the community. The administrative structures and accountability processes have been designed to accommodate the aspirations of the Task Force on Community Access and Equity. The Task Force's draft report sets out a direction for Council to follow. Movement in that direction will be quicker in some years, slower in others, depending on Council's relative priorities and the resource constraints of the day.

It is recommended that the Task Force on Community Access and Equity be requested to take this report into consideration during the preparation of its final report to Council.

Michael R. Garrett

Chief Administrative Officer

 

   
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