Key information—Standing Committee on Public Accounts: Office of the Auditor General Audit on Respect in the Workplace (January 28, 2021)

The CBSA has identified an unhealthy culture as one of its highest risks and priorities. This includes harassment, discrimination and workplace violence which all have their own action plan, including targeted activities intended to build a respectful, diverse, inclusive workplace, free of harassment and discrimination.

To be clear, the Agency had initiatives in flight to promote a safe and healthy workplace prior to the Auditor's review. These included a heavy focus on culture, and more specifically, our leaders given the significant role they play in setting the tone.

Our efforts focused on ensuring our leaders were very clear about their accountabilities and performance expectations. We have and continue to invest in improving leaders' knowledge of their impact on others and equip them with the skills necessary to create a healthy workplace.

The OAG report served to reaffirm where continued attention was required and offered recommendations for improving our efforts, which was have incorporated into our Respectful Workplace Framework. We have consolidated and prioritized these activities and initiatives.

Prior to releasing the framework, we engaged our employees to ensure that it reflected their qualitative feedback.

We also included establishing a dedicated culture team and the National Integrity Centre of Expertise (NICE), a listening tour, and the reinforcement of executive accountability through more explicit expectations and performance indicators as part of the Executive Management Program.

Question: So, you just re-packaged the old, insufficient initiatives you had in place?

No, we have enhanced and built on some existing activities, to further support positive workplace culture. Additional efforts included the following:

• In 2018, we established a dedicated culture team
• We also launched a Listening Tour that year, to gain insights from employees, including on what is actually at the root of workplace malaise
  • The feedback received from employees allowed us to better diagnose what was needed and to take meaningful action, which began last year. Examples include:
    • reinforcing executive accountability
    • performance indicators for Actively Building a Healthy Culture in our Executive Performance Management Program
    • launching NICE in 2019 to enhance prevention and centralize the management of all harassment complaints
    • consolidating planned strategies and actions under our Respectful Workplace Framework

Internal reporting shows that approximately 50% of harassment complaints are between employees (employee vs. employee), while approximately 40% are filed by an employee against a member of management. A small remainder is related to management versus employee.

The vast majority of our management team at CBSA does an exemplary job supporting their employees and creating healthy workplaces.

When instances of harassment arise, managers are held accountable for their actions – and when warranted, face disciplinary measures, which range up to, and include, termination of employment.

Public Service Employee Survey Results show a downward trend in the number of employees who indicated they experienced harassment from individuals with authority over them.

We still have work to do and we recognize it. Let me be clear, we have no tolerance for harassment and so we have a Leadership Development Strategy which establishes the behavioural expectation for all employees and improves our methodology for the selection and development of leaders.

If pressed on discipline

The CBSA has a discipline measures framework that provides examples of misconduct and outlines the associated disciplinary measures that will be exercised when allegations of misconduct are deemed founded.

In the case of harassment and discrimination, discipline can range from a minimum of a 10-day suspension without pay, up to and including termination.

If you are a leader in our organization, you are held to a higher standard, and disciplinary measures are more severe. For example, failure to address a known incident, even if not involved personally, carries a minimum 20-day suspension without pay.

Any form of harassment, discrimination and workplace violence at the CBSA is unacceptable.

The CBSA's Building a Respectful Workplace Framework focuses on prevention, timely resolution and restoration.

We created NICE to ensure that employees feel safe to come forward and have faith in our ability to take action.

We take allegations very seriously and ensure that corrective measures are applied.

Discipline is always used when warranted, as determined through the Agency's robust investigation process. These measures vary depending on the specifics of a case, but range up to, and include termination of employment.

In 2019, independent external reviewers determined there were 2 founded complaints where one resulted in an employee being disciplined.

Workplace violence is defined as any action, conduct, threat or gesture of a person towards an employee in their work place that can reasonably be expected to cause harm, injury or illness to that employee, as per the Canada Labour Code and Justice Canada.

Since 2013, thirteen (13) violence in the workplace complaints were deemed founded, which resulted in a 1 day suspension to a 25 day suspension.

It is important to note that the outcome of violence complaints filed accordance with the Canada Labour Code is meant to identify preventative measures. Each individual investigation report will identify recommendations to prevent future occurrences of violence based on the complaint. An example could be training.

Yes, the system includes several policies and practices that clearly articulate the expected workplace behaviour by all leaders. These resources also include information, tools and training to help employees perform in accordance with these expectations, as well as guidance and support for dealing with harassment, discipline, and violence when they occur.

Finally, when faced with founded cases of harassment, discrimination or workplace violence, the Agency has a disciplinary framework that guides appropriate and consistent consequences.

Yes. We have done so and will continue to do so in cases where compensation is warranted. Information concerning compensation is protected by a non-disclosure agreement to protect all parties.

We are already seeing positive change in our PSES results.

For example, in 2019, 19% of employees said they were subject to harassment which marks a 3 percentage point decrease from 2018. The number of discrimination cases was also down from 15% in 2018 to 13% in 2019.

In the short term, we may see an increase in employees reporting harassment and/or discrimination as they start to feel more at ease reporting inappropriate behaviours in the workplace.

However, considering we are working in the midst of a pandemic, where employees are experiencing much more mental stress, it is hard to anticipate what the results will look like. Employees are encouraged to reach out for help if they are struggling. We are one team during challenging times and we are taking care of one another.

While it is difficult to predict the influence that the pandemic will have on the annual PSES results, we have gone to great lengths to ensure managers are connecting with employees, monitoring the mental health of the workforce and taking responsibility for a safe, healthy workplace seriously, even if the workplace is currently virtual.

The survey has not yet closed, but I am pleased to say that we have already exceeded last year's departmental participation rate, which is an early indicator that engagement levels have not decreased.

We conducted a Listening Tour just after the audit. This series of in person and online discussions gave us a chance to hear from a broad range of employees in real time. Much of this feedback was used to develop our Respectful Workplace Framework which is our response to the audit. We also see improvement in the PSES results. Of course, it will take some time to evaluate the trends and see positive results.

During the third quarter of the 2020 to 2021 fiscal year, the CBSA hires were as follows:

• 52% of hires were Women
• 8.4% of hires were Visible Minorities
• 2.2% of hires were Indigenous Peoples
• 2.2% of hires were Persons with Disabilities

Uniform versus non-uniformed employees:

• The total CBSA population (excluding students) is approximately 15,500
  Of these 15,500:
  • Approximately 8,100 (52%) are frontline (uniformed) employees
  • Approximately 7,300 (48%) are non-frontline (non-uniformed) employees
• When students are accounted for, this number rises to approximately 16,100 employees

There have been 222 confirmed cases of CBSA employees with COVID-19, 187 of which are now being reported as fully recovered.

Of these 222 cases mentioned, 10 have been identified as potentially linked to the workplace (8 front line and 2 office).

No, it is clearly preferable to have a regime that can support any employee who wants to bring forward a harassment complaint without resorting to the judicial process.

The Agency has put in place an internal conflict management system for employees to access so that they do not have to take this more onerous step.

The ICMS offers consultation, conflict resolution/effective communication coaching, conflict group intervention, facilitation, and a variety of customized preventative activities. These services can be accessed on a voluntary and confidential basis. To ensure that these services remain available through the pandemic, we have implemented online and teleservice options.

Court proceedings remain an option of last resort.

After a decision is rendered through our formal process, either party can grieve the manner in which the complaint was addressed or the disciplinary measures imposed.

1 in 5 of our employees report through the PSES that they were a victim of harassment; 53% of those people further reported that they did not file a complaint due to fear of reprisal.

This means that we have about 1,500 employees who believe it is unsafe to report harassment – which is definitely something that have sought to better understand and have through our Listening Tours.

We have consolidated our efforts under the umbrella of the National Integrity Centre of Expertise to strengthen consistency in how consequences are applied, so that employees have greater confidence and trust in the system and processes.

The National Integrity Centre of Expertise and Informal Conflict Management System are designed to ensure employees feel confident in raising an issue without fear of reprisal. The systems also provides anonymity to witnesses or others dealing with delicate issues.

We have a collective responsibility for addressing instances of workplace harassment and are trying to move a way from a system that puts the whole onus on the victim.

Our Agency is entrusted with protecting Canadians and the rule of law. As President of the CBSA, I have denounced racism and discrimination yet I recognize that it is present in the agency, sometimes clearly perceptible, other times, more conspicuous in our legacy policies and processes.

The Agency has put in place a number of initiatives to ensure that we understand and reflect the perspectives of Black, Indigenous, and other racialized communities, that we start from a point of their lived experience and that we put in place the right corrective measures.

200 employees at all levels from across the Agency have joined forces to form a Visible Minority Task Force. They are developing a grass-roots anti-racism strategy, which is in the early stages of consultation.

We are also working with our colleagues in the Customs and Immigration Union to revisit our anti-racism and de-escalation training for frontline officers.

The CBSA has also decided to ban the Thin Blue Line emblem among its officers on duty. This was done in collaboration with our bargaining agents and we hope will show the Agency's resolve in combating racism within our workplaces.

The Agency provides critical, frontline service at ports of entry. Canadians depend on us to provide these services – and, in some cases, we have no option but to offer them in person.

We have implemented a number of preventive measures to ensure the safety of our frontline personnel in the workplace, including the installation of Plexiglas barriers, the promotion of hygiene measures (hand washing, cough/sneeze etiquette, physical distancing), the wearing of personal protective equipment and, when not in their public facing role, the mandatory wearing of non-medical masks.

We are following the advice of Canada's Chief Public Health Officer to ensure that our employees are protected while going to work in the middle of a pandemic. In addition to providing employees with personal protective equipment, they are trained on properly using the equipment to minimize their risk of contracting illness.

In accordance with federal and provincial health authorities' vaccination plans, BSOs are scheduled to receive the vaccine at the same time as other essential workers across the country.

There are currently no further details available on the rollout of vaccinations for BSOs.

All CBSA employees are subject to our Code of Conduct, which outlines expected behaviours on and off duty.

The CBSA values of Respect, Integrity and Professionalism guide employees throughout their work day and can also extend to private time.

This is especially true in terms of engaging in outside activities on social media fora, outside employment, and political activities. While these are usually private, they become work-related the moment they have negative consequences on the Agency.

Employees who are found to have breached the Code of Conduct will be subject to discipline. Such allegations are fully investigated and respect the principles of natural justice and procedural fairness, prior to rendering discipline.

The Agency is currently working with other government departments, like the Public Service Commission and the RCMP, to explore and develop procedures for assessing whether new applicants display attitudes that do not align with our value of Integrity.

As part of this work, we are also exploring potential steps to monitor social media activity for racist or discriminatory sentiments while also protecting employee privacy rights.

We acknowledge that systemic racism, intolerance and discrimination exists, and we are committed to continuing to do the work needed to build a more diverse, inclusive and respectful workplace. Recent events have made this painfully clear, and have deepened our resolve to foster respect and stop racism within our workplace.

In the Government of Canada's "Building a Foundation for Change: Canada's Anti-Racism Strategy 2019 to 2022", federal institutions are called to take a leading role in addressing systemic racism and discrimination when found to exist in our organizations, policies, programs and services.

Furthermore, the Clerk of the Privy Council recently released a "Call to Action on Anti-Racism, Equity, and Inclusion", which sets common expectations for leaders across the Public Service to take practical actions that will be the basis for systemic change. We are focused at combatting racism at the CBSA.

We are working closely with our anti-racism grassroots task force, union partners and employees across the Agency to help us do precisely that.

The Minister of Public Safety's 2021 Supplementary Mandate Letter outlines the intent to introduce and bring into force legislation to create a review body for the CBSA, including measures to ensure that complaints and reports are responded to promptly. While the Government has introduced legislation in the past which supported the implementation of a CBSA review body, the bills did not receive Royal Assent.

The NICE, which was launched in April 2019, offers a neutral and safe place to discuss disrespectful behaviours. Both employees and managers can go to NICE for information about the management, resolution and reporting of harassment.

Further, we have also provided access to Seniors Officer for Internal Disclosure (SOID), who can provide CBSA employees with a confidential means to report wrongdoing, outside of the chain of command. SOIDs are neutral third parties, who are also generally able to assist employees with their issue or determine if the matter should be referred to a more appropriate alternate recourse mechanism.

CBSA offers various training courses related to topics like anti-cultural bias, diversity and inclusion, respect in the workplace and well-being.

CBSA has four mandatory training courses for all employees which are:

Note: the Violence Prevention in the Workplace and the Creating a Respectful Workplace courses have been replaced by one new Canada School of Public Service course (as of January 1, 2021): Harassment and Violence Prevention for Employees, following the implementation of Bill C-65. Statistics on the completion rate of this fourth mandatory course will only be available in February 2021.

Furthermore, the CBSA delivers a training course to all FBs in management positions called Leading at the Frontline. This training includes and covers topics related to respect in the workplace, labour relations, professional integrity, and wellness, amongst many other important topics. We also have some character based leadership content related to courage, humility and authentic conversations. Here are the stats from the Q2 report:

Note: many course offerings have been put on hold due to the pandemic. As such, this is the most recent data available.

We have several other non-mandatory training courses that cover these important topics. Examples of such courses include:

• 956 participations in the Positive Space at the CBSA course (stats as of December 1, 2020)
  • The Positive Space course is designed to help break down barriers and create an inclusive, respectful and welcoming work environment in which everyone can contribute fully regardless of gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation.
• 112 participations in the Kairos Blanket Exercise. This includes 32 individuals who participated in a Train the Trainer program. This course is now part of the Induction training for our recruits (stats as of December 1, 2020)
  • The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is a facilitated integrative educational workshop that explores the history of Canada and the nation-to-nation relationship between its Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples. A debrief circle follows the blanket exercise activity.

With that being said, we're happy to mention that we have also committed to work collaboratively with the union on the development of our Anti-racism training and our Crisis intervention/de-escalation training.