Summary of Activity

Aboriginal People:

During the year 2002, much effort was made towards gaining a labour force that reflects the available pool for which searches were being made. The % of the University labour force has increased from .5% in 2001 to 1.6% in 2002. The University was under-represented in almost all Abella (occupational) categories.

Outreach efforts were focused and included an extensive email group which was developed with contacts nation wide, but mostly Ontario. Each external posting was delivered electronically to these contacts.

Two people were hired with limited term appointments and did not gain a permanent position. However, six Aboriginal people were hired and we have managed to retain them in the areas of professional teaching/non-teaching, clerical and sales/service occupational groups, which represents 5% of the hires in 2002. Involvement in the Aboriginal community, regular contact and support has assisted in retention efforts.

An Aboriginal conference, entitled “In the Spirit of Understanding” is scheduled for February 28th, 2003. This one day conference will open with the keynote speaker, the Honorable James Bartleman and will be followed by educational workshops about Aboriginal people, a traditional feast and social (drumming and dancing). It is hoped that events like this will create a more positive climate at Laurier for Aboriginal staff, students, faculty and the community.

Although the University as a whole is presently in good standing in terms of reflecting the overall availability pool for Aboriginal people, the University is under-represented in Middle and Other Managers (-1) and Skilled Crafts and Trades (-1).

Plans for 2003 include:

• Partnerships with Aboriginal Human Resource Development Agreement holders that provide financial assistance for Summer Career Placements, On-the-Job Training, Off-site Training, Apprenticeship Programs and more.
• A joint effort with the Faculty of Music to produce an Aboriginal awareness performance in partnership with the Aboriginal community.
• Efforts to retain our Aboriginal staff and faculty.
• Investigation into the development of an Aboriginal Support position for students, staff and faculty.
• Development of an apprenticeship program in skilled crafts and trades in partnership with the United Food Commercial Workers Union.

Persons with a Disability:

The number of employees who experience a disability continues to decrease annually. This year, 21% of employees with a disability left the University while only 5% of the employees with a disability for 2002 are new hires.

The University is severely under-represented and would need to hire 28 disabled persons in order to be equally representative of the labour force. Most under-representation is in professional teaching (-16). There was a 4.5% decrease in administration/senior clerical and clerical personnel.
Is this an accurate reflection of the University’s labour pool? Employment equity surveys are given to all new employees. Due to the sensitivity of disclosing information about a disability to a new employer, this question is likely not answered accurately. The last census of the University was completed ten years ago. Another census will surely give a truer reflection.

Concentration in outreach efforts will need to be enhanced with focus towards administrative and clerical positions.

Plans for 2003 include:

• Development of a strategy document for a re-census of the University: may include an employment equity campaign with emphasis on disability awareness.
• Partnerships with local agencies that assist persons with disabilities.
• A systems review as it relates to accommodation of employees and job candidates.
• Participation on the Laurier Accessibility Committee

Persons Belonging to a Visible Minority:

Overall, the University is slowly increasing its hires of persons belonging to a visible minority. Professional teaching positions are well over the accessibility pool and 21.7% of all new hires in faculty for 2002 identified as being a visible minority. Areas of under-representation include middle/other managers (-3), semi-professionals (-3) skilled crafts and trades (-1) and other sales/service occupations (-4). The University as a whole is slightly under-represented (-1). Over half of persons belonging to a visible minority (56.4) are faculty members and 17.9% are in positions that are clerical in nature.

In 2002, a partnership was formed with Focus for Ethnic Women. The Equity and Human Resource offices participated in the Skills Unlimited Program by placing a program participant in the department for four weeks. Although it would be a good practice to continue efforts such as this, agreement with respective bargaining units should be obtained.

Other partnerships formed include: the New Canadian Program, the Multicultural Centre and People Working and Learning. An outreach email group is presently used to send external postings to these agencies.

Plans for 2003 include:

• Discussion with on-campus bargaining units to develop special measure programs
• Enhanced outreach efforts

Women:

Overall, the University is well represented in regard to women and has increased by 1.5% since 2001. 39.3% are male; half of the men (51.5%) are employed as faculty, and relatively few are in clerical positions (4.7%). By contrast, 21.4% of women working at Laurier fill faculty positions, while almost half of the women (42.1%) are employed in positions that are clerical in nature.

Since last year, a 1.6% increase is seen amongst female faculty, whereas male faculty increased by 1%. However, according to the VP: Academic report 2002/2003, which is based on the 1994-1998 Statistics Canada data, under-representation by gender exists in Psychology, Chemistry and Business. As we await for up to date statistics from Statistics Canada, departments that are close to the lower bound could find themselves deemed under-represented when more current data is available.

Areas of under-representation remain at the senior management level, skilled crafts and trades and other manual workers.

The majority (61.3%) of female middle-managers continue to be at the lowest salary quartile from last year (63.3%).

The number of female full professors for 2002 (20%) has steadily increased (16% in 2001, 14% in 2000 and 11.5% in 1999). However, there remains to be no female full professors in the top two salary quartiles. The majority (58.8%) of female professors remain at the second lowest salary quartile, while the majority (50%) of males remain at the second highest.

The majority (53.8%) of female associate professors continue for the second year in a row at the lowest salary quartile, whereas the majority (35.6%) of males continue for the third year in a row at the highest quartile. When comparing all faculty salaries, 58.8% of females are in the lowest quartile and males are spread almost evenly throughout the lowest to second highest quartile.

Plans for 2003 include:

• Enhanced outreach for women in under-represented occupational groups
• Continued focus on female faculty issues such as feminist research, maternity leave, health, etc.