March 30, 2023 – OTTAWA – The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) met with the Public Service Pride Network (PSPN) to discuss key concerns of CAPE members belonging to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, including ongoing discrimination, and identify solutions to improve awareness and understanding across the public sector.
The discussion highlighted unique challenges faced by PSPN employees, including a reluctance for employees to self-identify due to ongoing discrimination based on sexual or gender identity. CAPE, along with other public sector unions, has recommended that the 2SLGBTQIA+ community be added as a protected group in the Employment Equity Act.
Education and awareness were identified as both a challenge and an opportunity for CAPE to step up through information and education campaigns to members. PSPN has developed a strategic plan, focusing on inclusive bathrooms, the use of personal pronouns, mentoring and coaching. CAPE may have a role to play in supporting the implementation of this strategy.
According to the 2018 Survey on Safety in Public and Private Spaces, gay, lesbian, bisexual and other sexually diverse people in Canada were almost three times more likely than heterosexual Canadians to report that they had been physically or sexually assaulted in the previous 12 months. They were also more than twice as likely as heterosexual Canadians to experience inappropriate sexual behaviours in public, online or at work.
CAPE continues to support and engage with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, continuing to increase its visibility at Pride events and encouraging members to show their support. CAPE is a strong advocate for ensuring the rights of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community – both in the federal workplace and across the country.
Outreach to equity-deserving groups
CAPE is committed to better understanding the unique challenges faced by various equity-deserving groups in the federal public sector.
To fulfill that commitment, CAPE has been reaching out to networks representing equity-deserving groups to meet and discuss the specific barriers they have met.
Through these meetings, CAPE aims to:
- Learn more about members’ unique challenges in the federal workplace when it comes to matters of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as discrimination and harassment.
- Explore ways to collaborate to spark members’ interest in union life, to improve representation at the local and national levels within these communities.
- Explore areas of collaboration for advocacy within the federal government.
CAPE has and will continue to meet with other employee networks, including the Jewish Public Servants’ Network, the Network of Asian Federal Employees, the Muslim Federal Employees Network, the Federal Black Employee Caucus, the Network for Neurodivergent Public Servants, and the Indigenous Federal Employee Network to learn about the challenges these communities also face within the public sector.
If you belong to another federal network representing a group of equity-deserving employees not listed above, please reach out to CAPE so that we can arrange a discussion with members of their executive team.
You may contact us at general@acep-cape.ca.
Meeting attendees:
Jason Bett Champion, Public Service Pride
Julie Beaulieu Public Service Pride Network
Sean William Public Service Pride Network
Greg Phillips President, CAPE
Dina Epale Senior Advocacy and Public Affairs Advisor, CAPE
