Canada's aboriginals told to attest to ancestry to qualify for select public service jobs
OTTAWA — For the first time, aboriginal Canadians will have to swear a declaration and attest to their ancestry before landing an aboriginal-designated job in the federal public service.
The Public Service Commission, the government's staffing watchdog, sent a directive to departments this week advising them that all such jobs must be filled by candidates who sign formal declarations attesting to their backgrounds before they are offered jobs.
Public Service Commission president Maria Barrados said the mandatory declaration move is aimed at ending people falsely self-declaring themselves as aboriginals in order to land a federal job. It will be a condition for employment for all aboriginal-designed jobs and declarations must be completed before the job is formally offered.
"We want to make sure jobs that require people who know about aboriginal concerns and culture are . . . held by people who are truly aboriginal," said Barrados. "We're asking them to sign a form and declare they are, and if they give false or misleading information, it will cost them their jobs."
Barrados said the commission doesn't have a handle on the extent of the abuse, but took action because concerns about false claims from non-aboriginals came from aboriginal employees already working in the public service. The main complaint came in 2007 from the Committee for the Advancement of Native Employment (CANE), which represents aboriginal public servants working at Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.
She said the commission was blocked in its investigation because no one was willing to reveal possible offenders.
"I am sure the vast majority of people are absolutely honest, but a small proportion stretched the truth and we want to keep integrity in the whole process," she said.
Aboriginals account for 4.4 per cent of the public service. They are concentrated in several departments: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Health Canada, Correctional Services and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. INAC has a hiring policy that requires 50 per cent of its recruits to be aboriginal.
Under the new declarations, status Indians must identify the nation to which they belong and provide their band numbers. Non-status Indians, Metis and Inuit must provide the nation, community or land claims with which they are affiliated.
The commission doesn't require actual documentation to back the genealogical claims unless they are challenged or investigated.
Under Canada's employment equity laws, the government must hire women, people with disabilities, aboriginals and visible minorities in proportion to their share of the labour force. Departments have trailed in the hiring of visible minorities over the years but women, aboriginals and the disabled have typically been hired at rates higher than they represent in the labour force.
The commission doesn't know whether these figures were inflated because of non-aboriginals claiming to be aboriginals. Last year, about 4.2 per cent of new recruits into the public service were aboriginal, compared to the three per cent they represent in the workforce.
Until now, the government took no steps to verify or demand proof from anyone claiming to be aboriginal. When applying for federal jobs, they could "self-declare" like all minority groups on application forms, which could be used to screen applicants when departments are specifically looking for aboriginals to fill positions and to meet employment equity targets. Once hired, they can voluntarily "self-identify" as aboriginal on a form the government uses to track statistics on its workforce.
INAC's 50 per cent hiring policy has been in force since 1996 when it signed an agreement with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs that stipulated half of its hires would be aboriginal as part of its employment equity goals to ensure aboriginals are represented in all levels of jobs.
The new declaration policy was developed in consultation with aboriginal organizations, as well as input from INAC, Canadian Human Rights Commission and unions.