Last month Canada’s federal government announced the launch of a new employment equity data visualization tool called Equi’Vision. Equi’Vision displays data on workforce representation rates and the pay gaps experienced by the four designated groups under the Employment Equity Act (Act): women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities. The Act came into force on August 31, 2021.
The federal government states that the data provided by Equi’Vision is “user friendly and easily comparable.” Users of the tool may view multiple data types (e.g., mean and median hourly wage gaps), data for each employer (making the data of different employers comparable), and aggregated data for different sectors and locations within Canada.
The data displayed by Equi’Vision is submitted by federally-regulated private-sector employers with 100 or more employees as part of their annual reporting to the Labour Program, a requirement under the Act. The government-issued news release provides:
The Employment Equity Act applies to federally regulated private-sector employers (e.g., cross provincial or international road, air, marine and rail transportation, banking, and postal and courier services), federal Crown corporations, other federal organizations with 100 or more employees, the federal public service, including separate agencies, and other federal public sector employers.
As explained here, Equi’Vision’s goal “is to use the gaps identified by employers to uncover and address potential barriers in the workplace.”
