27 September 2023

Institutional racism: Still a problem after all these years

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A number of Public Services have been accused of institutional racism. Karen Day* explores what steps some countries have taken to ensure their Government workforces are ethnically diverse and inclusive.


Later this year a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 1,100 Black Federal workers against the Canadian Government will be brought before a judge.

The procedural ‘certification hearing’ will be the next major step in what is expected to be a long, drawn-out case.

The class action alleges that for the past 51 years Black employees across Canada’s Public Services have been subjected to institutional racism.

It claims that the very measures put in place to alleviate systemic discrimination have in fact perpetuated it, leaving Black Canadians concentrated in the bureaucracy’s lowest ranks.

Canada is not alone. New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States have, over the years, all faced allegations of institutional racism within their Public Services.

So, what are they doing to tackle the problem?

Canada’s most senior Public Servant, Ian Shugart launched a call to action on anti-racism a month after the class-action lawsuit was filed in December 2020.

In a message to all Heads of Agencies, Mr Shugart said there was an obligation to do better.

He gave Public Service leaders nine areas to address, including appointing more Black and Indigenous employees to leadership roles.

In July, the Government hastily amended its Public Service Employment Act, focusing on removing bias in its recruitment and giving its Public Service Commission authority to audit Departments for discrimination.

It has also established a panel to review the Employment Equity Act, which is one the key issues of the lawsuit.

Nicholas Marcus Thompson, one of the original claimants of the lawsuit, says the Government is “taking some steps” to address the root cause of the problem.

However, he says the Government is sending mixed messages.

“In not giving a clear direction, it’s quite troubling for workers who want to see a settlement,” Mr Thompson says.

In the US, President Joe Biden has resurrected a Diversity, Equality, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) drive that began with President Barack Obama.

Agencies were told to “review the current state of their diversity” and develop plans that would remove any potential barriers to diversifying the workforce.

It includes diversity, inclusion and accessibility training, the elevation of diversity officers, a review of pay inequity and a reduction in unpaid internships across the Federal Government.

Agencies were expected to complete their detailed DEIA plans by October.

Boosting diversity within the Federal Government is a key tenet of the “whole-of-Government equity agenda” that, on his first day in office, Mr Biden declared was needed due to entrenched racial disparities in public institutions.

Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, is leading the implementation of the agenda.

She gave Agencies until August to review their procedures and expects action plans to be delivered by January next year.

“It is a difficult realisation that Federal Agencies have not fully delivered value to all of their constituents,” Ms Young said.

The New Zealand Government is in the throes of implementing its Public Services Act 2020.

This is the first new Act governing its Public Service for 30 years and is designed to set its future “context and expectations”, most notably on diversity.

One of the Act’s five priorities is strengthening the Government’s relationship with its Māori community, the first time this has been codified.

It places responsibility on Public Service Commissioner, Peter Hughes to ensure that Māori are adequately represented in the Public Service.

Heather Baggott was appointed as a second Deputy Public Service Commissioner to work alongside Mr Hughes.

Ms Baggott, previously the Deputy Commissioner for Leadership, Diversity, and Inclusion, is the first Māori to hold the role.

“It’s not left to individual Agencies to do their own thing,” Ms Baggott says.

“We are doing it together. All Agencies have detailed plans in place to lift their Māori capabilities. We want to see a real shift in the Public Service in a way that’s never been done before.”

In the UK, the Public Service has been trying to improve its ethnic diversity and drive out institutional racism since the late 1990s.

Among the initiatives introduced are fast-track apprenticeships, diversity champions, a Public Service Leadership Academy, and a diversity dashboard to collate the most accurate employee data.

The latest figures show some success, with the number of Public Servants from an ethnic minority background now at a record high of 14.3 per cent, compared to 5.3 per cent in 1999.

However, ethnic representation dips to its lowest level at senior levels at 10.6 per cent, with no Black or ethnic minority Permanent Secretaries or Director Generals in post since 2015.

Equality Officer at the FDA union, which represents senior Public Servants, Victoria Jones says the stalled progress isn’t down to lack of talent, but cultural barriers and biased recruitment and promotion practices.

She is one of those who fears that the Government is about to shift its focus to improving socio-economic diversity, in line with its policy on ‘levelling up’ the north with the south of England.

Sir Suma Chakrabarti, who became the first British Asian Permanent Secretary in 2002, says the Public Service is no longer institutionally racist but is “institutionally neglectful”.

“The current Government needs to say it matters to them. They will say: ‘Look at the non-white people we have in the Cabinet and look at our non-white Special Advisors’, but I don’t think they have pushed the Civil Service on this,” Sir Suma says.

While many of these initiatives in Canada, the US, New Zealand, and the UK illustrate a long-term commitment to improving diversity, they also show there is a long way to go in solving the complex and historic issue of institutional racism.

*Karen Day is a freelance journalist specialising in business, finance and politics.

This is an edited version of an article that first appeared on the Global Government Forum website.

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