Office for Equity and Inclusion

Federal Contractors Program

Employment Equity and the Federal Contractors Program at Dalhousie

Dalhousie University first began exploring Employment Equity issues in 1981 and an Affirmative Action program was introduced in 1984 directed towards the appointment of female academics. In 1987, Dalhousie University signed the Certificate of Commitment to participate in the Federal Contractors Program, and introduced the University's Employment Equity through Affirmative Action Policy in 1989.

In 2017, Dalhousie introduced the University's Employment Equity Policy.
 

To view current and previous FCP Employment Equity Report reports, please see Reports and Resources section of our website.


The original Employment Equity Act applied only to federally regulated employers and federal departments and agencies; however, the Act was later expanded to include non-federally regulated employers who wish to do business with the federal government.  This established what is known as the Federal Contractors Program.

Under the initial Federal Contractors Program, all organizations with 100 employees or more who wish to bid on federal contracts in excess of $200,000 are required to implement an employment equity program and to be in compliance with Federal Contractors’ Program requirements.

Effective June 2013, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada announced a redesigned Federal Contractors Program which increased the contract threshold to $1,000,000 from $200,000.  Dalhousie remains subject to the redesigned Program. Failure to meet our obligations under the FCP could jeopardize our ability to bid on large federal contracts. This would have serious implications for the operations of the University.

Federal Contractors Program Requirements

Under the redesigned Federal Contractors Program, our compliance with the following requirements will be assessed every three years.

  •  Collection of workforce information
  •  Complete a workforce analysis
  •  Establish short and long term numeric goals
  •  Make reasonable progress and reasonable efforts

For more detailed information on these requirements and our obligations under the Federal Contractors Program, please visit the Labour Program’s FCP website.