Discriminatory hiring in the government

Here’s a good job that may interest you.

A Corrections Officer making $59,513 to $74,647 per year would be a great paying job for most Canadians. You must apply by July 24th to the Correctional Service of Canada.

However, under the Who Can Apply section we see the following restrictions. Surely these must be based upon learned skill, educational qualification, or the content of one’s character? No, some particular hiring restrictions are based on the colour of one’s skin.

Persons residing or employed in Moncton, NB and within a 400 kilometer radius* of Moncton, NB, within Canadian territory, extending to, amongst others, Miscou Centre, NB, Cape Tormentine, NB Seal Cove, NB, Forest City, NB, Connors, NB, North Cape and EastPoint, PE, Yarmouth, NS, Main-à-Dieu, NS, Leslie, QC, Cap-des-Rosiers, QC, Saint-Antonin, QC who are members of one of the following Employment Equity groups: Aboriginal persons** Visible minorities***

Those asterisks helpfully let us know what these terms mean,

**An Aboriginal person is a North American Indian or a member of a First Nation, Métis or Inuit. North American Indians or members of a First Nation include treaty, status or registered Indians, as well as non-status and non-registered Indians. Effective January 1, 2010, all departments and agencies under the Public Service Employment Act are required to use an Affirmation of Aboriginal Affiliation Form (AAAF)for appointment processes in which the area of selection is restricted to Aboriginal peoples only or to employment equity groups that include Aboriginal peoples. The AAAF is a condition of appointment: it must be completed and signed by the candidate before or at the same time as the Letter of Offer. For more information, consult the Public Service Commission’s Web site on AAAF.

***A person in a visible minority group is someone (other than an Aboriginal person as defined above) who is non-white in colour/race, regardless of place of birth. The visible minority group includes: Black, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, South Asian-East Indian (including Indian from India; Bangladeshi; Pakistani; East Indian from Guyana, Trinidad, East Africa; etc.), Southeast Asian (including Burmese; Cambodian; Laotian; Thai; Vietnamese; etc.) non-white West Asian, North African or Arab (including Egyptian; Libyan; Lebanese; etc.), non-white Latin American (including indigenous persons from Central and South America, etc.), person of mixed origin (with one parent in one of the visible minority groups listed above), other visible minority group.

This issue has come up before and a review was promised by Stockwell Day, then Minister of the Treasury Board.

“While we support diversity in the public service, we want to ensure that no Canadian is barred from opportunities in the public service based on race or ethnicity,” Day said in a statement.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who was also involved in the decision to review the government’s hiring practices, which give priority to qualified applicants from minority groups, said everyone should be considered for federal jobs.

“We are in favour of appropriate diversity in the public service and reasonable efforts to achieve it, but we don’t think any Canadians should be excluded from applying within their government,” he told CBC News. “It’s OK to encourage people from different backgrounds to apply but in our judgment it goes too far to tell people that if they are not of a particular race or ethnicity they cannot apply [for a job] that is actually funded by their tax dollars.”

A representative workplace that doesn’t discriminate is an ideal that should be held by everyone. What is the progress of this review?

Political Guest Stars

Ok, so it’s a slow week in Ottawa. The sun is out, the Byward market patios are in full swing and there’s really not too much Ottawa-based political news to talk about. Cue a fluff story about the Prime Minister for the media to chew on! Yes, Ottawa is talking about the Prime Minister’s long-promoted appearance on the Murdoch Mysteries, a Canadian television production.


A still of the PM’s performance. The video promo (including his performance).


The Prime Minister has also appeared on CTV’s Corner Gas.


Prime Minister Paul Martin also did a guest spot on the show.

Stephen Harper isn’t the first politician (or head of government/state) to appear on a television show as an actor. After a bit of research, I was able to dig up the following examples.


King Abdullah on Star Trek: Voyager. Apparently, the King wasn’t a card-carrying member of the Screen Actor’s Guild so he wasn’t afforded any lines.


President Barack Obama appeared on Mythbusters


Prime Minister Tony Blair did a guest voice for The Simpsons


Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson dances with a cow on a Swedish Kids show. Yeah, I don’t know either…


Then UK Conservative MP and now London mayor Boris Johnson was on Top Gear and did a lap.

John McCain on 24
Get More: John McCain on 24

Senator John McCain was on 24. He does know what Jack Bauer does to the terrorists, yes?

And way, back when… Richard Nixon, then running for President was on Laugh in.

Do you know of any other examples? How do you rate these performances? Let me know in the comments!

Daryl Fridhandler joins Mar’s campaign?

First, an intro of Mr. Fridhandler from his website,

I was first attracted to the Liberal Party in the 1968 election after having seen Pierre Trudeau ride into the local skating rink in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia on the back of a convertible.

Opportunity knocked after settling in Calgary when I volunteered on local campaigns including those of the late Sheldon Chumir, Liberal MLA for Calgary – Buffalo.

I became more involved on the fund raising side, working on the Executive Committee for Leader’s and PM’s dinners and the Alberta Revenue Committee since the early 1990s.

I chaired the 1997 campaign of now Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier in Calgary West (and his various civic campaigns, including 3 mayorality campaigns). I was Alberta co chair of the leadership campaign of Prime Minister Paul Martin as well as 2004 campaign co chair for Alberta. I was also National Vice Chair Revenue and National Chair of the Laurier Club during Prime Minister Martin’s tenure.

In 2005, I was honoured by the Alberta Young Liberals as honorary Young Liberal of the year.

More recently, I have served as Alberta Co Chair of Michael Ignatieff’s leadership campaigns in 2006 and 2008/09 and was recently appointed Alberta Election Readiness Co Chair for the next election.

This bio served as an introduction to Liberal Party faithful for Mr. Fridhandler’s run for National (English) VP of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Daryl’s a lifelong Liberal. And a senior one at that…

So, has Alberta PC leadership contender Gary Mar won a significant convert?

That’s Gary Mar in the centre and Daryl Fridhandler to his right. Both are wearing Tear Mar colours.