The Federal Contractors Program was implemented October 1, 1986 following the proclamation of the Employment Equity Act on August 13, 1986. The Act itself covered private sector federally regulated enterprises with 100 or more employees and required them to implement employment equity. The Federal Contractors Program targeted non-federally regulated federal contractors with a resident workforce in Canada of 100 or more employees which received federal contracts for goods and services of $200,000 or more.
The Employment Equity Act was amended in 1995 to strengthen various provisions and to provide measures to ensure compliance with employment equity requirements; it also extended the obligation to implement employment equity to federal departments and agencies. The Act states it is the responsibility of the Minister of Labour to "administer the Federal Contractors Program for Employment Equity and ... ensure that the requirements of that program with respect to the implementation of employment equity ... are equivalent to the requirements with respect to the implementation of employment equity by an employer under this Act. "This legislative mention clearly authorizes the Minister of Labour to develop procedures necessary to administer the Program and ensure that contractors comply with their employment equity obligations.
There are a number of obligations incumbent on organizations subject to the Act or the Federal Contractors Program "to achieve equality in the workplace ..."(Act, section 2). Such organizations must collect and maintain data on all employees, analyze the representation of each of the designated groups in all occupational groups, compare this representation with the external representation and identify under-representation of designated groups. Based on this information, organizations must identify and remove all barriers impeding designated groups and must prepare an employment equity plan with achievable and realistic short and long term goals. In implementing employment equity, organizations must develop positive policies and practices and, as required, provide accommodation and special measures for designated groups.
For their part, federal contractors with a resident workforce of 100 or more employees (as defined in the Act and Regulations) which bid on goods and services contracts of $200,000 or more must certify their commitment to implement employment equity. Once a supplier is awarded a contract of $200,000 or more (including all applicable taxes), the organization is then required to honour its commitment of implementing employment equity as an on-going obligation, and not simply during the life of the contract. Contractors subject to the Federal Contractors Program are required to provide Labour Program of Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC-Labour) within formation on the representation of women, members of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities who are permanently employed. HRDC-Labour verifies that all federal contractors are meeting their obligations through a cycle of compliance reviews administered by workplace equity officers. Contractors which fail to meet their commitment may lose the right to receive further federal contracts for goods and services.