Qualitative Research Facilitator for Racial Equity in the BC Public Service

The Anti-Racism Data Act (ARDA) allows for the safe collection, use, and disclosure of personal information for the purposes of identifying and eliminating systemic racism and advancing racial equity in the Province of BC’s programs and services. To advance this purpose and help ensure transparency and accountability for this work, ARDA requires the Province to publish statistics or other information every year, and establish research priorities every two years. The BC Data Service Division (BC Data Service) within the Ministry of Citizens’ Services is responsible for implementing this work.

In May 2023, BC Data Service released ARDA’s first set of research priorities , which were developed in consultation with Indigenous Peoples and the Anti-Racism Data Committee . This is to ensure that the Province focuses its work to address systemic racism on areas that matter most to Indigenous Peoples and racialized communities.
Among the key research priorities was the need to look at racial diversity within the BC Public Service (BCPS) and identify gaps in hiring and career development for employees. This work is being conducted in partnership with BC Data Service and the BC Public Service Agency, with expert guidance from the Anti-Racism Data Committee. Research from this first phase looked at survey data from 2022 and found that representation for Indigenous peoples and several racial groups were lower than the BC labour force and population rates, had little to no representation at the executive levels of government, and were underrepresented in management roles compared to the BCPS overall. This research was published in May 2024. The second phase of research will start in Winter 2025 and will involve a deeper look at the lived experience of racialized employees in BCPS to understand where gaps and opportunities exist to advance racial equity.

Project Description
There are about 35,000 regular and auxiliary public servants working in 200 different types of jobs across 280 communities. They provide services, programs, and policy expertise across 23 ministries in areas like health care, public safety, education, and environmental management. While the BC Public Service Agency is advancing the “Where We All Belong: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy,” the Anti-Racism Data Committee identified that more needs to be done to ensure the public service creates an equitable workplace that is reflective of the province it serves.

To support the BC Public Service Agency strategy and the ARDA research priorities, this research will take an in-depth sector-based approach to understanding the opportunities and barriers for Indigenous and racialized employees, including in the areas of recruitment, career growth and professional development, inclusion and belonging in the workplace, and pathways for disclosing and addressing racism. The sector-based approach will allow findings that reflect the unique career pathways, work environments, and experiences of government employees. The project will also employ an intersectional lens to reflect the different lived experiences and pathways of racialized employees in the public service.

This research begins from the perspective that systemic racism exists in the public service, resulting in barriers for Indigenous and racialized individuals to pursue and develop careers. As such, this work will focus on the agency, experience, and expertise of Indigenous, Black, and other racialized employees. Findings will help identify specific actions the BC Public Service Agency and leadership across government can take to support inclusive career journeys, policy, and systemic changes to hiring and retention practices, and an overall improvement in the culture of the BC Public Service. The approach will not unnecessarily ask Indigenous, Black, and other racialized staff to relive or share experiences of racism—an approach that too often focuses on the harms done and not the agency of people. Rather, in centering anti-racist frameworks, the goal is to actively listen and learn from racialized staff to action systemic change through their collective voices.