It is billed as a diversity survey for City of Toronto employees.

But one civil servant says he and his colleagues fear it has the appearance of creating a quota approach to hiring. Calling it voluntary information gathering, the City of Toronto and the union that represents 20,000 city workers say that’s not true.

The city calls it merely collecting “accurate information” on ethnicity, sexual orientation and health and disabilities to “access to employment” voluntarily from its 37,000 employees, which includes inside and outside workers as well as emergency responders. The leadership of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 79 accepts the relevance of the survey as long as members are not forced to participate.

But you be the judge.

Are you “East Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian, West Asian?” What about Caribbean, African, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Sri Lankan?

Or how about a “transgender” public servant? Or one who embodies “both male and female spirits?” The City of Toronto wants employees to let them know.

Offered as an employment equity study called “Count Yourself In, Workforce Survey,” the questionnaire that cost $6,000 asks for the employee’s name, employee number and workplace division.

“The City of Toronto’s goals are to create a great Toronto Public Service that reflects the population we serve and to ensure an engaged, diverse and productive workforce that meets our current and future needs,” the opening line says. “Accurate information about all employees is needed for the city to improve access to employment, offer better career development opportunities to its employees and achieve its goal for customer service excellence.”

It amounts to a census.

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Source: Toronto Staff, FIRST POSTED: THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2015 09:38 PM EST