The two concepts complement each other. It is difficult for one to work without the other. Employment equity forces us to confront the fact that, despite our differences, we have fundamentally the same rights and access to a healthy, functioning workplace. Diversity forces us to acknowledge that while we value what we all share in common, we must also value the ways in which we contribute differently. Employment equity, rightly, given history, has zeroed in on rights.
Diversity takes the discussion into the realm of responsibility.
The Government of Canada also recognizes the distinction between the quests for diversity and employment equity singling out both as important but different streams in the river of change that should be running through the Public Service. In fact, it set up two task forces to examine both issues. The Task Force on an Inclusive Public Service put the lion s share of its efforts into diversity. The Task Force on the Participation of Visible Minorities in the Federal Public Service, headed by Lewis Perinbam, in a report titled Embracing Change, turned much of its focus to employment equity considerations, those of visible minorities in particular. In its response to Embracing Change , in fact, the government made this distinction explicit.