OSPE - COVID-19 Economic Recovery Recommendations - Federal Government - 21

7. Support organizations that implement inclusive design principles and the growth of a diverse workforce
to enable economic equity and recovery in Canada.
Inclusive Design:
In many ways, COVID-19 has highlighted the need for innovative solutions aided by the implementation of new technologies. Though this provides numerous recommendations regarding nuanced and innovative processes that can generate economic benefits for the nation, the federal
government must emphasize and incentivize industry to ensure that the design of these new systems and processes is
inclusive and benefits all Canadians.
Inclusion in design is an important component to ensuring that new products, services, and technological advancements serve the needs of all
taxpayers. Engineering inclusive designs are a key component that embeds critical considerations/aspects of everyday life into solutions, and
existing engineering talent in Ontario and across Canada, is beyond capable of leading industries in this initiative for the immediate, short- and
long-term economic recovery of our province. Without this, monetary and discriminatory repercussions could ensue as solutions will likely fall
short of objectives, serving some segments of the population well and overlooking others, ultimately negatively impacting the health and
prosperity of our country.
As engineers also have an ethical mandate to safeguard the public interest, Canada should engage the engineering community as
technological stewards to rebuild the engine that drives the economy.
The engineering community recommends that the Government of Canada:

a. Require organizations to demonstrate a commitment to inclusive design to access funding. Projects must account for our

diverse population, be flexible and adaptable, employ inclusive processes and tools, and have a broad beneficial impact.

The requirements outlined in this funding framework should be measurable generating accountability from industry to

advance a vibrant, thriving ecosystem across Canada.
Diverse and Inclusive Workforce:
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the workforce continues to be assessed, however, it appears that groups that were historically under-represented in the workplace, have once again been most impacted by layoffs amid the pandemic. A report released by the Royal Bank of
Canada shows that women's participation in the labour force is the lowest it has been in three decades, with 1.5 million Canadian women losing
their jobs or choosing to quit to better support households in the first two months of the pandemic alone.
This is increasingly problematic throughout sectors of the economy, where women, racialized persons, and members of other equity seeking
groups remained highly under-represented. For example, based on most recent data women accounted for only 18.1% of engineers in Canada.
OSPE's report Calling All STEM Employers: Why Workplace Cultures Must Shift to Change the Gender Landscape demonstrated that women in
STEM continued to face significant barriers to success. These barriers included being undervalued and disrespected in the workplace, lack of
mentorship and sponsorship, and the existence of a gender-wage gap. These barriers were a contributing factor to the trends above and likely
mirror the barriers to other under-represented groups. As a result, conditions are now exacerbated for those who remain in the labour market.
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OSPE - COVID-19 Economic Recovery Recommendations - Federal Government

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