Employment Equity Census

An alternative to the online census is available.  

Employees can print and fill in a hardcopy of the census: 

Download a fillable and printable PDF copy of the census. 

If you do not have access to a printer and need a hard copy mailed to you, please contact the EIO at: datateam@equity.ubc.ca.

Once you’ve completed the paper copy of the census, please return it to the Equity & Inclusion Office via UBC’s interdepartmental campus mail. 

Place your census submission in a sealed envelope addressed to the EIO. Do not write your name or any identifying information on the envelope. Drop it off at your department’s main office mail pick up or closest campus mail pick up location.  

Please send your campus mail to our Vancouver office location.

All incoming mail is stored securely and can only be retrieved by designated EIO staff. Information from paper copies will be entered by a designated EDI data analyst into a secure UBC database and physical copies subsequently destroyed. 

If you require additional accommodation to enable you to complete the census, please let us know and reach out to the Centre for Workplace Accessibility.

The Employment Equity Census is the only mechanism for centralized and standardized collection of demographic information on UBC employees. Respondents are given the option to self-identify by gender, trans experience, sexual orientation, Indigenous identity, ethno-racial identity, racialization experience, and disability. A snapshot of census data, captured each year at the end of October, is confidentially analyzed for the purpose of preparing UBC’s annual Employment Equity Report.

Data from the census reveals the current demographic composition of UBC faculty and staff. Patterns and trends observed over time, in employment, promotion and retention, and gaps in workforce representation, in comparison with Canadian Census labour force statistics, help identify and assess barriers to equitable participation in UBC’s workforce. Accordingly, census data is used to inform strategic initiatives that aim to build a more equitable, diverse and inclusive workforce and support institutional accountability and transparency with respect to institutional commitments. 

UBC is required to collect, analyze and report on workforce data pertaining to the four federally designated groups under the Employment Equity Act (women, Indigenous Peoples, racialized people, and disabled people/people with disabilities). Please see FAQs about the Federal Contractors Program below. 

The Employment Equity questionnaire, which has been administered for well over a decade, is periodically revised in an effort to improve the quality and accuracy of UBC’s institutional data. This includes endeavoring to respond to feedback from the UBC community, adopt best practice in demographic data collection, meet informational needs of various rightsholders and stakeholders on UBC’s campuses, and align to federal and provincial standards, where relevant, and peer institutions, when feasible. A summary of revisions is reflected below. 

More information about the census questions and detailed explanation of rationales informing changes can be found here.  

Updates in 2025 to 2024 version of the census: 

• Name rebranded from “Employment Equity Survey” to “Employment Equity Census” to better reflect the purpose and scope of the data collection; 

• A revised preamble to improve clarity on purpose and uses for employment equity census data; 

• A link to a new resource document containing definitions of key terminology and rationales for data collection; 

• Adjustments to question formulations throughout the questionnaire to better align to UBC’s updated data standards and / or Federal Employment Equity guidelines; 

• Enhancements to response options, particularly relating to Indigenous and ethno-racial questions. 

Updates in 2024 to 2021 version of the census: 

• Updated subpopulation groupings adapted from Canadian census categories to include ‘Jewish’  

• Added self-ID for ‘disabled’ based on Employment Equity Act definition 

Updates in 2021 to 2016 version of the census: 

• Reframed to ‘gender identity’ from ‘sex’; expanded gender to include ‘trans’ and ‘non-binary’ 

• Adopted terminology of ‘2SLGBQIA+’; separated self-ID for ‘trans experience’ from ‘sexual orientation’ 

• Adopted terminology of ‘Indigenous’, defined by Section 35 of the Constitution Act 

• Adopted terminology of ‘racialized’ and ‘person of colour’ 

• Updated subpopulation groupings with adapted Canadian census categories; added ‘Indigenous (within North America)’ 

• Removed terminology of ‘disability’ to focus on ‘functional limitations’ and ‘environmental barriers’ 

The Employment Equity Census aligns with the Federal Employment Equity Act and the British Columbia Human Rights Code, as well as with UBC’s employment equity policy and plan, which follow the guidelines of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal.  

As an employer subject to the Federal Contractors Program, UBC is required to collect, analyze and report on workforce data pertaining to the four designated groups under the Employment Equity Act (“women, Aboriginal Peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities”); although the language UBC uses is slightly different from the definition reflected in the Employment Equity Act and used by the Federal Contractor’s Program. UBC also recognizes that sexual orientation and gender identity minoritized persons, including LGBQ+ and transgender and non-binary people, experience employment barriers and collects this information for internal purposes. 

We understand there are myriad challenges in accurately capturing the spectrum of different identities in a few simply-worded questions. UBC’s Employment Equity Census is periodically revised to improve overall participation and to respond to feedback from the UBC community. The federal definitions are also currently under review as part of the Government of Canada’s efforts to modernize and strengthen its employment equity framework (see Employment Equity Review Taskforce). 

Yes. Many if not all public post-secondary institutions collect employment equity data.

Please contact the Equity & Inclusion Office, Data, Analytics, Reporting and Evaluation (DARE) team at datateam@equity.ubc.ca. 

All active UBC employees – faculty and staff – are asked to complete the census. 

Students are encouraged to complete the Student Diversity Census. A direct link to the census was sent to every UBC student via email and can be accessed in their Canvas inbox. You can learn more about the Student Diversity Census here.

While paid employees are required to fill out the census and encouraged to self-identify, if you prefer not to disclose personal information you can select the “I choose not to disclose” option for any question in the census.

If you completed the questionnaire prior to October 1, 2025, please fill out the updated census as questions and answer options have been revised based on updated data standards and community feedback. Completing the updated census ensures that your data is accurate and up-to-date and that decisions made using this data are well-informed.

Personally identifiable information is not shared with your unit, supervisors, or colleagues. However, aggregate census data may inform development of programs to support under-represented employees in terms of career development, including mentorship and/or sponsorship programs, in alignment with UBC’s commitments to building a more equitable and inclusive workplace for all. 

UBC’s Equity & Inclusion Office (EIO) is responsible for the development of the census questionnaire and employee engagement. EIO’s collaborators for the census are:  the Integrated Service Centre (ISC) who deploy the census in Workday, the Enterprise Data & Business Intelligence team who receives the census data from Workday and maps it into University Data Platform (UDaP), and Planning and Institutional Research Office (PAIR) who merge census data with institutional administrative data to enable analysis of demographic information corresponding to employee groups, titles, and ranks. Census data is linked to HR administrative information in PAIR and shared back with EIO for analysis; therefore, access to this data is restricted to the minimum number of data analysts required to process this data as approved by data trustees. Individual responses are never shared with managers, supervisors, heads of unit or departments.  

For each reporting year, a snapshot of responses submitted to the census is captured at the end of October. Anonymized results are aggregated and compiled into the annual Employment Equity Report. To maintain confidentiality of responses, any groups with less than 5 submitted responses are reported as “suppressed”. Every year, the prepared Employment Equity Report is presented to the Board of Governors as an accountability measure, to communicate progress towards institutional commitments and to inform evidence-based approaches to decision-making around resource allocation, program and policy developments, and strategic plan implementation related to equity, diversity, and inclusion. Reports are also shared with administrative and academic leadership to inform workforce planning as well as recruitment and retention practices. 

In recent years, the Employment Equity report expanded to include enhanced snapshots of Faculty and Administrative demographic composition. To request aggregated data in other formats, please contact the Equity & Inclusion Office, Data, Analytics, Reporting and Evaluation (DARE) team at datateam@equity.ubc.ca. 

Presently, UBC reports aggregate anonymized data to the Government of Canada in compliance with the Federal Contractors Program.

The information you provide in this census is collected under the authority of section 26(a) and (c) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA). 

The Census aligns with the British Columbia Human Rights Commission and purpose of the British Columbia Human Rights Code to “foster a society in B.C. where there are no impediments to full and free participation in the economic, social, political and cultural life of B.C.”.  

Data is stored in Canada on UBC’s University Data Platform (UDaP) and becomes part of a confidential institutional database, stored separately from personnel files. Only designated data analysts in UBC’s Planning and Institutional Research (PAIR) and EIO’s data analysts process and analyze record-level data. All reports are based on anonymized aggregate summaries, and any categories or groups with less than 5 submitted responses are reported as “suppressed” information to further reduce the risk of identification. 

The Associate Vice President, Equity & Inclusion is the data trustee and steward for all employment equity data. Designated data analysts within the Equity & Inclusion Office and Planning and Institutional Research Office analyze record level data to support proper processing, analysis, and reporting. 

Aggregated data may be provided to units in accordance with UBC’s Data Governance Program to inform workforce planning and administer programs intended to advance equity and antiracism priorities and commitments. In rare cases where access to case-level data is needed, the request must demonstrate necessity, and approval must come from the Data Access Committee. Visit ACCESS UBC DATA for more information. 

The Federal Contractors Program requires that organizations who do business with the Government of Canada implement employment equity in their workplace. Organizations with a contract for goods and services with the federal government valued over $1 million dollars sign an Agreement to Implement Employment Equity (AIEE).

Employers subject to the Federal Contractors Program are required to collect, analyze and report on workforce data pertaining to the four designated groups under the Employment Equity Act. More details about the requirements for the FCP Program can be found here.