Affirmative Action: Unfair Discrimination In Canada

The term “Affirmative Action” originated from the United States of America to prohibit unfair discrimination against certain groups of people because of non job related characteristics in terms of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 . Canada was not far behind in this movement, “Affirmative Action” was set in place through the “Canadian Employment Equity Act” for the same purpose. After reading through the articles as well as some supplemental material revolving around affirmative action I have concluded that affirmative action is in fact a form of discrimination, but is not an unfair form of discrimination, it simply eliminates unfair discrimination and develops skills of those individuals who have not had equal opportunities. As Plous (2003)
From the definition of affirmative action, you would probably assume that affirmative action has improved the employment status of women and minorities in the workforce, you would be correct. Harris (2009) explains in his article, “Revisiting affirmative action in leveling the playing field,” that without the policy of affirmative action in place and without the use of gender, race, sex or ethnicity as part of the decision making process, the employment status of women and minorities would have been much worse. Women have been the biggest beneficiaries which have been followed by
Affirmative action began out of necessity in order to benefit women and minorities because of the fact they had been disadvantaged for so many years. Although affirmative action has had its positives in helping minorities and women in the workplace, people’s views are evolving and we are seeing a significant drop in racism and feminism. With that in mind, there are some negative aspects with affirmative action today. For instance, business has suffered some repercussions. Affirmative action has forced some businesses to demand quotas and ratios of minorities and women in the workforce. In saying this, a less qualified applicant could possibly land a job in which they applied for simply because he or she is a minority, which results in preferential treatment. In conclusion, although affirmative action was set in place to increase employment equality, it is still a form of discrimination. Although it can be seen as perhaps a more positive act of discrimination it still has some negative outcomes. Preferential treatment is a problem in the workplace these days and should be looked at very carefully. In order for affirmative action to truly be effective, our society must grow to be a true colorblind society that accepts men and women as equals. Until that happens affirmative action will always have some benefits, but it will also have some