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It is easy to fall into the trap of treating Canada as merely a colder version of the United States. The differences between Canada and the United States are profound yet not immediately visible.

To appreciate the differences between the two countries, one must go back to the time of the American Revolution. The American revolutionaries expected that present-day Canada would join them in the fight against the English king. Still, the area that makes up present-day Canada stayed loyal to the king and continued under British rule until Canada became independent in 1867.

On employment issues, the Canadian federal government laws affect only those federally regulated industries according to the Canadian constitution: broadcasting, telecommunications, banking, railroads, airlines, shipping, other transport across provincial boundaries, uranium mining, and crown corporations. The result is that only about 10% of employees in Canada are covered by Canadian federal law, while 90% are protected only by the laws of their province or territory.

All other businesses are beyond the jurisdiction of the Canadian government and are affected only by the laws of the province in which they operate. In the United States, Sears must obey U.S. federal law regarding non-discrimination, minimum wage, etc. In Canada, Sears also has stores throughout the country, but retailing is not federally regulated under the Canadian constitution. Therefore, Sears in Canada must obey the laws of each province in which it operates.

In 1977,Parliament passed the Canadian Human Rights Act,which forbids discrimination by federally regulated employers based on race,gender,sexual orientation,disability status,and specific other grounds.This act prohibits systemic discrimination,as when an employer asks an applicant about her childbearing plans or engages in sexual harassmentanddirect discrimination,as when an employer says women applicants will not be considered.Instead of complaints being heard in court,as in the United States,discrimination complaints are typically made to the Canadian Human Rights Commission if the employer is federally regulatedor provincial counterpart if it is provincially regulated.

Another feature of the Canadian Human Rights Act is that it requires comparable worth in compensation,which in Canada is known as pay equity.Ontario and Quebec also have pay equity laws covering both public- and private-sector employers at the provincial level.Some other provinces have pay equity laws limited to public-sector organizations,such as universities and hospitals.A few regions have no pay equity legislation at all. However,pay equality legislation exists in every jurisdiction of Canada,meaning men and women doing the same job must be paid equally.

Where pay equity is concerned,there can be an enormous impact depending on which side of a provincial border an employer locates.

In 1984 a parliamentary commission recommended legislation that would push employers to take proactive or aggressive measures to increase the numbers of women and minority employees.Covered employers submit their data to the federal government,which then assigns grades to each employer,which are made public.A later version of the law,the Canadian Employment Equity Act of 1995,put modest fines up to $50,000 for not meeting targets.Some have criticized these provisions for being too weak. Still, onthe other hand,there was an underlying intent to rely on gentle persuasion on employers to maintain a constructive atmosphere and avoid ill will.

In the United States, the main thrust of civil rights legislation was initially to end discrimination against Blacks. Although Black Canadians have been victims of racism, the difference in numbers means that discrimination against Black Canadians has never been the predominant issue that it has been in the United States. On the other hand, Canadians of Asian ancestry form a large portion of the Canadian population.

Therefore,when Canada introduced employment equity legislation,there was a question about which groups should be chosen for coverage.

Aboriginal people constitute four percent of the Canadian population,compared with less than 1 percent in the United States.

With Disabilities: Both Canada and the United States define disabilities to include psychological and physical conditions.

"Visible minorities" refers to Black,Asian,Arab,Pacific Islander,or Latin American ancestry.The visible minority category includes some groups,such as Japanese Canadians,who have very high-income levels today,but had historically been targets of discrimination.

One-fifth of the Canadian population speaks French as their first language,and in some areas,they feel they are at a disadvantage in an English-language-dominated society.Because the Canadian Human Rights Act covers these minority groups,it is still illegal to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation or learned French before English.

There have been some problems in the implementation of employment equity. An employee cannot be counted as a member of a minority group unless he or she identifies as such on a questionnaire administered by the employer. If some minority employees don't complete the questionnaire due to a desire to blend in and not draw attention, then the employer cannot count them in employment equity statistics.

In the United States,some white individuals have won lawsuits claiming reverse discrimination,causing the unraveling of some of the U.A claim of reverse discrimination cannot be made in the Canadian legal system.Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,which is part of the Canadian constitution,states that discrimination is illegal.

Employment equity, when properly implemented, should go beyond increasing the number of women and minority employees, although this is important. Employment equity programs typically include mentorship programs, in which employees in the four protected groups received coaching and career advice from senior employees.

RBC makes available such options as job sharing, flexible work schedules, and work-from-home arrangements as ways of accommodating employees' individual needs.

Canada is divided into ten provinces and three territories, which have more power in matters of employment legislation than U.S. state governments. The result is that only those employers in federally regulated industries are required by legislation to have employment equity programs. Lastly, provincially regulated companies that sell goods or services to the federal government must have employment equity programs or risk losing their federal contracts.

Executives of companies operating in both the United States and Canada face a particular challenge because they must be knowledgeable about the laws of the two countries, and in many instances, the laws of Canada's ten provinces and three territories as well.