QUEBEC CITY -- One of the Legault government's preferred ways to fight racism will be to hire more minority representatives in the public service.

Quebec's public service workforce had only 11 per cent ethnic minority representatives in 2018. It currently stands at 14 per cent.  Within five years, Quebec wants the rate to match the rate of visible minorities in the workforce.

Government managers will also soon be entitled to training on managing cultural diversity within the government. In addition, all public service employees will be required to take "mandatory and ongoing" training on the issue of racism, starting next spring.

With Bill 60, Quebec also intends to change the rules to facilitate the recruitment of diverse professionals in the public service.

Quebec is also planning an information campaign for the ethnocultural diversity media.

These are some of the measures included in a report released Thursday by the Minister of Responsible for the Fight Against Racism, Benoit Charette, one year after the publication of the report entitled "La lutte au racisme: Tolérance zéro," prepared by le Groupe d'action contre le racisme (GACR). 

The government had given itself five years to respond to the 25 recommendations contained in the report. Minister Charette, who committed to report periodically on progress, listed the actions taken, most of which are already known.

"We are definitely moving in the right direction, although there is still a lot of work to be done," he said at a press conference, flanked by Ian Lafrenière, Minister of Indigenous Affairs, and Christopher Skeete, Parliamentary Assistant to Minister Charette.

Charette, who is also Minister of the Environment, inherited the anti-racism file last February.

Several of the actions listed were aimed at police forces and have been made public in the recent past, such as the ban on random police stops, pilot projects to change certain police practices and ongoing training on the issue of discrimination, racism and racial profiling.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 9, 2021.