Ottawa public servants get no guaranteed job offers as Indigenous Services cuts loom

An internal Indigenous Services Canada document says there are "no confirmed departments" offering a Guarantee of a Reasonable Job Offer to any employee whose job might be cut. The Ottawa Citizen obtained the document, addressed to deputy minister Michelle Kovacevic, through an access-to-information request.

A GRJO is the guaranteed route for a permanent employee facing workforce adjustment to keep a federal job. Without one, affected workers are left with a 12-month staffing list, a cash exit package, or an education allowance.

The department's paper calls GRJOs not "viable" given workforce adjustment exercises, a shrinking workforce, slowed hiring and mandated expenditure controls. It cites 2025 staffing and salary-cap controls that cut staffing from 50 per cent to over 80 per cent month-to-month compared with previous fiscal years.

ISC spokesperson Eric Head did not answer the Citizen's questions on why no GRJOs have been offered. In a statement, he said deputy heads are expected to provide a GRJO to employees they anticipate will have no indeterminate position available in the core public administration, generally within the next year. He said a GRJO is not an offer of employment but a guarantee that a reasonable job offer will become available. Employees keep their pay and benefits while they wait, and if the offered job is at a lower classification they keep their former salary, pension and benefits.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Canadian Association of Professional Employees both want more transparency. PSAC president Sharon DeSousa said the employer's staffing process "lacks transparency, putting experienced, skilled workers at risk of losing their jobs." CAPE president Nathan Prier called for reporting on how GRJOs are used, the criteria applied, available vacancies and mobility opportunities, and said workforce reductions at ISC "raise questions around organizational capacity and the long-term sustainability of program delivery."

The federal government aims to shed about 30,000 public service jobs over several years. The department has not said how many of its employees are affected, and neither ISC nor Treasury Board has responded to the union criticism.