New Study Finds Less Than 1 Per Cent of Canadian Corporate Leaders are Black
Read an excerpt of Senator Ratna Omidvar’s comments on the lack of diversity in corporate boards below.
Regulating diversity: Some diversity advocates question whether the recent corporate pledges can translate into real change. Canadian Sen. Ratna Omidvar says that, while the recent response from corporations is encouraging, lasting change comes from regulation.
“What we have to rely on, then, is the law. It is the law that changes behaviours,” she says.
When it comes to long-standing efforts to improve gender diversity on boards, Omidvar’s statement is largely backed up by empirical evidence, which shows that the countries that have made meaningful progress in increasing the number of women on boards all have legal targets or quotas driving that progress.
Canada’s legal system has only recently begun supporting corporate diversity. Introduced by Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Bill C-25 makes companies disclose or explain why they’re not creating plans to increase the number of women, racialized people, persons with disabilities and Indigenous citizens they hire in senior management and board positions. As of Jan. 1, 2020, this applies to federally incorporated companies such as airlines and banks.
A growing number of companies, including Calgary-headquartered Cenovus Energy, now have formal board diversity targets. Cenovus says it has “an aspirational target to have at least 40 per cent of independent directors be represented by women, Aboriginal Peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities.”
Omidvar hoped that Bill C-25 would make such targets mandatory, but her amendment to the bill making this so was not approved by Parliament.
“I’d describe the government’s legislation as a tap on the shoulder of business to do the right thing, whereas I would have preferred a nudge,” Omidvar says.
Read the full article on The Toronto Star’s website
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