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Report: 2021 Diversity Disclosure Practices – Diversity and leadership at Canadian public companies

Author(s): Andrew MacDougall, John M. Valley, Jennifer Jeffrey

Oct 13, 2021

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Table of contents


The 2021 Diversity Disclosure Practices report provides general information only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice. Specific advice should be sought in connection with your circumstances. For more information, please contact Osler’s Corporate Governance group.


Introduction

Welcome to our seventh annual comprehensive report on diversity disclosure practices in Canada, covering disclosure by TSX-listed companies and CBCA corporations subject to disclosure requirements. Our report provides detailed disclosure on the representation of women in senior leadership positions at TSX-listed companies as well as the representation of women, members of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities at publicly-traded corporations governed by the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA). We also highlight disclosed best practices to improve diversity and inclusion and samples  of excellence in disclosure.

First, the good news…

Even after seven years of diversity disclosure, the Canadian public company boards continue to add more women directors at a steady pace. Women now hold approximately 23.4% of board seats among TSX-listed companies disclosing the number of women on their boards, an increase of almost 2 percentage points over last year. The rate at which women are being appointed this year reached its highest level yet, with women filling 39.1% of the newly created or vacated board seats, a significant increase compared to a rate of 35% last year. Among the S&P/TSX 60 companies almost one-third (33.2%) of the board seats are held by women, while among the companies included in the S&P/TSX Composite Index providing disclosure the corresponding figure is 31.5%. Few all-male boards remain – representing only 15.7% of the TSX-listed companies and two of the companies in the S&P/TSX Composite Index.

Perhaps one reason larger companies are more successful at adding female directors is that they are setting targets. Targets for women directors have been adopted by 71.7% of the S&P/TSX 60 companies. By contrast, only 32.3% of all TSX-listed companies have done so.

More than two-thirds (67.3%) of the time TSX-listed companies have adopted a written board diversity policies (64.7% in 2020) and approximately 90% of the time those policies included a specific focus on women on the board.

Women are also taking on greater leadership on the board. Approximately 6.6% of the TSX-listed companies have a women serving as chair of the board (5.2% last year) and at more than half of the companies (51.1%) a woman is serving as the chair of at least one committee of the board (compared to 43.5% last year).

Members of visible minorities also made some small inroads onto Canadian boards, as approximately 6.8% of board positions of CBCA corporations providing disclosure are held by visible minorities, compared to 5.5% last year.

Now, the bad news…

Women are making very little progress at the executive officer level. The proportion of women executive officers increased slightly to 18.2% from 17% last year, but is largely unchanged since 2015 (when it was 15%), and only 10.7% of TSX-listed companies have targets for women executive officers (largely unchanged from last year).

When it comes to Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities, the results are even more disappointing. Among the over 2,200 board positions of the 316 CBCA companies that provided disclosure, there were only 8 positions held by Aboriginal peoples (compared to 7 last year). Based on the disclosure provided, the number of director positions held by persons with disabilities also remained exceptionally rare, at only 9 positions (up from 6 last year).

Highlights

Women now hold 23.4% of all board seats among all TSX-listed companies disclosing the number of women directors on their boards. At S&P/TSX 60 companies, women hold 33.2% of all board seats. At S&P/TSX Composite Index companies, women hold 31.5% of all board seats.
6.6% of the time, the chair of a TSX-listed company is a woman. 4.8% of the time, the CEO of a TSX-listed company is a woman. The percentage of CBCA public company board seats held by visible minorities is 6.8%. Number of CBCA public company board positions held by Aboriginal peoples is 8.
Number of CBCA public company board positions held by persons with disabilities is 9. Targets for women directors have been adopted by 71.7% of S&P/TSX 60 companies, but by only 32.3% of TSX-listed companies. Number of TSX-listed companies with targets for women executive officers is 10.7%

The Diversity Disclosure Requirement

The Diversity Disclosure Requirement requires disclosure:

  • Whether or not the issuer has adopted a written policy relating to the identification and nomination of women directors. If the issuer has not adopted such a policy, it must disclose why it has not done so. If an issuer has adopted a policy, the issuer must disclose:
    • a short summary of its objectives and key provisions
    • the measures taken to ensure that the policy has been effectively implemented
    • annual and cumulative progress by the issuer in achieving the objectives of the policy
    • whether, and if so how, the board or its nominating committee measures the effectiveness of the policy
  • Whether the issuer considers the level of representation of women on the board in identifying and nominating candidates for election or re-election to the board. If so, the issuer must disclose how and, if not, disclose the issuer’s reason for not doing so.
  • Whether the issuer considers the level of representation of women in executive officer positions when making such appointments. If so, the issuer must disclose how and, if not, disclose the issuer’s reason for not doing so.
  • Whether the issuer has adopted a target regarding the appointment of women to the board. If so, the issuer must disclose the target and the annual and cumulative progress of the issuer in achieving the target. If not, the issuer must disclose the reason for not doing so.
  • Whether the issuer has adopted a target regarding women in executive officer positions of the issuer. If so, the issuer must disclose the target and the annual and cumulative progress of the issuer in achieving the target. If the issuer has not adopted a target, it must disclose why it has not done so.
  • The number and percentage of women on the issuer’s board of directors.
  • The number and percentage of the issuer’s women executive officers, including all major subsidiaries of the issuer.

CBCA Requirement

The CBCA Requirement requires substantially the same disclosure as the Diversity Disclosure Requirement, but separately with respect to each “designated group” – which it defines to include, but not be limited to, designated groups as defined by the Employment Equity Act (Canada).

Accordingly, disclosure is required with respect to

  1. women
  2. Aboriginal peoples (First Nations, Inuit and Métis)
  3. persons with disabilities
  4. members of visible minorities.

Companies subject to the CBCA Requirement may also elect (but are not required) to provide disclosure in respect of additional “designated groups” identified in their information circulars.

We recognize that there are a range of terms used to reference the various diversity characteristics referred to in this report. Since our report is based on disclosure made by companies in response to legislated disclosure requirements, we have used the same terms as the legislation where applicable to avoid confusion.


Developments in diversity – including women and other underrepresented groups

The ongoing imperative to include more women in leadership roles continues to be supported by regulatory and investor pressures. However, last year’s fledgling initiatives to extend the focus beyond gender have picked up momentum amid a drive to be more inclusive of other underrepresented groups.

Continuing focus on women – Canada and the world

The representation of women on Canadian company boards among the 228 companies in the S&P/TSX Composite Index as of July 31, 2021 is comparable to the levels achieved for the top 200 to 300 companies in other jurisdictions, notwithstanding the absence of a quota or recommended target.

Comparing approaches

Research from the Conference Board of Canada has questioned whether Canada’s approach to increasing board diversity is effective. In a study released on September 23, 2020, All on board: Comparisons around the world for women’s leadership, the Conference Board researched the approaches followed by 36 OECD countries to increase the proportion of women on corporate boards. The study found that 22% impose a quota which, if not met, can result in penalties, 39% have a recommended target, 11% use a combination of a hard quota and a recommended target, and 25% do not address board diversity. Canada was found to be in the unique position of requiring disclosure regarding the representation of women without recommending or mandating a particular target to be achieved.

The role of merit

A related research paper by the Conference Board of Canada issued September 23, 2020, All on board: Turning evidence into action for women’s leadership, addressed the role of merit and arguments about an insufficient number of women in the pool of qualified candidates. The authors challenge the argument that by focusing on merit, qualified women will be found, whereas recruitment based on gender can fail to recruit the best possible candidates and state “… there is a wealth of evidence that demonstrates that implicit bias, in-group favouritism, and gender discrimination are embedded in the evaluation of potential board members.” They also observe that despite a lack of representation of women in leadership positions, there are enough qualified women on corporate boards. They further note that structural biases can impede women’s progress into senior leadership roles. For instance, as criteria for board consideration often includes C-suite experience, a lack of women in senior leadership positions, especially in certain male-dominated industries, may contribute to a perceived smaller pool of board-ready women.

Disclosure is not enough

On April 14, 2021, the Conference Board of Canada released a subsequent study concluding that Canada’s disclosure requirements haven’t accelerated the pace of change when it comes to increasing the number of women on corporate boards. The study, All on board: Does disclosure help create more inclusive boardrooms?, looked at the rate at which corporate boards added women to their ranks for multiple years prior to the introduction of the Diversity Disclosure Requirement through to the end of 2018 and found that the pace at which change has occurred has been steady throughout the period and concluded that “there is no compelling evidence” that the Diversity Disclosure Requirement has accelerated the entry of women into boardrooms.

Strengthened proxy voting guidelines

In late 2020, both Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis tightened their proxy voting guidelines with respect to gender diversity. Under its guidelines, starting in 2022, ISS will recommend voting against the chair of the nominating committee of S&P/TSX Composite Index companies if they (a) do not have at least 30% women directors or (b) do not have a board diversity policy that includes a 30% target to be achieved in a reasonable timeframe. Also starting in 2022, Glass Lewis will generally recommend voting against the nominating committee chair of a board where the board has at least seven directors, but does not have at least two directors who are women.

Germany proposes to mandate women in executive roles

In June 2021, Germany decided to add to its existing mandated quota requiring that women represent at least 30% of the non-executive director roles on supervisory boards of large listed companies. The Bundestag approved legislation requiring that the management boards of certain large publicly listed companies include at least one woman if the management board has more than three members.

U.K.’s 350 largest companies achieve 33% target for women directors and eliminate all-male boards

The final report of the Hampton-Alexander review reported that as of December 2020, 34.3% of FTSE 350 company directors are women, exceeding the target of 33%. Also, as of February 2021, there were no longer any all-male boards among the FTSE 350.

Consultation on proposed U.K. listing rules on diversity

In July 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority in the U.K. issued a consultation paper on proposed revisions to U.K. listing rules that would require most U.K. premium and standard listed companies, including those incorporated overseas, to comply with a number of requirements or explain why they do not:

  • at least 40% of the board should be women

  • at least one of the senior board positions (Chair, CEO, Senior Independent Director or CFO) should be a woman

  • at least one member of the board should be from a non-White ethnic minority background (as referenced in categories recommended by the Office for National Statistics)

In addition, companies would need to disclose in prescribed tabular form the number of (i) directors, (ii) senior board positions and (iii) executive management who are

  • female, male, non-binary or prefer not to say

  • White, mixed/multiple ethnic groups, Asian, Black/African/Caribbean, other ethnic group or prefer not to say

Australia’s 300 largest companies achieve 30% women directors

In its 2021 Board Diversity Index, Watermark Search International, in partnership with Governance Institute of Australia, reported that in 2021, Australian ASX 300 boards passed the female 30% representation benchmark for the first time. The report also notes that 32 of the companies have at least 50% women on the board and a woman serves as board chair at 30 companies (10%). Further, 25 of the companies with a woman serving as board chair have at least 30% women on the board.

Women plus other underrepresented groups

Canada had an early lead in adopting rules regarding disclosure with respect to other diversity groups, as a result of amendments to the Canada Business Corporations Act requiring disclosure with respect to not only women, but also members of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities. However, those changes apply to only a limited proportion of Canadian companies. New NASDAQ listing rules and proposals for U.K. listing rules out for consultation demonstrate that regulators in other jurisdictions will soon catch up, and their proposals will apply to a broader range of companies. This is likely to result in further changes from Canadian securities regulators, or possibly the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The 50 – 30 Challenge launched

In December 2020, the Federal Government announced its 50 – 30 Challenge that asks Canadian organizations to aspire to gender parity on boards and senior management as well as 30% representation on boards and senior management of other underrepresented groups, including Aboriginal peoples, racialized persons, people living with disabilities (including invisible and episodic disabilities) and members of the LGBTQ2 community.

Canadian Investor Statement on Diversity and Inclusion

In October 2020, 31 institutional investors and 16 supporting organizations signed a Canadian Investor Statement on Diversity & Inclusion pledging to improve diversity and inclusion practices within their own organizations’ investment processes and engage with Canadian investee companies to convey their expectations of improved disclosure and performance on diversity and inclusion practices, including the advancement of underrepresented groups on boards, executive teams and across the wider organization.

First report on disclosure in response to CBCA Disclosure Requirements

In its report issued in April 2021, Corporations Canada presented the findings of its review of disclosure on the representation of women, members of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities on the board and in senior management roles of public companies governed by the CBCA for the year 2020. The report highlighted a lack of any significant representation by Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities, as well as the underrepresentation of women and visible minorities in public company leadership positions.

The BlackNorth Initiative

According to The Globe and Mail, as of the first anniversary of its launch in July 2021, over 450 companies have allied themselves to the BlackNorth Initiative seeking to address systemic anti-Black racism. However, a survey conducted by the newspaper of the original signatories to the CEO pledge found that few companies had shown tangible progress in meeting the goals of the pledge.

Recommended securities law changes

In its final report released in January 2021, the Capital Markets Modernization Taskforce recommended that Ontario securities legislation be amended to require publicly listed issuers in Canada to set their own board and executive management diversity targets (aggregated across both groups) and implementation timelines, and to provide data annually in relation to the representation of those who self-identify as (i) women, (ii) Black, Indigenous and people of colour, (iii) persons with disabilities or (iv) LGBTQ+. It also recommended an aggregated target of 50% women to be achieved within five years and 30% collectively for the other underrepresented groups to be achieved within seven years.

Shareholder proposals on diversity

Diversity continues to be a focus of shareholder proposals, with at least seven such proposals being submitted to Canadian companies this year, three of which were voted on at meetings. After it was amended, a shareholder proposal submitted to the TMX Group received the support of the exchange and almost 98% of the votes cast by shareholders.

New NASDAQ diversity listing requirement

Under bold new rules approved by the SEC on August 6, 2021, NASDAQ became the first regulator in the world to mandate diversity beyond gender on public company boards.

  • Under its new rules, boards of directors of most NASDAQ issuers, including Canadian issuers listed on the exchange, will be required to include at least two diverse directors, at least one of whom must be female, and in the case of U.S. issuers, at least one director must be from an underrepresented minority. Compliance is required on a staggered basis, with at least one diverse director being required by 2023 and full compliance being required by 2025 or 2026. Issuers that fail to comply must publicly disclose why they do not.
  • In addition, NASDAQ requires annual disclosure regarding the diversity characteristics of the board. Based on self-identification, issuers must disclose
    • the number of directors who are female, male, non-binary or did not wish to disclose their gender
    • the number of directors who are (i) African American or Black, (ii) Alaskan Native or Native American, (iii) Asian, (iv) Hispanic or Latinx, (v) Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, (vi) White, (vii) two or more races or ethnicities, (viii) LGBTQ+ or (ix) did not disclose demographic background. (Foreign issuers are instead required to disclose the number of directors who are (i) LGBTQ+, (ii) an underrepresented minority based on national, racial, ethnic, Indigenous, cultural, religious or linguistic identity in the country of the issuer’s principal executive offices or (iii) did not disclose demographic background.) Despite pressure from disability rights groups, NASDAQ did not include persons with a disability as a required category for disclosure, although issuers can voluntarily provide that disclosure.

Diversity activism in the U.S.

Pressure to accelerate progress on diversity, especially racial diversity, is building on multiple fronts.

  • Investor demands for diversity disclosure – Bloomberg News, the New York City Comptroller and State Street have asked public companies to publicly disclose the workforce diversity data they provide on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission forms they file. Several U.S. companies received shareholder proposals requesting that the board oversee a racial audit assessing their diversity, equity and inclusion practices; while none of these passed, they received significant support and may increase in number.
  • U.S. company pledges – As part of The Board Challenge, an initiative that is working to get more diverse representation in the leadership of major companies, dozens of U.S. companies pledged to add a Black director to their board of directors within the next year or, if they have at least one Black director, foster continued efforts for change.
  • Diversity advocacy coalition – The Diverse Corporate Directors Coalition, comprised of representatives from leading associations that support diverse corporate directors, including Ascend Pinnacle, the Black Corporate Directors Conference, the Latino Corporate Directors Association, Out Leadership’s Quorum and the Women Corporate Directors Foundation, called on boards to take a multifaceted approach to improve diversity in leadership with a target of having at least 50% of the board’s directors coming from underrepresented groups.
  • U.S. diversity lawsuits against directors – Several derivative lawsuits were launched in 2020 and 2021 against public company boards claiming directors breached their fiduciary responsibility by failing to address a lack of racial diversity on the board or senior management. Although several of the lawsuits, including those filed against Facebook, The Gap, Oracle, Danaher Corporation, Monster Beverage Corp., NortonLifeLock and OPKO Health, have been subsequently dismissed, the claims did draw attention to the affected companies.

U.K. may miss its ‘One by 2021’ target for ethnic minority representation on FTSE 100 boards

The 2017 report of the Parker Review Committee which was established to improve the ethnic diversity of U.K. boards set a target for all FTSE 100 boards to have at least one director from an ethnic minority background by December 2021. In an update issued on March 12, 2021, the Parker Review Committee reported that 81 of the FTSE 100 companies had at least one minority ethnic director on the board.


2020 full-year results

Women on boards in 2020

For the full year ended December 31, 2020, 691 companies disclosed the number of women on their boards. For these 691 companies, we counted a total of approximately 5,321 board seats, of which 1,130 were held by women. Based on these results, women held 21.2% of the total board seats among companies providing disclosure, representing an increase of 2.2 percentage points compared to full-year 2019. This also represented a decrease of 0.3 percentage points compared to mid-year 2020. This decline is consistent with the expectation we described in last year’s report that our full-year results for 2020 would reflect a slight decrease from our mid-year results since many of the companies that took advantage of the extension in deadlines to file disclosure resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic collectively had below average diversity results in previous years.

For the corresponding S&P/TSX 60 companies, these figures were 652 for the total number of board seats and 204 for the number of seats held by women for full-year 2020, representing approximately 31.3% of the total board seats among the 58 members of the S&P/TSX 60 providing disclosure1. This figure represents a small decline of 0.2 percentage points from the 31.5% of the total board seats among the 53 members of the S&P/TSX 60 providing disclosure at mid-year 2020.
 

FIGURE 1
2020 PROPORTION OF BOARD SEATS HELD BY WOMEN

Total companies that disclosed: 691

Total board seats held by women 21%. Remaining board seats 79%.

 

On a company-by-company basis, based on the data reported by these 691 companies, there was an average of 1.64 women on these boards, while the 679 companies that disclosed the percentage of women on their boards had an average of approximately 19.4% of women directors, both representing an increase from the corresponding full-year 2019 figures of 1.45 and 17.4%, respectively.

Canadian companies with little or no gender diversity continued to add more women to their boards during the pandemic. Of the 691 companies disclosing the number of women directors on their boards, 136 (19.7%) reported having no women on the board, representing an improvement from the corresponding 24.2% figure for full-year 2019. A total of 235 companies (34.0%) had one woman director (representing a slight decrease from the 36.8% reporting for 2019), and 320 (46.3%) reported having more than one woman on their board (a considerable increase from 39.4% in 2019). At 81 of the disclosing companies (representing 11.9% of those disclosing), women held 35% or more of the board seats.

The slight declines in each of these full-year figures compared to mid-year 2020 is consistent with our expectations for the reasons noted above.

Women executive officers in 2020

For full-year 2020, 630 companies disclosed information regarding the number of women executives employed by them, and 623 disclosed the percentage of their executive officers that are women. Companies that disclosed the number of women executives reported an average of 1.54 women executives and a total of 968 executive officer positions held by women. These numbers are down slightly compared to our full-year 2019 results. However, among those that disclosed the percentage of women executives, an average of 17.2% of executive officer positions were held by women, which reflects a slight increase from the 16.8% reported for full-year 2019.

For the 630 companies that disclosed the number of their women executive officers in full-year 2020, 34.1% fewer of these companies reported having zero women executive officers (compared to 35.6% for full-year 2019). A further 185 (29.4%) reported having one woman executive officer (up from 28.4% in 2019), while fewer companies reported having more than one woman executive officer in full-year 2020 compared to 2019 (230 (or 36.5%) compared to 245 (or 37.2%)). This is consistent with the decline in the number of companies reporting more than 35% women executive officers for full-year 2020 (11.9% compared to 12.5% of reporting companies).

Notwithstanding the overall declines, a significant proportion of companies nonetheless continue to report that they take gender into account when identifying and appointing executive officers, with 500 of 654 (or 76.5%) companies reporting in full-year 2020 indicating that they did so (up 1.8 percentage points from 74.8% in 2019).
 

FIGURE 2
2020 PROPORTION OF WOMEN DIRECTORS

Total companies that disclosed: 691

More than one woman 46%. No women 20%. One woman 34%.

 

FIGURE 3
2020 PROPORTION OF WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Total companies that disclosed: 630

More than one woman 37%. No women 34%. One woman 29.%


Breakdown by industry for full-year 2020

As demonstrated in Figures 4 and 5, the industries with the highest number and percentage of women directors in 2020 were Utilities & Pipelines, Communication & Media, Financial Services and Clean Technology. Utilities and Pipelines also reported the highest average percentage of women executive officers and reported the highest average  number. Communication & Media was another strong performer.
 

FIGURE 4
2020 INDUSTRY BREAKDOWN OF NUMBERS AND PERCENTAGES OF WOMEN DIRECTORS

Total companies that disclosed: 691 (#) / 679 (%)

Industry - Number of women directors/Percentage of women directors.
			  
Utilities & Pipelines - 3.1/30%, 
			  
Communication & Media - 2.9/27%, 
			  
Financial Services - 2.2/21%, 
			  
Clean Technology - 2.0/26%, 
			  
Industrial Products & Services - 2.0/23%, 
			  
Forest Products & Paper - 2.0/23%, 
			  
Consumer Products& Services - 2.0/22%, 
			  
Real Estate - 1.7/22%, 
			  		  
Oil & Gas - 1.4/17%, 

Technology - 1.4/16%, 
			  
Mining - 1.2/16%, 		  
			  
Life Sciences - 1.1/16%, 
			  
Energy Services - 1.1/14%.

 

FIGURE 5
2020 INDUSTRY BREAKDOWN OF NUMBERS AND PERCENTAGES OF WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Total companies that disclosed: 630 (#) / 623 (%)

Industry - Number of women executive officers/Percentage of women executive officers.
			  
Utilities & Pipelines - 4.2/27%, 
			  
Communication & Media - 2.8/25%, 
			  
Financial Services - 2.6/21%, 
			  
Consumer Products& Services - 1.9/20%, 
			  
Forest Products & Paper - 1.8/21%, 
			  
Real Estate - 1.7/25%, 
			  
Industrial Products & Services - 1.6/15%, 
			  
Technology - 1.5/18%, 
			  
Energy Services - 1.5/13% 
			  
Clean Technology - 1.3/15%, 
			  		  
Oil & Gas - 1.1/11%,   
			  
Life Sciences - 1.0/17%, 
			  
Mining - 0.9/14%.


Diversity policies and targets for full year 2020

In 2020, there was a further increase in the number of companies disclosing that they have board diversity policies (63.7%, up from 58.1%). This is reflected in Figure 6. Of those companies, approximately 91.6% indicated that their policy also related to the identification and nomination of women directors.

There was also a sharp increase in the number of companies adopting targets for women directors in full- year 2020 – of the 685 companies that provided board diversity target disclosure in 2020, 27.0% indicated that they did have a target. This represents an increase of 5.4 percentage points from 2019. However, the number of companies disclosing that they have targets for women executive officers remains low, and the year-over-year increase was negligible, with 44 of the 644 companies providing disclosure for full-year 2020 (6.8%) indicating that they had such a target. The corresponding figure in 2019 was 6.5%. These results are illustrated by Figures 7.1 and 7.2.
 

FIGURE 6
2020 BOARD DIVERSITY POLICY ADOPTION RATES

Total companies that disclosed: 688

Without policies 36%. With policies 64%.

 

FIGURE 7.1
2020 TARGET ADOPTION RATES - WOMEN DIRECTORS

Total companies that disclosed: 685

Without targets 73%. With targets 27%.

 

FIGURE 7.2
2020 TARGET ADOPTION RATES - WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Total companies that disclosed: 644

Without targets 93%. With targets 7%.

 

Diversity beyond gender: Reporting by CBCA corporations for full year 2020

Last year was the first year diversity disclosure was required by CBCA companies under the CBCA Requirement. That requirement extended reporting on the representation of women to venture issuers and required comparable disclosure with respect to the representation of members of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities. Consistent with the anticipated results for women directors and executive officers, the full-year 2020 results for the other prescribed designated groups under the CBCA Requirement also tended to decrease slightly compared to the mid-year 2020 results.

With respect to women, reported results for the 332 CBCA corporations which provided disclosure were generally consistent with, but slightly lower than, the reported results for all TSX listed issuers – which is not surprising since, as we have noted elsewhere, a significant proportion of the CBCA companies which provided disclosure are listed on the TSX.

For the 332 CBCA companies providing disclosure regarding the number of women on their boards, women held approximately 19.9% of the board seats, with an average of 1.41 women per board. For the 328 companies providing disclosure on the average percentage of women on their boards, the average percentage was 16.7%. The corresponding figures for women executive officers were an average number of 1.3 and an average percentage of 15.6% for the 297 companies reporting in each case.

With respect to other designated groups, full-year results for 2020 show that members of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities remain substantially underrepresented on Canadian boards.

Designated Group

Number of Directors

Number of Executive Officers

Members of visible minorities2

106

122

Aboriginal peoples

7

2

Persons with disabilities

8

8

Overall, results for the full-year 2020 reflect another year of continued slow progression for women regarding seats in the boardroom, although the adoption of both diversity policies and targets regarding women directors have both seen an overall increase. The stagnant performance with respect to the representation of women in executive officer positions is unfortunately also consistent with previous years’ results and represents an obvious area for improvement. For visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with a disability, the first full year of disclosure shows a need for reform.


Mid-year results for 2021: Women on boards

Number and percentage of women directors

As of July 31, 2021, 629 companies had disclosed the number of women directors on their boards, with a total of 1,152 board positions at these companies reported as being held by women out of a total of 4,914 board seats. Based on these results, women held 23.4% of the total board seats among companies providing disclosure for 2021. This represents a steady increase of 2.2 percentage points from full-year 2020 and 1.8 percentage point increase from mid-year 2020.3

Companies included in the S&P/TSX 60 and that provided disclosure during this period, reported 201 of 605 total board seats were held by women. This represents 33.2% of board seats held by women among the 54 members of the index that provided disclosure of the number of women on their boards. This represents an increase of 1.9 percentage points compared to full-year 2020 (31.3%) and 1.7 percentage points compared to mid-year 2020 (31.5%).

On the broader S&P/TSX composite index, 627 of the 1,991 board seats or 31.5% were held by women. As we noted in last year’s report, these results are, unsurprisingly, a mid-point between the results for the S&P/TSX 60 companies and those for the TSX companies more broadly.

 

FIGURE 8
2021 PROPORTION OF TOTAL BOARD SEATS HELD BY WOMEN (ALL COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed: 629

Remaining board seats 77%. Total board seats held by women 23%.

 

For the companies disclosing the number of women directors on their boards, there was an average of 1.83 board seats held by women, and for the 614 companies disclosing the percentage of women on their boards, there was an average of 22.1% of women directors on these boards. These reflect continued modest increases from figures of 1.69 and 19.9% for the corresponding period in 2020 (1.64 and 19.4% for full-year 2020). As noted in Figures 9.1 and 9.2, a similar steady increase occurred among the S&P/TSX 60 companies.

Consistent with these results, mid-year 2021 saw a continuation of the trend of a decreasing number of boards without any women directors among companies disclosing the number of women on their boards. The number of such boards fell by 2.6 percentage points to 15.7% compared to 18.3% for mid-year 2020 (20.0% for full-year 2020). Only two companies in the S&P/TSX Composite Index that reported the number of women on their boards had all-male boards, perhaps reflecting a response to ISS’ decision that, starting in 2022, it would recommend withhold votes on the chair of the nominating committee of such companies if women make up less than 30% of the board and the board has not adapted a 30% target.

 

FIGURE 9.1
AVERAGE NUMBER OF WOMEN DIRECTORS

Total companies that disclosed: 2017: 692 | 2018: 680 | 2019: 657 | 2020: 585 | 2021: 629

Total S&P/TSX 60 companies that disclosed: 2017: 54 | 2018: 55 | 2019: 53 | 2020: 53 | 2021: 54

 
			  
			  Year - All companies / S&P/TSX 60 companies.
			  2017 - 1.13/2.96, 2018 - 1.29/3.31, 2019 - 1.44/3.34, 2020 - 1.69/3.53, 2021 - 1.83/3.72.

 

FIGURE 9.2
AVERAGE PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN DIRECTORS

Total companies that disclosed: 2017: 684 | 2018: 682 | 2019: 645 | 2020: 578 | 2021: 614

Total S&P/TSX 60 companies that disclosed: 2017: 56 | 2018: 56 | 2019: 53 | 2020: 53 | 2021: 55

 
			  
			  Year - All companies / S&P/TSX 60 companies.
			  2017 - 13%/26%, 2018 - 15%/28%, 2019 - 17%/29%, 2020 - 20%/31%, 2021 - 22%/33%.

 

FIGURE 10
2021 PROPORTION OF WOMEN DIRECTORS (ALL COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed: 629

More than one woman 53%. No women 16%. One woman 31%.

 

 

As highlighted in Figures 11.1 and 11.2, over half (53.1%) of the companies that reported the number of women on their board indicated that they now have more than one woman on their board – an increase of 4.9 percentage points compared to the same period last year where 48.2% of reporting companies reported having more than one woman on their board (46.3% for full-year 2020).

Based on the disclosure provided, for mid-year 2021 women comprise 50% or more of the board at 13 companies: Akita Drilling Ltd., Artis Real Estate Investment Trust, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Cascades Inc., Charlotte’s Web Holdings, Inc., Diversified Royalty Corp., Dream Impact Trust, DREAM Unlimited Corp., Eldorado Gold Corporation, Fortis Inc., Laurentian Bank of Canada, Saputo Inc. and Westport Fuel Systems Inc.

This year’s data again demonstrate that, although Canada’s largest companies clearly continue to be leaders in gender diversity, the gap is narrowing between the leaders and the broader group of companies subject to the Diversity Disclosure Requirement in certain key areas. The trend for relatively larger issuers to perform better in this regard is consistent with broader trends internationally, and it has remained constant in our data since the Diversity Disclosure Requirements was introduced.

 

FIGURE 11.1
NUMBER OF WOMEN DIRECTORS (ALL COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed: 2017: 684 | 2018: 680 | 2019: 657 | 2020: 585 | 2021: 629

 Percentage of companies.
			  
			  No women directors - 2017 37%, 2018 31%, 2019 23%, 2020 19%, 2021 16%. 
			  
			  1 woman director - 2017 35%, 2018 35%, 2019 37%, 2020 34%, 2021 31%. 
			  
			  2 women directors - 2017 14%, 2018 18%, 2019 21%, 2020 24%, 2021 25%. 
			  
			  3 women directors - 2017 8%, 2018 8%, 2019 9%, 2020 14%, 2021 17%. 
			  
			  4 women directors - 2017 3%, 2018 4%, 2019 5%, 2020 6%, 2021 6%. 
			  
			  5+ women directors - 2017 2%, 2018 3%, 2019 4%, 2020 4%, 2021 5%.

 

FIGURE 11.2
PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN DIRECTORS (ALL COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed: 2017: 684 | 2018: 682 | 2019: 645 | 2020: 579 | 2021: 614

 Percentage of companies.
			  
			  0% women directors - 2017 38%, 2018 31%, 2019 25%, 2020 19%, 2021 16%. 
			  
			  1–14% women directors - 2017 24%, 2018 24%, 2019 22%, 2020 21%, 2021 15%. 
			  
			  15–24% women directors - 2017 18%, 2018 20%, 2019 21%, 2020 20%, 2021 19%. 
			  
			  25–34% women directors - 2017 15%, 2018 17%, 2019 24%, 2020 27%, 2021 32%. 
			  
			  35%+ women directors - 2017 6%, 2018 8%, 2019 9%, 2020 13%, 2021 17%.

 

For the S&P/TSX 60 companies that have disclosed the number of women directors on their board, there was an average of 3.72 board positions per disclosing company and, of the companies reporting the percentage of women on their boards, there was an average of 33.1% women directors reported.

The vast majority (53 or 98.1%) of disclosing S&P/ TSX 60 companies reported having two or more women board members. Of those 53 companies, 17 companies (31.5% of those disclosing) have five or more board positions held by women. These data are described in Figures 12.1 and 12.2.

 

FIGURE 12.1
NUMBER OF WOMEN DIRECTORS (S&P/TSX 60 COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed 2017: 54 | 2018: 55 | 2019: 53 | 2020: 53 | 2021: 54

 Percentage of companies.
			  
			  No women directors - 2017 4%, 2018 0%, 2019 2%, 2020 0%, 2021 0%. 
			  
			  1 woman director - 2017 9%, 2018 9%, 2019 6%, 2020 4%, 2021 2%. 
			  
			  2 women directors - 2017 24%, 2018 22%, 2019 28%, 2020 21%, 2021 17%. 
			  
			  3 women directors - 2017 28%, 2018 27%, 2019 19%, 2020 26%, 2021 32%. 
			  
			  4 women directors - 2017 20%, 2018 18%, 2019 19%, 2020 23%, 2021 19%. 
			  
			  5+ women directors - 2017 15%, 2018 24%, 2019 26%, 2020 26%, 2021 32%.

 

FIGURE 12.2
PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN DIRECTORS (S&P/TSX 60 COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed 2017: 54 | 2018: 55 | 2019: 53 | 2020: 53 | 2021: 55

 Percentage of companies.
			  
			  0% women directors - 2017 4%, 2018 0%, 2019 2%, 2020 0%, 2021 0%. 
			  
			  1–14% women directors - 2017 13%, 2018 13%, 2019 8%, 2020 4%, 2021 2%. 
			  
			  15–24% women directors - 2017 27%, 2018 20%, 2019 17%, 2020 11%, 2021 11%. 
			  
			  25–34% women directors - 2017 38%, 2018 43%, 2019 40%, 2020 51%, 2021 42%. 
			  
			  35%+ women directors - 2017 20%, 2018 25%, 2019 34%, 2020 34%, 2021 46%.

 

Women board representation  by industry

The average number and percentage of women directors continues to vary significantly across industries and, on an industry-by-industry basis, there continues to be varying degrees of growth in 2021 compared to 2020. These changes are illustrated in Figures 13.1 and 13.2.

However there is very little change in the rankings of the different industries. The Utilities & Pipelines industry consistently has the highest average percentage of women directors and the highest average number of women directors, while the Mining, Technology, Life Sciences and Energy Services industries consistently have the lowest proportion of women directors.

The number of women directors and average percentage of women directors generally increased overall, although there was little change in some industries. The greatest increases occurred in the Utilities & Pipelines and Consumer Products and Services industries. In contrast, there was little change and even some regression in the Forest Products & Paper and Mining industries.

 

FIGURE 13.1
NUMBER OF WOMEN DIRECTORS BY INDUSTRY

Total companies that disclosed 2020: 586 | 2021: 629

 
			  Industry 2020/2021.
			  
Utilities & Pipelines - 3.13/3.71, 
			  
Communication & Media - 3.00/2.87, 
			  
Financial Services - 1.98/2.50, 
			  
Clean Technology - 2.42/2.31, 
			  
Industrial Products & Services - 1.92/2.19, 
			  
Consumer Products& Services - 1.68/2.11,
			  
Forest Products & Paper - 2.08/2.09, 
			  
Real Estate - 2.00/1.91, 
			  		  
Oil & Gas - 1.41/1.56, 
			  
Mining - 1.44/1.45, 		  

Technology - 1.08/1.42, 
			  
Life Sciences - 1.25/1.20, 
			  
Energy Services - 1.12/1.13.

 

FIGURE 13.2
PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN DIRECTORS BY INDUSTRY

Total companies that disclosed 2020: 579 | 2021: 614

 
			  Industry 2020/2021.
			  
Utilities & Pipelines - 30%/35%, 
			  
Communication & Media - 29%/29%, 
			  
Financial Services - 24%/24%, 
			  
Clean Technology - 23%/30%, 
			  
Industrial Products & Services - 22%/27%, 
			  
Consumer Products& Services - 22%/25%,
			  
Forest Products & Paper - 26%/24%, 
			  
Real Estate - 23%/25%, 
			  		  
Oil & Gas - 17%/20%, 
			  
Mining - 18%/19%, 		  

Technology - 15%/19%, 
			  
Life Sciences - 16%/17%, 
			  
Energy Services - 14%/16%.

 

New director appointments

We continue to monitor the progress being made among TSX-listed companies in adding women to their boards, and again gathered data regarding the number of women being nominated for election as new directors in 2021, either because they had been appointed during the year to fill a vacancy that had occurred since the last shareholders’ meeting or as a result of an increase in board size at the relevant company. For the 650 companies that fully or partially satisfied the Diversity Disclosure Requirement, there were 445 board seats that became available due to vacancies or an increase in board size.

Women were nominated to fill 174 board seats, or 39.1% of the total number of newly created or vacated board seats. This represents an increase of almost 4.0 percentage points compared to 35.2% at mid-year 2020. This is broadly comparable to the improvements among the S&P/TSX 60 companies, for which women were nominated to fill approximately 42.3% of the newly created or vacated board seats (34.7% at mid-year 2020).

Board policies on diversity and policies related to the nomination and identification of women on boards

Overall, 648 companies reported on whether they adopted board diversity policies in 2021. Of these, 436 (representing 67.3%) disclosed that they have a written board diversity policy. This represents a 2.6 percentage point increase in the percentage of disclosing companies reporting the adoption of such policies in 2020 (64.7%) and is consistent with the slowing trend over time. Among S&P/TSX 60 companies, 50 of the 55 companies reporting indicated that they had adopted a written board diversity policy – this represents 90.9% of all companies reporting and a slight decrease from the 94.3% reported in 2020.

The Diversity Disclosure Requirement seeks disclosure on whether the board has adopted a written policy that specifically relates to the identification and nomination of women directors. Not all companies disclosing that they had adopted a written board diversity policy stated whether the policy specifically related to the identification and nomination of women directors, and some companies specifically disclosed that they did not. In 2021, 649 companies disclosed whether or not they had a written policy relating to the identification and nomination of women directors, and 394 (60.6%) of these companies indicated that they had such a policy. This represents a slight decline compared to the 62.9% reported for mid-year 2020, but an increase compared to the 58.4% reported for full-year 2020.

 

FIGURE 14
GENERAL BOARD DIVERSITY POLICY ADOPTION RATES

Total companies that disclosed: 2017: 718 | 2018: 705 | 2019: 680 | 2020: 586 | 2021: 648

Total S&P/TSX 60 companies that disclosed: 2017: 57 | 2018: 56 | 2019: 54 | 2020: 53 | 2021: 55

 Policy adoption rate by year - All companies / S&P/TSX 60 companies.
			  
			  2017 47%/83%, 2018 54%/91%, 2019 61%/87%, 2020 65%/94%, 2021 67%/91%.

 

Among S&P/TSX 60 companies, 55 companies specifically disclosed whether they had a written policy relating to the identification and nomination of women directors and 50 (90.6%) stated that they had adopted such a written policy – this represents 100% of the S&P/TSX 60 companies that disclosed they have a board diversity policy. As we have found on other metrics, the S&P/TSX composite index companies fall in between the S&P/TSX 60 companies and the results for the TSX companies as a whole, with 83.3% of companies disclosing companies that they have a board diversity policy that includes a written policy for the identification and nomination of women directors.

The disclosure from companies reporting that they have adopted a board diversity policy indicates that a broad range of diversity characteristics are considered. A significant majority of these policies include a broad statement regarding the consideration of diversity, with most of the disclosure made in respect of these policies then proceeding to list a range of specific diversity characteristics that are to be considered under the policy. Of these specific diversity characteristics, it is unsurprising that gender is the most frequently referenced characteristic among the 436 companies disclosing that they have a board diversity policy.

We noted a sustained high level of companies disclosing that their written board diversity policy addressed characteristics corresponding with the prescribed “designated groups” under the CBCA Requirement. After gender, the next five most frequently cited individual diversity characteristics in the disclosure relating to diversity policies were ethnicity/race, age, skills/expertise, persons with disabilities and geography. The number of companies specifically listing Aboriginal status in their diversity policy also increased slightly this year to almost one-third of companies disclosing, following the very sharp increase noted in 2020.

 

FIGURE 15
NATURE OF POLICY ADOPTED (ALL COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed: 2017: 718 | 2018: 692 | 2019: 673 | 2020: 580 | 2021: 648

2017 36%, 2018 43%, 2019 52%, 2020 63%, 2021 61%

 

Figure 16 is a list of the top five diversity characteristics – other than gender – identified by companies in order of the frequency with which they are cited.

Companies that have not adopted a written policy with respect to the identification and nomination of women directors are required to explain why. Although 2021 is the seventh year the Diversity Disclosure Requirement has been in effect, approximately one-fifth of companies disclosing that they had not adopted such a policy did not disclose the reason why they had not done so. Among those companies that disclosed a reason for not adopting such a policy, the most common reason given by a significant margin was the concern that doing so would compromise their focus on merit, consistent with our findings in prior years. The top five reasons for not adopting policies are listed in Figure 17 in the order of the frequency with which they occurred.
 

FIGURE 16
TOP FIVE DISCLOSED DIVERSITY POLICY CHARACTERISTICS BEYOND GENDER

  1. Gender
  2. Ethnicity/race/culture
  3. Age
  4. Skills/expertise
  5. Persons with disabilities

FIGURE 17
TOP FIVE REASONS DISCLOSED FOR NOT ADOPTING WRITTEN BOARD DIVERSITY POLICY

  1. Would compromise a focus on merit
  2. Gender and other diversity characteristics to be considered
  3. May not result in the best candidates being selected
  4. Stage of development or nature of business
  5. Policies are under consideration


Targets for women on boards

For mid-year 2021, 32.3% of the disclosing companies reported having a target, representing 203 of the 628 companies disclosing whether or not they had adopted such targets (up from 28.8% in mid-year 2020 and 27.0% for full-year 2020).

Among the 53 S&P/TSX 60 companies that disclosed whether or not they had a target, 38 companies (71.7%) reported having a target. This represents an increase from 2020, when 58.5% of S&P/TSX 60 companies had targets.

Among those companies that reported not adopting targets, the reasons were generally similar as those given for failing to adopt board diversity policies, with the vast majority indicating concerns about compromising their focus on merit or having concerns that a target may result in someone other than the most qualified candidate having to be selected. Other reasons included the concerns that targets are ineffective and/or arbitrary or are inappropriate when considering the small number of directors on the board. The top five most commonly disclosed reasons are listed in Figure 19.

 

FIGURE 18
TARGETS FOR REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN ON BOARDS

Total companies that disclosed: 2017: 700 | 2018: 686 | 2019: 668 | 2020: 576 | 2021: 628

Total S&P/TSX 60 companies that disclosed: 2017: 57 | 2018: 56 | 2019: 54 | 2020: 53 | 2021: 53

Target adoption rate by year - All companies / S&P/TSX 60 companies.
			  
			  2017 12%/47%, 2018 17%/54%, 2019 23%/54%, 2020 29%/59%, 2021 32%/72%.

 

FIGURE 19
TOP FIVE REASONS DISCLOSED FOR NOT ADOPTING A TARGET FOR WOMEN DIRECTORS

  1. Would compromise a focus on merit
  2. May not result in the best candidates being selected
  3. Gender and other diversity characteristics considered
  4. Small number of directors or low turnover
  5. Targets are ineffective or arbitrary

 

Female board chairs and committee chairs

We identified those companies where the chair of the board of directors is a woman. We found that the number of female board chairs this year increased by almost one fifth compared to 2020 and 2019, although the level remains low in absolute terms. In 2021, 43 companies (or 6.6% of the 650 companies that fully or partially complied with the Diversity Disclosure Requirement) have a woman in the board chair role, compared to 31 companies (5.2% of those fully or partially disclosing) in 2020.

This year we again looked at the number of board committees with female chairs at each disclosing TSX company.

We found that 332 companies with full or partial diversity disclosure had at least one woman serving as the chair of a standing committee of the board, representing over half (51.1%) of these companies. This year, 234 companies reported having one woman committee chair (36.0%), while 98 companies reported having more than one woman serving as a committee chair (15.1%). This translates to an average number of women serving as committee chairs at all companies of 0.54 per company. Although the average number is down slightly from 0.59 in 2020, the overall number of committee chairs who are women has increased. This year’s data showed a more rapid growth among companies with one woman serving as a committee chair (up 5.4 percentage points from 2020) than those with two or more women serving as a committee chair (up 2.1 percentage points).

This year we also tracked the number of women who chair the company’s audit committee. Of the companies providing full or partial disclosure, at 141 companies (21.7%) the audit committee chair is a woman.

Since the number of committees varies by issuer and the identity of committee chairs is not required disclosure, in some instances the information was not readily identifiable. However, our results suggest that women are increasingly assuming board leadership roles, including an increase in the number and percentage of board chairs who are women.

Voluntary disclosure of other diversity characteristics

A number of TSX listed companies which are not CBCA corporations chose to provide voluntary supplemental disclosure regarding the representation of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with a disability on the board. We have highlighted the number of companies which chose to do so in Chapter 6 of our report.


Mid-year results for 2021: Women in executive officer positions

Number and percentage of women in executive officer positions

In 2021, 575 companies disclosed the number of women executive officers. These companies reported a total of 970 executive officer positions held by women. On average, these companies reported 1.69 women executive officer positions per company, while the 565 companies disclosing the percentage of women in executive officer positions reported that an average of 18.2% of their executive officer positions are held by women. These numbers reflect an increase in the average number of women executive officers reported compared to last year, when there was a slight decline, but the level remains essentially flat compared to previous years (1.73 and 1.60 for 2019 and 2020, respectively) and a slight increase in the average percentage of executive officer positions held by women compared to 17% in each of 2019 and 2020).

 

FIGURE 20.1
OVERALL AVERAGE NUMBER OF WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Total companies that disclosed: 2017: 649 | 2018: 651 | 2019: 609 | 2020: 528 | 2021: 575

2017 1.43, 2018 1.71, 2019 1.73, 2020 1.60, 2021 1.69

 

FIGURE 20.2
OVERALL AVERAGE PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Total companies that disclosed: 2017: 645 | 2018: 630 | 2019: 588 | 2020: 525 | 2021: 565

2017 15%, 2018 16%, 2019 17%, 2020 17%, 2021 18%

 

The percentage of companies reporting that they had no women executive officers decreased in 2021, to 32.9% among the companies disclosing the number of women executive officers. This is essentially flat compared to 33.3% in 2020 and a slight decrease from the 34.2% in 2019. Of these companies, the percentage that reported having only one woman executive officer declined slightly to 28.3% (compared to 29.2% in 2020), while the percentage that reported having two or more women executive officers increased in 2021 to 38.8% from 38.1% in 2020. This is described in more detail in Figures 21, 22.1 and 22.2.

 

FIGURE 21
2021 PROPORTION OF WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Total companies that disclosed: 575

More than one woman 39%, No women 33%, One woman 28%.

 

 

FIGURE 22.1
NUMBER OF WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS (ALL COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed 2017: 649 | 2018: 651 | 2019: 609 | 2020: 528 | 2021: 575

  Percentage of disclosing companies.
			  
			  No women officers - 2017 40%, 2018 36%, 2019 34%, 2020 33%, 2021 33%. 
			  
			  1 woman officer - 2017 29%, 2018 30%, 2019 28%, 2020 29%, 2021 28%. 
			  
			  2 women officers - 2017 16%, 2018 16%, 2019 18%, 2020 19%, 2021 19%. 
			  
			  3 women officers - 2017 7%, 2018 7%, 2019 8%, 2020 8%, 2021 9%. 
			  
			  4 women officers - 2017 3%, 2018 4%, 2019 4%, 2020 5%, 2021 5%. 
			  
			  5+ women officers - 2017 4%, 2018 7%, 2019 7%, 2020 6%, 2021 7%.

 

FIGURE 22.2
PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS (ALL COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed 2017: 645 | 2018: 630 | 2019: 588 | 2020: 525 | 2021: 565

Percentage of disclosing companies.
			  
			  0% women officers - 2017 40%, 2018 37%, 2019 35%, 2020 33%, 2021 33%. 
			  
			  1–14% women officers - 2017 14%, 2018 13%, 2019 13%, 2020 12%, 2021 10%. 
			  
			  15–24% women officers - 2017 15%, 2018 19%, 2019 19%, 2020 21%, 2021 21%. 
			  
			  25–34% women officers - 2017 20%, 2018 20%, 2019 21%, 2020 22%, 2021 21%. 
			  
			  35%+ women officers - 2017 10%, 2018 11%, 2019 13%, 2020 11%, 2021 15%.

 

However, women made some progress in executive officer ranks among the S&P/TSX 60 companies. Among the 50 S&P/TSX 60 companies that reported on the number of women executive officers, the average number of women executive officers increased by 0.46 this year, to 3.30 compared to 2.84 in 2020.

 

FIGURE 23.1
AVERAGE NUMBER OF WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS (S&P/TSX 60 COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed 2017: 53 | 2018: 53 | 2019: 48 | 2020: 49 | 2021: 50

2017 2.53, 2018 2.92, 2019 3.15, 2020 2.84, 2021 3.30.

 

Figure 23.2
AVERAGE PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS (S&P/TSX 60 COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed 2017: 54 | 2018: 52 | 2019: 50 | 2020: 49 | 2021: 50

2017 16%, 2018 17%, 2019 19%, 2020 19%, 2021 22%.

 

As summarized in Figures 24.1 and 24.2, based on the number of S&P/TSX 60 companies disclosing, the increases described above are consistent with the increased number of S&P/TSX 60 companies reporting having four or more executive officers who are women.

 

FIGURE 24.1
NUMBER OF WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS (S&P/TSX 60 COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed 2017: 53 | 2018: 53 | 2019: 48 | 2020: 49 | 2021: 50

Percentage of disclosing companies.
			  
			  No women executive officers - 2017 19%, 2018 11%, 2019 13%, 2020 14%, 2021 14%. 
			  
			  1 woman executive officer - 2017 17%, 2018 28%, 2019 23%, 2020 12%, 2021 10%. 
			  
			  2 women executive officers - 2017 25%, 2018 21%, 2019 17%, 2020 33%, 2021 32%. 
			  
			  3 women executive officers - 2017 17%, 2018 15%, 2019 23%, 2020 18%, 2021 12%. 
			  
			  4 women executive officers - 2017 9%, 2018 4%, 2019 4%, 2020 8%, 2021 12%. 
			  
			  5+ women executive officers - 2017 13%, 2018 21%, 2019 21%, 2020 14%, 2021 20%.

 

FIGURE 24.2
PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS (S&P/TSX 60 COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed 2017: 54 | 2018: 52 | 2019: 50 | 2020: 49 | 2021: 50

Percentage of disclosing companies.
			  
			  0% women executive officers - 2017 19%, 2018 12%, 2019 12%, 2020 14%, 2021 14%. 
			  
			  1–14% women executive officers - 2017 30%, 2018 29%, 2019 26%, 2020 10%, 2021 8%. 
			  
			  15–24% women executive officers - 2017 20%, 2018 33%, 2019 26%, 2020 41%, 2021 42%. 
			  
			  25–34% women executive officers - 2017 28%, 2018 23%, 2019 24%, 2020 29%, 2021 20%. 
			  
			  35%+ women executive officers - 2017 4%, 2018 4%, 2019 10%, 2020 6%, 2021 16%.

 

Women executive officers by industry

Broken down by industry, Utilities & Pipelines continued to have the highest average number of women executive officers, followed by Forest Products & Paper and Financial Services.

Utilities & Pipelines, Forest Products & Paper and Communication & Media represented this year’s top performers in terms of the average percentage of women executive officers.

The Oil & Gas and Energy Services industries, on the other hand, have consistently had the lowest average percentage of women executive officers. The Life Sciences and Mining industries are also among the industries with the lowest average number of women executive officers.

It is difficult to make relative assessments of performance between most industries, however. This is because there is wide variation in the number of executive officers per company between industries. This explains why in the Real Estate industry, for example, the average number of executive officers is close to the overall average, but women represent a relatively high percentage of the executive officers.

 

FIGURE 25
NUMBER OF WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS BY INDUSTRY

Total companies that disclosed 2020: 528 | 2021: 575

Industry 2020/2021.
			  
Utilities & Pipelines - 4.23/5.08, 
			  
Forest Products & Paper - 1.80/3.44, 	 
			  
Financial Services - 2.95/3.19, 
			  
Communication & Media - 2.20/2.43, 
			  
Real Estate - 1.64/2.06, 
			  
Consumer Products& Services - 2.04/1.91,
			  
Energy Services - 1.56/1.72,  
			  
Industrial Products & Services - 1.67/1.69, 		  
			  
Technology - 1.71/1.39, 
			  
Clean Technology - 1.17/1.25, 
			  
Oil & Gas - 1.12/1.17, 
			  
Mining - 0.85/0.97, 		  
			  
Life Sciences - 0.82/0.89.

 

FIGURE 26
PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS BY INDUSTRY

Total companies that disclosed 2020: 526 | 2021: 565

Industry 2020/2021.
			  
Utilities & Pipelines - 27%/30%, 
			  
Forest Products & Paper - 21%/26%, 	 
			  
Financial Services - 21%/23%, 
			  
Communication & Media - 22%/25%, 
			  
Real Estate - 26%/24%, 
			  
Consumer Products& Services - 20%/21%,
			  
Energy Services - 8%/11%,  
			  
Industrial Products & Services - 16%/18%, 		  
			  
Technology - 19%/18%, 
			  
Clean Technology - 14%/17%, 
			  
Oil & Gas - 12%/15%, 
			  
Mining - 14%/15%, 		  
			  
Life Sciences - 15%/15%.

 

Considering the representation of women in appointing executive officers

In 2021, 624 companies disclosed whether or not they take into account the representation of women in the identification and appointment of executive officers. Of those, 516 (82.7%) stated they do so. This increase reflects a continued trend from prior years.

Also consistent with previous years, the proportion of companies reporting that they take gender into account when making executive appointments among S&P/TSX 60 companies is higher and has increased again this year – 54 of the 55 companies that disclosed this information reported doing so in 2021, representing 98.2% of these companies.

As with the adoption of policies relating to the consideration of women for director positions, the primary reason given for not specifically considering gender in the identification and appointment of executive officers relates to an expressed concern about compromising a focus on merit. This is consistent with the results in prior years. The three most common reasons for not considering gender in 2021 are listed in Figure 28. These three responses account for the vast majority of the reasons given for not considering gender in the identification and appointment of executive officers, though a significant minority of companies that disclosed that they do not consider gender in the identification and appointment of executive officers did not provide a specific reason for failing to do so.

 

FIGURE 27
CONSIDERATION OF GENDER IN EXECUTIVE OFFICER APPOINTMENTS

Total companies that disclosed: 2017: 679 | 2018: 674 | 2019: 661 | 2020: 559 | 2021: 624

Total S&P/TSX 60 companies that disclosed: 2017: 57 | 2018: 56 | 2019: 54 | 2020: 53 | 2021: 55

All companies / S&P/TSX 60 companies.
			  
			  2017 71%/91%, 2018 72%/89%, 2019 76%/93%, 2020 78%/93%, 2021 83%/98%.

 

 

FIGURE 28
TOP THREE REASONS FOR NOT CONSIDERING GENDER IN EXECUTIVE OFFICER APPOINTMENTS

  1. Do not want to compromise a focus on merit
  2. May not result in the best candidates being selected
  3. Small number of officers or low turnover

 

Targets for women executive officers

The number of companies disclosing that they have adopted targets has increased by almost one third this year as a percentage of those disclosing whether or not they have established targets – to 10.7% (62 companies) from 7.5% (41 companies) in mid-year 2020. The increase is even more pronounced compared to full-year 2020 (6.8%).

The number of S&P/TSX 60 companies adopting targets for women in executive officer positions is also higher, with 12 of 44 companies (27.3%) disclosing whether or not they had adopted such a target indicating that they had done so.

In both cases, there are additional companies that disclose targets based on a group other than “executive officers” as defined under securities laws. For example, a significant number of S&P/TSX 60 companies disclosed targets for senior management or positions that are appointed by the board but without specific reference to “executive officers.” These companies are generally not included in our totals. Among those companies which adopted executive officer targets, the most common target adopted was 30% women executive officers, followed by 25%, while a few adopted a 20% target.

 

FIGURE 29
PREVALENCE OF TARGETS FOR WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS (ALL COMPANIES)

Total companies that disclosed: 667

2018 With targets 6%, Without targets 94%.

Total companies that disclosed: 639

2019 With targets 7%, Without targets 93%.

Total companies that disclosed: 544

2020 With targets 8%, Without targets 92%.

Total companies that disclosed: 579

2021 With targets 11%, Without targets 89%.

 

Consistent with the results above and from prior years, the top reason companies gave for not adopting targets regarding the appointment of women executive officers was a desire not to compromise a focus on merit. The top five reasons disclosed by companies that disclosed that they had not adopted a target for women executive officers are set out in Figure 30.

 

FIGURE 30
TOP FIVE REASONS FOR NOT ADOPTING A TARGET FOR WOMEN EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

  1. Do not want to compromise a focus on merit
  2. May not result in the best candidates being selected
  3. Stage of develop or nature of business
  4. Targets are ineffective or arbitrary
  5. Small number of directors or low turnover

 

Chief Executive Office and Leadership Roles

Only 4.8% of TSX listed companies that provided full or partial diversity disclosure had a woman as their CEO. This figure is essentially flat compared to both mid-year 2020 (4.4%) and full-year 2020 (4.7%).

Voluntary disclosure of other diversity characteristics

A number of TSX listed companies which are not CBCA corporations chose to provide voluntary supplemental disclosure regarding the representation of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with a disability among their executive officers. We have highlighted the number of companies which chose to do so in Chapter 6 of our report.


Diversity beyond gender: 2021 results for CBCA corporations

Corporations governed by the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) with publicly traded securities are required to provide diversity disclosure regarding women on the board and senior management consistent with the requirements under Canadian securities laws, as well as corresponding disclosure respecting Aboriginal peoples, members of visible minorities and persons with disabilities. In this chapter, we provide the results of our review of disclosure provided in compliance with the CBCA Requirement.

The CBCA Requirement became effective January 1, 2020 and our report last year found that members of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities are poorly represented in senior leadership positions of public corporations – a disappointment for a country with as diverse a population as Canada. As we summarize below, except for some improvement in the representation of visible minorities on boards there has been little improvement compared to last year.

The analysis in this chapter is based on disclosure provided by 318 CBCA corporations, which consistent with last year’s report represents just under half the 654 TSX issuers for which disclosure was provided in compliance with the Diversity Disclosure Requirement at mid-year 2021. There is overlap between the two groups as we include data from CBCA corporations listed on the TSX continue in our chapters on 2021 diversity disclosure by TSX listed issuers as well as in this chapter. However, since the CBCA Requirement applies to public CBCA corporations which are listed on other stock exchanges, including the TSX Venture Exchange, a significant portion of the corporations whose data is included in this chapter are smaller issuers.

We recognize that there are a range of terms used to reference the various diversity characteristics referred to in this chapter and elsewhere in this report. The disclosure itself uses a range of terms as different companies make different choices in this regard. Since our report is based on disclosure made by companies in response to legislated disclosure requirements, we have used the same terms as the legislation where applicable to avoid confusion, but we have taken a pragmatic and inclusive approach in interpreting the disclosure in this regard.

Board representation of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities

 

Members of visible minorities

Aboriginal peoples

Persons with disabilities

2021

2020

2021

2020

2021

2020

Percentage of population

22.3%

4.9%

20.0% (Ages 25-64)

Number of board positions7

121

89

8

7

9

6

Percentage of board positions7

6.8%

5.5%

0.5%

0.5%

0.5%

0.4%

Number of companies with at least one director from the applicable designated group7

77

56

7

7

8

5

Average number per board7

0.51

0.41

0.03

0.03

0.03

0.02

Percentage of companies with director targets for members of the applicable designated group

<1.5%

<1.5%

<1.5%

<1.5%

<1.5%

<1.5%

We also note that there was a group of companies representing approximately 7% of those companies providing full or partial disclosure that disclosed that they had directors who were members of a prescribed designated group (including women), but without specifying the designated group of which such directors are members. Since our results are based on the number and percentage of directors actually disclosed by companies subject to the CBCA requirement, we are not able to reflect these responses in the table above and, to this extent, there is a potential under-reporting of the number and percentage of directors we identify for each applicable designated group in the table above.

For purposes of the CBCA Requirement, visible minorities is defined to mean persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-White in colour. Statistics Canada states that the visible minority population consists mainly of the following groups: South Asian, Chinese, Black, Filipino, Latin American, Arab, Southeast Asian, West Asian, Korean and Japanese. According to data from Statistics Canada in 2016 approximately 22.3% of Canada’s population were visible minorities. However, based on the disclosure provided by 237 CBCA corporations which disclosed the number of board members who are visible minorities, only 6.8% of directors are visible minorities. As we noted in last year’s report, the Parker Review Committee in the U.K. has advocated a target for persons of colour of “one by 21” – an average of one director of colour per FTSE 100 board by 2021, and each FTSE 250 board should have at least one director of colour by 2024. CBCA corporations averaged 0.51 visible minority directors per board in 2021, meaning there remains a long way to go to reach such a target level.

Aboriginal peoples is defined under the CBCA Requirement to mean persons who are Indians, Inuit or Métis (all as defined in the applicable statutes). According to data from Statistics Canada in 2016 approximately 4.9% of Canada’s population were Aboriginal peoples. However, based on the disclosure provided by 230 CBCA corporations which disclosed the number of board members who are Aboriginal peoples, virtually no Aboriginal peoples serve as public company directors. As reflected in the table above, the number of director seats held by persons with disabilities is also exceedingly rare.

In order to make progress on diversity beyond gender, public company boards will need to change their approach to the identification and appointment of directors from these designated groups. The proportion of CBCA corporations which disclosed that their written board diversity policy does relate to these designated groups is significant – in each case, well over one-third of disclosing companies indicate they have such a policy – but lags the proportion with diversity policies that relate to women directors.

The complimentary Board Diversity Policy Template from Osler and the Institute of Corporate Directors addresses the CBCA Requirement, as well as other diversity characteristics. The template provides an easy way to generate a template board policy that considers diversity based on gender and other characteristics to initiate a broader discussion on diversity at the board level.

It remains the case that very few CBCA corporations have adopted targets for designated groups other than for women. However, some issuers such as Canadian National Railway Company and Cenovus have established targets for the designated groups collectively and separate targets for women directors while others such as Eldorado Gold Corporation, Franco-Nevada and Nomad Realty Company have adopted an aggregate target for all designated groups. Other companies have established standalone targets for women and for Aboriginal peoples (Cameco) or visible minorities (George Weston, Loblaw Companies, IBI Group and Enbridge).

Executive officers who are members of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities

 

Members of visible minorities

Aboriginal peoples

Persons with disabilities

 

2021

2020

2021

2020

2021

2020

Number of companies with at least one executive officer from the applicable designated group

71

66

2

2

8

5

Average number of executive officers per company for the applicable designated group

0.56

0.50

<0.1

<0.1

<0.1

<0.1

Although a substantial portion of companies that disclose whether or not they consider the representation of each of these designated groups when considering executive officer appointments indicate that they do so, there remains little disclosed representation of members of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities among executive officer roles. This is reflected in the low absolute numbers of companies disclosing that they have at least one executive officer from the applicable designated group in the table above. While we acknowledge that issuers must generally rely on executive officers to self- identify as being a member of any of the prescribed designated groups, the low numbers reflected above indicate that there is nonetheless significant room for improvement.

Similarly, and consistent with the results reported last year, the adoption of targets for executive officer roles remains very rare, with only a limited group including Loblaw Companies, George Weston Limited, IBI Group, Eldorado Gold Corporation, Franco-Nevada and Enbridge disclosing targets for designated groups in executive officer positions in 2021. Most of the targets that are disclosed are in respect of visible minorities, though some do have a target that covers all designated groups (albeit collectively).

Representation of women in CBCA board and executive officer roles

Consistent with last year’s results, on most metrics, corporations subject to the CBCA Requirement disclosed results that were largely comparable to, although slightly below, the results for the TSX-listed issuers subject to the Diversity Disclosure Requirement. The similarity is not surprising as there is significant overlap between the two groups as a significant portion of corporations subject to the CBCA Requirement are listed on the TSX and included in Diversity Disclosure Requirement results described in the prior chapters. The slightly lower results are attributable to the fact that the CBCA Requirement applies to smaller corporations than the Diversity Disclosure Requirement.

Women directors of CBCA corporations

 

Number (%) of board seats

Average number per board

Average % per board

Written policy relating to women

Target for directors

2021

465 (21.8%)

1.61

19.6%

131 (44.1%)

70 (23.6%)

2020

411 (20.3%)

1.55

18%

132 (50.4%)

59 (23.0%)

Of 2,130 board seats for the 289 companies disclosing the number of women directors on their board, 465 (21.8%) are filled by women. This is somewhat lower than the 23.4% of total board seats held by women at companies subject to the securities law Diversity Disclosure Requirement that disclosed the number of women directors on their board for the reasons noted above. It represents an increase of 1.5 percentage points from mid-year 2020.

All-male boards made up approximately one quarter of the CBCA corporation boards. There were 216 corporations (74.7%) of the companies that provided disclosure in response to the CBCA Requirement that disclosed they had at least one woman director. Of those companies, 73, or approximately 25.3%, disclosed that they had no women, 86, or approximately 29.8%, reported having one woman and 130, or approximately 45.0%, reported having more than one woman on their board. Approximately 14.9% of companies disclosing the percentage of women directors on their board reported having more than 35% women directors (42 companies), and approximately 1.4% reported having 50% or more female directors. Overall compared to mid-year 2020, there are fewer boards with no women, but slightly fewer boards with 50% or more female directors.

Women executive officers of CBCA corporations

The story is the same at the executive officer level, with CBCA corporations reporting results that were generally comparable to, but slightly lower than, the results for TSX-listed issuers.

 

Average number of executive officers

Average % of executive officers

Number of companies considering women in executive officer appointments

Target for women executive officers

2021

1.26

15.8%

215 (78.8%)

30 (10.8%)

2020

1.40

15.7%

207 (82%)

25 (9.9%)

Women CEOs, board chairs and committee chairs of CBCA corporations

Of the companies subject to the CBCA Requirement and disclosing the number of women on their board, 10 had a female CEO (approximately 3.5%), 12 (approximately 4.2%) had a female board chair and 124 (approximately 42.9%) had at least one female committee chair.


Best Practices: Who has achieved gender parity, voluntary disclosure of underrepresented groups and how to increase diversity

Acknowledging those who have achieved it and highlighting companies’ practices for increasing the number of women in senior leadership roles

In this chapter, we recognize those companies that have achieved gender parity on the board or in executive officer ranks. We highlight the various practices companies used this past year to increase the representation of women and diversity generally in the workplace. By showcasing these companies and practices, we demonstrate that with sufficient leadership and focus it is possible to achieve gender parity and to inspire others to consider adopting practices that may increase diversity within their company.

Achieving gender parity in director and executive officer positions

Few companies have achieved gender parity on their board. Last year there were 10 companies where 50% or more of the directors were female, representing an increase from only five in 2019. This year witnessed a slight increase, as at 13 companies women comprised at least 50% of the board members.

TSX companies with at least 50% representation of women in director positions

2019

2020

2021

Diversified Royalty Corp. (50%)

DREAM Unlimited Corp. (57%)

MCAN Mortgage Corporation (50%)

New Gold Inc. (50%)

Saputo Inc. (50%)

Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund (50%)

Choice Properties Real Estate Investment

Trust (50%)

Cogeco Communications Inc. (50%)

DREAM Unlimited Corp. (50%)

First Majestic Silver Corp. (50%)

Laurentian Bank of Canada (50%)

Park Lawn Corporation (50%)

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated (50%)

Saputo Inc. (50%)

Westport Fuel Systems Inc. (50%)

Akita Drilling Ltd. (50%)

Artis Real Estate Investment Trust (57%)

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (50%)

Cascades Inc. (50%)

Charlotte’s Web Holdings, Inc. (60%)

Diversified Royalty Corp. (50%)

Dream Impact Trust (50%)

DREAM Unlimited Corp. (50%)

Eldorado Gold Corporation (50%)

Fortis Inc. (50%)

Laurentian Bank of Canada (55%)

Saputo Inc. (50%)

Westport Fuel Systems Inc. (50%)

The number of companies that achieved gender parity among their executive officers was similar to 2020 and the number of companies where women make up 50% or more of the executive officers has slightly increased  in 2021. In 2021, women held 50% or more of the executive officer positions in 33 companies, compared to 30 companies in 2020 and 31 companies in 2019.

TSX companies where more than 50% of the executive officers are women

2019

2020

2021

Balmoral Resources Ltd. (66⅔%)

DREAM Unlimited Corp. (60%)

INV Metals Inc. (66⅔%)

Killam Apartment Real Estate Investment

Trust (55%)

Knight Therapeutics Inc. (66⅔%)

Lodging Corporation (66⅔%)

LXRandCo, Inc. (66⅔%)

Nickel Creek Platinum Corp. (66⅔%)

Reitmans (Canada) Limited (56%)

Sienna Senior Living Inc. (60%)

UEX Corporation (66⅔%)

Zargon Oil & Gas Ltd. (66⅔%)

DREAM Unlimited Corp. (60%)

First Capital Realty Inc. (63%)

INV Metals Inc. (67%)

MCAN Mortgage Corporation (55%)

Medicenna Therapeutics Corp. (67%)

Nickel Creek Platinum Corp. (67%)

Roots Corporation (66.7%)

Sienna Senior Living (83%)

A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund (100%)

Amerigo Resources Ltd. (66%)

Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate

Investment Trust (53%)

Imperial Oil Limited (54%)

Killam Apartment Real Estate Investment

Trust (55%)

Lucara Diamond Corp. (75%)

MCAN Mortgage Corporation (60%)

Prairie Provident Resources Inc. (67%)

Roots Corporation (75%)

Timbercreek Financial Corp. (60%)

TSX companies where exactly 50% of the executive officers are women

2019

2020

2021

A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund

Acadian Timber Corp.

Athabasca Oil Corporation

Canada Goose Holdings Inc.

Chesswood Group Limited

Corridor Resources Inc.

Dream Global Real Estate Investment Trust

Dream Hard Asset Alternatives Trust

Dream Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust

Eagle Energy Inc.

Lucara Diamond Corp.

Mainstreet Equity Corp.

MCAN Mortgage Corporation

Melcor Real Estate Investment Trust

Pinetree Capital Ltd.

StageZero Life Sciences Ltd.

Sulliden Mining Capital Inc.

Timbercreek Financial Corp.

Trilogy Metals Inc.

A&W Revenue Royalties Income Fund

Acadian Timber Corp.

Amerigo Resources Ltd.

Aritzia Inc.

Candente Copper Corp.

Chartwell Retirement Residences

Chesswood Group Limited

Dream Hard Asset Alternatives Trust

Knight Therapeutics Inc.

Logistec Corporation

Loncor Resources Inc.

LXRandCo, Inc.

Mainstreet Equity Corp.

Melcor Real Estate Investment Trust

MTY Food Group Inc.

Petrus Resources Ltd.

Photon Control Inc.

Sulliden Mining Capital Inc.

TransAlta Corporation

Tree Island Steel Ltd.

Trilogy Metals Inc.

True North Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust

Acadian Timber Corp.

Aritzia Inc.

Ascot Resources Ltd.

Aquila Resources Inc.

Brookfield Renewable Corporation

Chartwell Retirement Residences

Cervus Equipment Corporation

Conifex Timber Inc.

Cronos Group Inc.

Dundee Corporation

Candente Copper Corp.

Hut 8 Mining Corp.

Melcor Developments Ltd.

Melcor Real Estate Investment Trust

Mogo Inc.

MTY Food Group Inc.

Ovintiv Inc.

Dream Impact Trust

SilverCrest Metals Inc.

Tree Island Steel Ltd.

Trilogy Metals Inc.

Topaz Energy Corp.

In 2021, at 31 (4.8%) TSX-listed companies the chief executive officer is a woman, at 43 (6.6%) TSX-listed companies the board chair is a woman and at 141 (21.6%) TSX-listed companies the chair of the audit committee is a woman.

Voluntary disclosure on diversity beyond gender

This year we noted a significant number of issuers not subject to the CBCA Requirement who provided on a voluntary basis disclosure regarding the representation of members of visible minorities and Aboriginal peoples, and a few with disclosure regarding the representation of persons with disabilities.

 

Members of visible minorities

Aboriginal peoples

Persons with disabilities

Companies disclosing number of directors who are:

34

23

18

Number of directors who are:

44

6

3

Companies disclosing number of executive officers who are:

23

12

12

Number of executive officers who are:

32

1

2

Targets for directors who are:

6

2

1

Targets for executive officers who are:

4

3

1

 

Best practices for increasing diversity

A significant proportion of public companies voluntarily provide supplemental disclosure highlighting their strategy to increase diversity generally, and the representation of women specifically, at all levels within the company, including the senior ranks. Companies that have adopted a strategy for increasing diversity state that they seek to add value to their organization through greater diversity and inclusion. Practices include

  • recruiting, developing and retaining a high performing workforce drawn from all segments of the Canadian landscape
  • striving to foster an inclusive workplace by establishing diversity and inclusion committees and company-wide strategies and policies that encourage equity and fairness, elevating diverse talent and investing in training programs to build inclusive leadership
  • promoting diversity and inclusion by organizing mentorship programs and employee resource groups aimed to support professional development for women and BIPOC employees

We highlight below some of the practices leading companies have adopted to increase diversity within their organization.

Best practices for increasing diversity

 

Examples of innovative leaders

Other leaders

Recruitment criteria

National Bank of Canada

The board has made a commitment to achieving gender parity among its directors and to having women account for at least one-third of directors. As such, half of the candidates selected to fill vacant director positions must be women.

During fiscal 2019, the Conduct Review and Corporate Governance Committee hired external recruitment consultants to assist in identifying candidates to help achieve the diversity objectives set by the board. Based on the recommendations of external recruitment consultants, the board has expanded its list of potential director nominees for fiscal 2020 to better reflect non-gender diversity criteria. It draws from this list of potential nominees when a director position becomes vacant.

Novagold Resources Inc.

Consistent with the objective of ensuring gender diversity, for every open board position at least one-half of the candidates recommended by the Corporate Governance and Nominations Committee for consideration by the board shall be female.

Spin Master Corp.

The selection process for board appointees/nominees by the company will involve a short-list identifying potential candidates that must include at least one female candidate for each available board seat for which the company is responsible for selecting director nominees and if, at the end of the selection process, no female candidates are selected, the board must be satisfied that there are objective reasons to support this determination.

TELUS Corporation

In TELUS’ November 2020 update to its diversity policy and diversity targets, the company confirmed the importance of seeking board composition consisting of

  • at least two directors who represent a visible minority or are Indigenous by the annual meeting in 2023
  • women and men each representing at least 33⅓% of independent directors
  • directors with extensive experience in geographic areas where TELUS has or anticipates significant business interests
  • directors of various ages
  • directors with differing backgrounds and experience

Algonquin Power

DREAM Industrial Real Estate

Investment Trust

Surge Energy Inc.

Mentorship programs

New Gold Inc.

The corporation participates in the International Women in Mining mentoring program that provides mentoring opportunities for female staff across the organization and also provides female corporate employees with membership in Women in Mining Toronto.

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.

The corporation undertook several actions in 2020 to promote diversity and inclusion. For instance, in October, the corporation launched the 2020 Female Mentoring Program by their Asia Pacific ED&I network, an initiative with the key objective to support the professional development of women and the retention of their skills within the industry. Additionally, the corporation’s U.S. ED&I network hosted two “Women inspiring leadership” national webinars on the topics of “Women in project management” and “Inspiring leadership during challenging times.”

Kinaxis Inc.

Networking programs & resource groups

Altus Group Limited

In 2020, the company launched three employee affinity groups focused on women at Altus Group, people of colour and the company’s LGBTQ+ community.

Manulife Financial Corporation

The corporation continues to provide dedicated support and development of their internal employee communities for women and BIPOC employees that focus on professional development and networking. This includes the GWA (Global Women’s Alliance), VIBE (Valuing the Inclusion of Black Experiences), IPTA (Indigenous Peoples and Their Allies), AMP (Association of Multicultural Professionals), PACES (Pan-Asian Community for Employee Success), Ability (Disabilities) and Being Yourself (mental health focus) employee resource groups (ERGs). Each chapter has an executive sponsor (vice president or higher, and country general manager level in some cases) to increase exposure and impact.

Ovintiv Inc.

The company supports an employee-led organization called LINK – Leveraging Inclusion, Networking and Knowledge – which evolved from a gender-focused diversity group to one of broader inclusion. In 2020, this group held diverse and cross-functional mentoring circles, hosted a guest speaker event on unconscious- bias and building inclusion, and sponsored an organization-wide virtual networking service to help bridge the networking limitations presented by COVID‑19.

Magna International Inc.

Nexa Resources S.A.

Ritchie Bros Auctioneers Incorporated

Training

LifeWorks Inc.

The company’s Inclusion and Diversity Council, chaired by an EVP and sponsored by the CEO, provides oversight of the LifeWorks inclusion and diversity strategy and the execution of a multi-year action plan. The plan includes training at all levels, starting with the executive and global leadership teams, the integration of inclusion and diversity in the company’s talent, operational and market-facing processes, and strategic support for community efforts to create a more inclusive world.

Killam Apartment Real Estate Investment Trust

To strengthen their diversity and inclusion program, Killam partnered with the Canadian Centre for Diversity & Inclusion in 2020 to provide employees with access to expert advice, a virtual library of knowledge and monthly webinars. In 2020, 100% of management completed diversity and inclusion training.

OceanaGold Corporation

One of OceanaGold’s proposed objectives for 2021 is to conduct diversity & inclusion training to improve the board’s understanding of their role/responsibilities in promoting D&I through management actions. The company also intends to train the D&I Committee, Exco, People and Culture teams and General Managers in D&I to improve awareness and align mindsets.

Pembina Pipeline Corporation

In 2020, the company focused on increasing training and awareness to all employees across the organization. All employees were required to complete two e-modules developed by the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion, in which the company is an employer partner. The first focused on inclusion and diversity fundamentals and provided a shared understanding of what the company talks about when it refers to inclusion and diversity, and why inclusion and diversity are keys to the success

of organizations as well as individuals. The second focused on unconscious bias and explored the sources and mechanics of bias, its impact and cyclicality. Pembina Pipeline also launched a central self-serve hub which provides employees with additional training offerings, tools and resources to continue their learning journey.

Sun Life Financial Inc.

Sun Life states that it was the first insurer to invest in Inclusion Works by Hive Learning, the world’s leading interactive digital inclusion program, which takes participants on a journey from unconscious bias to conscious action by embedding tiny, but powerful, acts of inclusion into their daily behaviours and routines. Diversity training seminars are also available through the company’s online learning resources and in classroom workshops designed to foster a more inclusive work environment.

Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust

Toromont Industries Ltd.

Roots Corporation

Diversity and inclusion committees

Manulife Financial Corporation

The corporation’s global executive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council guides, supports and facilitates the implementation of their DEI strategy. Chaired by the CEO, the DEI Council is made up of executive leaders who are passionate about DEI. There are twelve employee resource groups (ERG) with 37 chapters and more than 11,000 members. Open to all employees, ERGs support local employee engagement, champion the corporation’s larger DEI initiatives and provide opportunities for personal and professional development.

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.

In 2016, SNC-Lavalin launched its Diversity & Inclusion Program, mainly designed to promote the importance of women in professional and leadership roles and inspire women company-wide to reach their career objectives. In 2018 and 2019, the D&I Program was revised, and a regional approach was adopted through the creation of six regional D&I networks. A member of the executive team sponsors each regional network to ensure alignment between local efforts and overall D&I objectives, thereby offering leadership support towards the company’s D&I targets. Each region also benefits from the support of the local HR and communications leadership team. Networks count on proactive employee engagement and promote D&I through various initiatives, training and awareness campaigns. In 2020, the D&I Program became the ED&I Program to include the concept of “equality” as one of its core values and create a company-wide culture of ED&I. In October 2020, the company launched its 7th regional ED&I network – in the Middle East and Africa.

Northwest Healthcare Properties Real Estate Investment Trust

Hydro One

Magna International Inc.

Suncor Energy Inc.

Canadian Tire Corporation

Flexible work arrangements

Sun Life Financial Inc.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company provided various additional support measures to attract and retain diverse talent, including flexible work arrangements, the introduction of myWellness days to promote the importance of taking time away from work, and increasing the allotment of personal emergency days to support childcare, eldercare or other responsibilities arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Manulife Financial Corporation

The corporation revised workforce policies around flexible work arrangements and increased their parental leave to better accommodate and retain employees. The corporation also increased maternity and paternity leave benefits in Canada to a market leading position in 2021.

BCE Inc.

Altius Minerals Corporation

Monitoring activities

Kinaxis Inc.

The corporation distributes a management diversity survey to their staff each year. Last year, the survey revealed that 94% of respondents feel they’re an accepted member of their team and 95% of employees feel that they’re treated with respect, regardless of their background or identity. Furthermore, executive leadership reviews management diversity every year, agrees on appropriate targets (if any) and measurable objectives, and reports regularly on progress to the board.

TMX Group Ltd.

In late 2020, TMX Group completed its first ED&I survey to gather demographic data on its workforce. The results of this survey are informing TMX Group’s next steps on how to cultivate and support a workforce more representative of the communities in which they live and operate. Based on the data from the survey, an ED&I council – composed of a diverse group of employees across TMX Group and led by the CEO – is currently developing a long-term diversity and inclusion strategy, which will include cultural education, unconscious bias training, measurable success metrics, inclusion monitoring and review.

National Bank of Canada

OceanaGold Corporation

Building external partnerships

Magna International Inc.

The corporation recognizes the importance of improving gender diversity within key technical career streams; therefore, many of the organizations they have partnered with promote gender diversity in technical career streams. The corporation’s current strategic partnerships include: Build a Dream; Centre for Automotive Diversity, Inclusion & Advancement (CADIA); Catalyst; Engineers Canada; FIRST Robotics – Girls in STEM; Gartner, Inc.; her Career; Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE); Inforum; KnowledgeStart; Ontario Society of Professional Engineers; Society of Automotive Corporate Governance 77 Engineers (SAE) International; The Art of Leadership for Women; The Knowledge Society; Women in Automotive; Women in Manufacturing; and Women’s Executive Network (WXN).

Loblaw Companies Limited

Loblaw partners with and supports community organizations, including the Canadian Council for Diversity and Inclusion, Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, Black Business and Professional Association, Toronto Regional Immigration Council, Ascend Canada, Pride at Work, Women’s Executive Network (WXN), Giant Steps and more.

Corus Entertainment Inc.

The company sponsors a number of diversity initiatives, including

Women in Communications & Technology – the company sponsors the Corus Mentorship program which is designed to help women advance to senior roles within the communications and technology professions

Women in Film and Television – the company sponsors the Corus Media Management Accelerator program

Toronto Black Film Festival – Global news supports the annual festival that showcases films from African, Caribbean, African American and Black Canadian creators

Indspire’s Building Brighter Futures Program – the company funds bursaries for Indigenous students pursuing their post-secondary education within Canada and also provides an internship opportunity to a student pursuing a career in media and broadcasting

Aritzia Inc.

Manulife Financial Corporation

Promoting a change in culture and removing systemic barriers

Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd.

A Gender Equity Consultation Kick Off (GECKO) established at the Fosterville Gold Mine was formed in 2019 focusing on improving female representation at site and removing barriers to entry. GECKO is led by 12 female employees, representing all areas of the mine, who are committed to developing the following initiatives: 1. Creating a multi-purpose quiet room for breast feeding, prayer or quite reflection; 2. Increasing the number of women’s washrooms underground and in the maintenance workshop; 3. Forming a partnership with the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and acquiring sponsorships to promote women in mining and International Women’s Day; 4. Networking with female peers and sourcing funds to develop and grow GECKO initiatives; and 5. Making the mining industry more appealing to women where their skills and talents are needed.

Manulife Financial Corporation

The corporation has provided unconscious bias training for all employees, in addition to establishing programs designed to educate and train all employees that go beyond the mandatory unconscious bias training, including regular listening forums to foster conversations and build inclusion across their global team, allyship resources and targeted training for all managers on leading inclusively. The corporation also partnered with Accenture to launch two learning platforms for all leaders in late 2020: All Against Racism (North America) and Inclusive Leadership (Asia).

Canopy Growth Corporation

In 2020, the DEI Committee engaged the Canadian Centre for Diversity Inclusion to conduct an extensive DEI audit of the company’s workplace. This work culminated in a summary report which provided successes, areas of opportunities and recommendations which the company is reviewing with the goal of developing a multi-year strategy for implementation. The work of the audit included the following components: leadership readiness engagement; review of employee and company policies; focus groups with employees from underrepresented groups such as employees with disabilities and Black and LGBTQ+ employees; survey to measure sentiments regarding DEI efforts and experiences; leadership DEI competency assessments; and DEI workshops for leaders within the company

TELUS Corporation

In June 2020, TELUS reached out to team members to share TELUS’ stance against racism and all forms of systemic bias, and reaffirm their commitment to continue standing united in its pursuit of equity, fairness, social justice and systemic change. Since then, and in keeping with TELUS’ approach to fair process, TELUS invited all team members to engage in honest and meaningful dialogue on how to best combat racial inequity, and to use these conversations to apply a wider lens and advance inclusion for TELUS team members and communities.

Martinrea International Inc.

Northwest Healthcare Properties

Pay equity initiatives

OceanaGold Corporation

The corporation has developed a Pay Equity and Employee Value Proposition which includes the following initiatives: finalize gender pay equity review for like-for-like roles; analyze existing data and develop strategies to address gap to be initiated by HR Corporate in collaboration with Operations HR Managers; gender pay equity review conducted per BU/Operation within Q2-Q3 with HR Corporate; and create a proposal to address outliers as part of remuneration strategy (which was achieved).

TransAlta Corporation

Indigenous peoples

Atco Ltd.

The company’s Code of Ethics confirms their commitment to build and maintain positive and mutually beneficial relationships and partnerships with all the communities they serve. The company recognizes the importance of working cooperatively and collaboratively with all Indigenous groups including First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities. The company voluntarily discloses information about their work with Indigenous communities in ATCO’s Sustainability Report, which is available on their website.

Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd.

At the company’s Detour Lake Mine, a mandatory cross-cultural training course for all personnel on site has been led by the company’s site-based Indigenous Affairs team. In 2021, this training will be implemented at the company’s Macassa Mine site as well. The cross-cultural training program is intended to nurture and grow internal competencies in order to position the company as an employer of choice for local Indigenous Nations, to recruit more effectively and to build trusted and prosperous partnerships with local communities and Indigenous partners.

North West Company Inc.

LGBTQ2+

Parkland Corporation

The board believes that having individuals in executive positions from diverse backgrounds promotes better innovation and performance and supports effective decision making. Accordingly, the board has incorporated into its Diversity Policy a target representation of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) on its board and in executive officer positions of 10%. Parkland currently has one BIPOC person on its board (11%) and one LGBTQ+ individual on its executive team (11%). These targets will be among the principles which guide Parkland’s recruitment approach as it seeks to develop and maintain a governance structure and management team to support the company’s long-term growth objectives.

Kinaxis Inc.


Going above and beyond: Best company disclosure

Each year, among the many hundreds of issuers whose diversity disclosure we review, we find some that have taken the opportunity to provide an especially thoughtful and meaningful approach to disclosing their diversity policy. This chapter showcases some of our favourite examples of disclosure from this year. The examples are drawn from issuers in a variety of industries and of varying sizes to demonstrate that diversity cuts across the spectrum of issuers. We hope that these examples will inspire others.

Disclosure emphasizing the value of diversity

Alitha Group Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular
page 24

The disclosure highlights the benefits of a diversity of perspectives and that diversity of personal characteristics is an important attribute of a well-functioning board. The company emphasizes that increasing board diversity to reflect the communities and clients of the company is essential to maintaining a competitive focus - and signals that diverse perspectives are important to the company while demonstrating the company’s commitment to inclusion.

Loblaw Companies Limited

2021 Management Information Circular
page 40

The disclosure highlights that the company’s board believes that diversity is important to ensure that directors and senior management provide a wide range of thoughts, perspectives, experience and expertise to achieve effective corporate leadership. The company measures the effectiveness and practical impact of their diversity policy through, among other things, the number of diverse candidates considered and brought forward for board positions. The company states that where diverse candidates are not selected for board positions, the corporation will satisfy itself that there are justifiable reasons to support the selection.

Corus Entertainment Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular
pages 17-18

The company provides a summary of its diversity and inclusion initiatives for fiscal 2020. Among other initiatives, the company engaged the services of an external firm with experience in organizational intercultural competence to conduct a systemic review to identify barriers to inclusion for Black, Indigenous and other racialized employees. The stated objective was to assist the company to discuss the highest impact areas for change, and to ensure that it can tackle systemic barriers in the most meaningful way. Following the systemic review, the company refreshed its diversity and inclusion action plan, sharing elements of this plan in its public disclosure.

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular
page 79

The disclosure highlights that the company believes that greater diversity serves to enhance the talent pool of employees, enabling the company to better serve its clients and achieve its business objectives.

BBTV Holdings Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular
pages 31-32

The company discloses that it values diversity of abilities, experience, perspective, education, gender, background, race and national origin, and that having a diverse and inclusive organization overall is beneficial to the company’s success in obtaining not only suitable competencies, skills and expertise, but also a perspective “outside the traditional historic composition of corporate leadership”. The company also provides, in a straightforward chart, details about the representation of women, visible minorities, aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities, and persons who identify as LGBTQ2+, at different levels within the organization.

Indigo Books & Music Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular
page 37

This disclosure sets out the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion to the company and highlights fiscal 2021 diversity awareness and allyship initiatives, along with the initiatives that the company plans to focus on in fiscal 2022.

Laurentian Bank of Canada

2021 Management Information Circular
page 17

In 2020, the bank welcomed a new president, CEO and board member, Rania Llewellyn, who is the first female CEO of a major Canadian bank. The bank disclosed that 55% of its directors are women and 18% of its director nominees identify as visible minorities. The bank board and management believe that diversity and inclusion efforts contribute to a culture of performance and enhance decision making at all levels of the organization. Among the bank and its subsidiaries 55% of team members and 46% of leadership members are women. Of the Bank’s officers, 21 of 62 are women, representing 34% of its management team. Beginning in 2021, the bank disclosed that the diversity of its workforce will be measured as part of the Bank’s leaders’ performance objectives to ensure that diversity is prioritized.

Removing systemic barriers

Lundin Mining

2021 Management Information Circular
pages 33-34

In June 2020, the corporation formally established a Diversity, Inclusion, Anti-Racism & Discrimination Committee (DIARD), a 34-person multi-disciplinary working group established to further the corporation’s diversity and inclusion agenda. The disclosure highlights that DIARD is tasked with promoting resources and forums to enable important and, at times, uncomfortable conversations. The corporation has committed to continually evaluating the effectiveness of this program and to modifying its approach to ensure it is keeping up with best practices

Disclosure of company strategy to increase diversity

Manulife Financial Corporation

2021 Management Information Circular
pages 115-116

This company discloses its progress towards its strategic priority of increasing the representation of women and Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) leaders.

Thomson Reuters Corporation

2021 Management Information Circular
page 51

The value placed on racial and ethnic diversity is reflected in this company’s disclosure that, in 2020, it established a new goal to increase racial and ethnic diversity in its senior leadership levels on a gradual basis to 20% by the end of 2022, and to double the number of Black employees in senior leadership levels during the same period.

Telus

2021 Management Information Circular
page 50

The corporation engages in consultation and dialogue with team members to share its stance against racism and all forms of systemic bias, and to reaffirm its commitment to equity, fairness, social justice and systemic change. The company has introduced several initiatives for advancing inclusion for its team members and communities, and sets these out in the disclosure.

TVA Group Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular,
page 20

This company established a plan to achieve gender parity in original French language productions for the key roles of directors, producers and screenwriters by 2025.

Disclosure of measurable objectives

Oceanagold Corporation

2021 Management Information Circular
pages 51-52

The company provided an excellent summary of its measurable objectives, strategies and actions taken, while reporting on the status of its objectives, as well as its measurable objectives, for the 2021 fiscal year.

TC Energy Corporation

2021 Management Information Circular
page 35

TC Energy Corporation has established tangible steps for the Governance committee to take to gauge the practical impact of the company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Algonquin Power

2021 Management Information Circular
pages 32-33

We observed that a number of corporations reviewed and updated their approach to diversity and inclusion initiatives in 2020 and 2021. As one such example, this company sets out the progress of its approach to diversity since 2017, demonstrating that diversity considerations are a recurring topic and focus for discussion at the board.

TC Energy Corporation

2021 Management Information Circular
page 48

This company discloses its measurable progress made towards the Company’s corporate leadership goals since 2018 and highlights the target the company has set for 2025.

Focus on pipeline – Disclosing diversity within the organization more broadly

Algonquin Power

2021 Management Information Circular
pages 32-33

This company has determined that promotion of diversity in the workplace is a key component of the corporation’s strategy to become an “employer of choice”, and it believes that an environment that promotes diversity positively impacts its ability to attract and retain talent. Each year, the company considers gender diversity as part of the executive succession planning process to ensure women are being developed for leadership positions and each year, the Human Resources and Compensation Committee (HRCC), as part of its annual review of succession planning, considers year-over-year changes in gender diversity both at the enterprise and business unit level. In addition to gender diversity, the HRCC also annually considers in its succession planning review other diversity metrics including age, professional expertise, geographic expertise and ethnic distinctions (including Aboriginal peoples and members of visible minorities), and different abilities (including persons with disabilities).

Bank of Nova Scotia

2021 Management Information Circular
pages 49

The disclosure demonstrates that the company is focused on increasing diversity at both an employee and executive level.

Martinrea International Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular
page 26

The disclosure indicates that the company has taken tangible steps to increase the representation of women in leadership positions and to promote automotive as a career for women.

Osisko Gold Royalties

2021 Management Information Circular
page 75

The disclosure highlights the importance the company places on building diverse teams and sets out the percentage of representation of women at the team and managerial levels.

Lifeworks

2021 Management Information Circular
page 31

The disclosure demonstrates that the company tracks gender representation at different levels of the company. Notably, in 2021, the company invested in a new system that will allow it to better collect and analyze workforce diversity data.

IA Financial Corporation Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular
page 58

The company has launched a diversity and Inclusion initiative which allows it to focus on the representation of women at different management levels. In promoting the advancement and professional success of women in the workforce, the company disclosed details of its action inclusion plan, including promoting tools through mentoring and flexible work arrangements.

Surge Energy Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular
page 20

This corporation emphasized the importance of building over time an internal pipeline of talented women in the company’s senior ranks.

The Toronto-Dominion Bank

2021 Management Information Circular
pages 25-26

The bank discloses that it sets goals for representation of women and other groups at the bank’s senior management levels. Each business within the bank monitors its respective progress against diversity objectives on a quarterly basis, supporting the development of a pipeline of candidates.

Reasons for not adopting targets

National Bank of Canada

2021 Management Information Circular
page 49

The bank explains why it has not set a specific target regarding the representation of women in executive officer positions and highlights how it monitors its succession plan for executive officers to ensure the fair representation of women in this group. The bank does set an overall target for representation of women among the bank’s officers and executive officers as part of a three-year diversity and inclusion plan for 2020-2023.

Novagold Resources LTD.

2021 Management Information Circular
page 102

This company discloses that it has a comprehensive diversity policy. However, it does not set targets for the percentage of women on the board or in executive officer positions, or for other aspects of diversity.

Transalta Corporation

2021 Management Information Circular
page 60

Rather than adopting targets at the board and executive levels, the company is focused on applying Its diversity policy to promote the advancement of designated groups throughout the company rather than being focused only on the most senior levels of the organization.

Diversity beyond gender

Telus Corporation

2021 Management Information Circular
page 49

The company reports on its progress with regard to its diversity initiatives for the past five years. Most recently, in 2020, the company adopted board diversity targets (at least two directors who represent a visible minority or who are Indigenous by the annual meeting in 2023), and has committed to the BlackNorth Initiative where 3.5% of executive and board positions are to be held by Black leaders by 2025.

Enbridge Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular
Page 4

In November 2020, the company reaffirmed its commitment to diversity and inclusion and expanded its policies to establish enhanced and ambitious targets for its board and senior management for women and racial and ethnic groups (which, for these purposes, includes Aboriginal peoples) by 2025. The company also established enhanced representation goals for its workforce, which includes senior management, for representation of women, racial and ethnic groups (which, for these purposes, includes Aboriginal persons), persons with disabilities, and veterans. It tracks and reports its workforce progress against these goals on an internal company-wide “Diversity Dashboard”. The company has proposed to link performance against those targets to executive pay. The company also set a goal to increase procurement from diverse suppliers.

Corus Entertainment Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular
page 20

This disclosure acknowledges that the company places importance on its diversity and inclusion initiatives both internally and externally by promoting diversity and inclusion in the communities in which it operates. The company provides a list of equity-seeking organizations and initiatives that it has supported and highlights the company’s focus on the organization or initiative.

Focus on Indigenous peoples

Nutrien LTD.

2021 Management Information Circular
page 22

The company acknowledges the value of building long-term relationships with local Indigenous communities. In 2020 the company established an Inclusion Council comprised of senior leaders within the company who most influence inclusion and who are in positions of accountability. One aspect of the equity, diversity and inclusion strategy is to deepen the company engagement with Indigenous Opportunity Partners in the potash supply chain and to seek partnerships in other markets.

ATCO LTD.

2021 Management Information Circular
page 55

The disclosure highlights the company’s strategic priority of working with Indigenous communities to contribute to social and economic development. Some of the initiatives from 2020 are highlighted in furtherance of this goal. The company recognizes the importance of collaboration with Indigenous communities.

Kirkland Lake Gold LTD.

2021 Management Information Circular
page 42

To effectively recruit from Indigenous communities, this company understands the importance of mandating diversity and inclusion training for company personnel.

Acknowledging challenges

Linamar Corporation

2021 Management Information Circular
page 30

The company disclosure acknowledges the ongoing challenge of changing gender representation within the automotive industry and the steps it is taking to address this challenge.

Magna International Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular
pages 76-77

The disclosure highlights that the company recognizes the underrepresentation of women in its workforce and the importance it is placing on increasing the number of women at the company.

SSR Mining Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular
page 13

The company acknowledges the lack of women in leadership roles at the company, which is in a traditionally male-dominated industry, and has provided the company’s proposed plan to address the issue.

Other disclosure

Lifeworks Inc.

2021 Management Information Circular
page 31

The company’s disclosure clearly highlights the multi-pronged strategy it is following to achieve its goal of improving gender diversity in the workforce.

Kinross Gold

2021 Management Information Circular
page 133

This company highlights the strategic implementation of global written inclusion and diversity guidelines with respect to employees.


Our methodology

Our report analyzes diversity disclosure provided by

  • reporting issuers required under Canadian securities laws to provide disclosure respecting the representation of women on boards and in executive officer positions under National Instrument 58-101 Disclosure of Corporate Governance Practices (NI 58-101) (Diversity Disclosure Requirement)
  • corporations governed by the CBCA with publicly-traded securities that are required to provide disclosure respecting the representation of women, Indigenous peoples, members of visible minorities and persons with disabilities (CBCA Requirement)

The Diversity Disclosure Requirement applies to all Canadian reporting issuers other than venture issuers, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds and structured notes, including CBCA corporations that are listed on the TSX. The CBCA Requirement applies to all “distributing corporations” governed by the CBCA, including venture issuers. As a result, CBCA corporations that are listed on the TSX are subject to both the Diversity Disclosure Requirement and the CBCA Requirement.

The methodology employed in gathering and analyzing the data for this aspect of the report remains substantially unchanged from prior years. Each year we report results to date for the current year and full- year results for the prior year and we find they are consistent.

Diversity Disclosure Requirement

The data presented in this report in response to the Diversity Disclosure Requirement was obtained by surveying public disclosure documents filed on SEDAR by all TSX-listed companies that are subject to  that requirement.

  • In reporting on disclosure for full-year 2020, we reviewed disclosure documents provided by 766 TSX-listed issuers that were not investment funds as of July 31, 2020. Of those companies, 704 provided disclosure wholly or partially in compliance with the Diversity Disclosure Requirement. We excluded 62 companies from our analysis because they are either prescribed foreign issuers, exempt from disclosure or wholly non-compliant.
  • For 2021, there were 788 TSX-listed issuers that were not investment funds as at July 31, 2021. Of those companies, 650 had provided full or partial diversity disclosure by that date and 57 are expected to file later in 2021. We excluded a further 81 companies from our analysis – 65 because they are prescribed foreign issuers, newly listed or otherwise exempt from disclosure in 2021 and 16 that are wholly non-compliant with the Diversity Disclosure Requirement. Given recent activity in the capital markets, we noted a significant uptick in the number of companies excluded on the basis that they are newly listed on the TSX.
  • For comparison purposes and to highlight year-over-year progress, we compared data for all companies subject to the Diversity Disclosure Requirement in the January 1 to July 31 period of each of 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, rather than limit our results solely to companies that were subject to the requirement in all five periods.
    • This approach generally provides a close approximation of the results for the full years in 2017, 2018 and 2019, as more than 90% of the relevant companies filed their disclosure by July 31 of the applicable year, and our final results approximate the results we have previously reported for the January 1 to July 31 comparison period for those years.
    • There is potential for some variation as a result of changes in the composition of the relevant lists from year to year. However, given the sample size and the objective of testing the disclosure practices of the companies as a group, rather than on an individual basis, generally we do not regard this variation as material to our results.
    • For 2020 there was increased divergence between the full-year results included in this year’s report and the results featured in last year’s report for the January 1 to July 31 period as some issuers decided to take advantage of permitted extensions of normal annual meeting and filing deadlines to file their materials after the July 31, 2020 cut-off. Many of the companies that took advantage of the permitted delay in reporting had below average diversity results which had a favourable impact on our results for the January 1 to July 31, 2020 period.
    • In addition to our year-over-year comparison, we provide a selection of comparative data for companies included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index as a means of offering insight into the practices at Canada’s largest companies. In the report, we refer to such companies as the “S&P/TSX 60 companies.” For 2021, 55 S&P/TSX 60 companies had filed their management information circular or annual information form (as applicable) on or prior to July 31, 2021, with the remaining five either expected to file after that date or otherwise exempt from the Diversity Disclosure Requirement.
  • We also include select data for the 228 companies included in the S&P/TSX Composite Index as of July 31, 2021, which includes more of Canada’s largest issuers. This provides for more meaningful comparisons of diversity practices of Canadian issuers with those in other jurisdictions, such as the U.K. and Australia, where studies typically focus on the 200 or 300 largest issuers in the jurisdiction.

CBCA Requirement

The data presented in this report in response to the CBCA Requirement was obtained by surveying public disclosure documents filed on SEDAR by “distributing corporations” governed by the CBCA, including venture issuers, that are subject to that requirement. Generally speaking, a “distributing corporation” is a corporation with publicly-traded securities.

  • In the absence of a centralized database of such companies, we identified them based on the reported jurisdiction of incorporation on SEDAR for issuers listed on a recognized Canadian stock exchange or certain stock exchanges in the U.S., U.K. and Australia (i.e., TSX, TSX Venture Exchange, Canadian Securities Exchange, NEO Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, American Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, AIM and Australian Stock Exchange).
  • Based on these search results, for 2021, we identified 539 “distributing corporations” subject to the CBCA Requirement as at July 31, 2021. Of those companies, 318 had provided full or partial diversity disclosure by that date and 98 are expected to file later in 2021. We excluded a further 123 companies from our analysis – either because they are newly listed or otherwise exempt from disclosure in 2021 or because diversity disclosure for that company was not available.
    • The mid-year data for the companies subject to the CBCA Requirement includes 192 TSX-listed companies that are also subject to the more general Diversity Disclosure Requirement. The results for these companies are also reflected in our reporting on disclosure provided in accordance with the Diversity Disclosure Requirement.
    • A significant number of CBCA companies which provided disclosure regarding the representation of women failed to provide disclosure regarding the other designated groups. There were 62 such CBCA companies which failed to provide any disclosure regarding members of visible minorities, Aboriginal peoples (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) and/or persons with disabilities and over 25 CBCA companies which disclosed that they had a written board policy relating to some or all such designated groups but failed to provide disclosure respecting the number of directors from such designated groups on the board.

Other matters

  • For each data point provided in this report, the percentages are calculated as a percentage of the total number of companies that provided disclosure on the disclosure item in question.
  • Because neither the Diversity Disclosure Requirement nor the CBCA Requirement offers specific guidance on the issue, we accepted disclosure that was provided in respect of either the current board or the proposed director nominees and, in those cases where disclosure was provided for both, we based our analysis on the disclosure provided in respect of the board being nominated for election at the shareholders’ meeting in question. A similar approach was adopted with respect to disclosure relating to executive officers.
  • Data gathered for our reporting on the number and percentage of women appointed to fill vacancies or nominated to fill new positions on boards of directors was gathered by identifying the number of directors being nominated for election for the first time at each company that provided full or partial diversity disclosure and the number of those nominated directors who were women. Similarly, the data regarding the number of companies that have a woman as the chief executive officer, chair of the board of directors and/or committee chair(s) is reported based on those companies that provided full or partial diversity disclosure in response to the Diversity Disclosure Requirement.

Osler’s Corporate Governance Group provides practical and effective governance strategies tailored to the needs of each organization, regardless of size or jurisdiction. Andrew MacDougall and John Valley are both partners at Osler and specialize in corporate governance. Jennifer Jeffrey is an associate at Osler. The help of our summer students – Tiffany Dang, Jacqueline Kang, Hailey Chin, Julia Villeneuve, Jessica Redmond and Sierra Farr – and our articling students – Madeleine Blouin, Sylvia Evans, Lauren Hebert, Josh Pedersen, Sam Muise and Zoe Sebastien – is gratefully acknowledged and greatly appreciated.


[1] Two members of the S&P/TSX 60 issuer group were exempt from the Diversity Disclosure Requirement as of the applicable date.

[2] Based on 268, 266 and 266 companies reporting in respect of the number of directors and 252, 252 and 253, reporting in respect of the number of executive officers, respectively.

[3] We compare certain mid-year 2021 results to the full-year 2020 results because a higher proportion of companies reported after our July 31 cut-off last year as a result of taking advantage of permitted extensions in filing deadlines during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we identified in last year’s report, companies which did so generally had poorer diversity results over prior years, and the full-year 2020 results were slightly lower compared to the mid-year 2020 results on a number of measures. This was in line with our expectations.

[4] Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.

[5] Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.

[6] Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding.

[7] Based on the number of companies disclosing the number of directors who are from the applicable designated group. In 2021, there were 237 such companies disclosing the number of directors who are visible minorities, 230 companies disclosing the number of directors who are Aboriginal peoples and 229 companies disclosing the number of directors who are persons with disabilities.