Corporations Canada has released the “Diversity of Boards of Directors and Senior Management of Federal Distributing Corporations – 2024 annual report,” which examines diversity in boards of directors and senior leadership teams.
The report showed that in 2024, 24 percent of women held board seats, up from 22 percent in 2023. However, just 58 percent of distributing corporations had at least one woman on their boards in 2024, down from the previous year’s 59 percent.
Moreover, the percentage of women in senior management roles dropped to 26 percent in 2024 from 29 percent in 2023. Meanwhile, the percentage of distributing corporations that set female representation targets ticked up to 24 percent in 2024 from 22 percent in 2023.
“The 2024 report’s findings demonstrate that Canada has been making progress toward advancing diversity on boards of directors and in senior leadership since last year,” Melanie Joly, minister of industry and minister responsible for Canada economic development for Quebec regions, said in a statement.
She highlighted the importance of diversity in leadership for the country.
“Diversity in leadership is a key pillar of strong corporate governance in Canada and across global markets. It strengthens decision making and drives Canadian competitiveness globally. Advancing equity and representation is important, and it’s also a sound business strategy,” Joly said. “While the report highlights an increase in diversity on boards of directors and among senior management in Canadian federal distributing corporations, there remains important work to be done to strengthen and sustain meaningful representation in corporate leadership.”
She urged Canadian businesses to disclose diversity efforts at the board and senior management levels.
The report also showed that 2 percent, 29 percent, and 3 percent of boards of directors have at least one Indigenous person, one member of racialized people, and one person with disabilities, respectively. Indigenous Peoples, racialized people, and people with disabilities held 0.5 percent, 10 percent, and 0.6 percent of board seats, respectively.
Indigenous Peoples, racialized people, and people with disabilities were in 0.5 percent, 15 percent, and 1.1 percent of all senior management roles, respectively. Among distributing corporations, 3 percent, 4 percent, and 2 percent have established targets for representation for Indigenous Peoples, racialized people, and people with disabilities, respectively.
The fifth edition of this annual diversity review obtained information from 494 distributing corporations required to share diversity data and evaluated 423 proxy circulars submitted by distributing corporations for meetings conducted in 2024.